8:40 pm
April 18

Jazz @ Mavericks

Who will WIN this matchup?

Utah Jazz (49-33)

@ Dallas Mavericks (52-30)

 

Current odds:

Utah Jazz: (-213)

Dallas Mavericks: (+175)

 

• The line for this game is Jazz by 5 points.

• Though Luka Doncic returned to the practice court for a bit of shooting over the weekend, the Dallas Mavericks’ superstar is not expected to play in Game 2 of the first-round series with the Utah Jazz. Doncic missed Game 1 — a 99-93 Jazz win in Dallas — and likely won’t play Monday night at home, ESPN reported, because of a strained left calf.

• With Doncic in a cheerleader role on the bench, the Mavericks took an early lead but eventually fell behind by as many as a dozen points. To their credit, they stormed back in the fourth quarter, pulling within one and having the ball with a chance to go ahead in the final two minutes, before Utah made enough clutch plays to snag home-court advantage away.

• Both teams took positives away from the way things played out in that fourth quarter, which really got interesting after Max Kleber drained a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game with 2:12 remaining.

• Kleber could have given the Mavs the lead back with a minute and a half remaining, but he missed a 3. Royce O’Neale, who attended nearby Baylor and hails from Killeen, Texas, then rebounded his own missed shot and followed that up by sinking a dagger beyond the arc for a four-point Jazz lead with 57.3 left.

• Donovan Mitchell, who was MIA in the first half, sealed the win with four free throws in the final 16.2 seconds. He scored 30 of his 32 points in the second half.

• Rudy Gobert only took one shot but spearheaded the Jazz defense with 17 rebounds and three blocked shots.

• The Mavericks, on the other hand, got a bit of a confidence boost because they had a chance to win despite missing Doncic, being outrebounded by 19, 53-34, and only shooting 38.2 percent from the field and 9-for-32 from 3-point range.

• Spencer Dinwiddie noted that free throws were a difference-maker. Utah hit 20 of 23, while Dallas only shot 26 of 34 from the charity stripe. He was 10 of 16 from the line and shot 6 of 15 overall.

• Dallas also hopes to improve on the boards. The Mavericks were at a disadvantage, playing small against the Jazz and their 7-foot-1 star defender with a 7-foot-9 wing span.

5/10
Confidence
StreakSmarter Pick
Utah Jazz
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