On Monday, the Dallas Mavericks played the Utah Jazz in a big matchup with both teams catching fire as of late. The Mavericks are coming off a road trip in which they went 4-1 and are looking to bring that momentum to the American Airlines Center. This is a huge matchup for the Mavericks as this will be a huge test to see if they can compete among the best in the west. The Mavericks will try for their grab their first 5 game winning streak of the season if they can manage out a win in this matchup.

On Saturday, the Dallas Mavericks played the Washington Wizards in the final game of their five game road trip. The Mavericks started this game by having head coach, Rick Carlisle back on the sidelines as he was cleared to return to the team after receiving a “false positive” COVID-19 test. The Mavericks led after each quarter in the game and trailed ONLY once as they were without their co-star, Kristaps Porzingis, who sat out on the second night of a back-to-back. The Mavericks were able to finish off the Wizards 109-87 to finish their five game road trip 4-1. Luka Doncic scored 26 points in the win as he had production from the rest of the starting five, with every one of them scoring 10+ points. The Mavericks also got production from their bench as Jalen Brunson delivered 19 points off the bench to grab the win. With the win, the Mavericks record improved to 27-21 on the season, as they extended their winning streak to four games. The Mavericks currently stand seventh in the western conference and were able to generate some separation from the eighth seed, as they are 2 1/2 games ahead of the eighth seed. With every win the Mavericks generate, they pull closer and closer to the top of the western conference standings as they are now three games from the fourth seed. The Mavericks’ season-high 5-game road trip started 0-1, and ended with 4-1. The Mavericks are now a season-high six games over .500.

The Utah Jazz are coming into this game by going 9-1 in their last 10 games. They are recently coming off a 137-91 blowout win against the Orlando Magic on Saturday to see their record improve to 38-11 on the season. The Jazz are coming into this season with tremendous hopes of trying to do major damage and try to generate a long playoff run. The Jazz are currently the first seed in the western conference as they hold an NBA-best 38 wins so far this season. This team is led by Donovan Mitchell as they look to finish the season with the number one seed in the western conference to grab home court advantage throughout the playoffs. If their success continue, then they have a good shot at reaching the western conference finals and hopefully a spot in the NBA Finals.

Coming into this game, the Mavericks lost their last meeting with the Jazz 120-101 on January 29th, 2021. The Mavericks are currently 0-2 against the Jazz this season and are looking to avoid the regular season series sweep in this matchup. The Mavericks previously lost their regular season series last season 2-1 against the Jazz. The Jazz have won 15 of the last 20 meetings, after the Mavericks won the previous eight. Overall, the Jazz hold the all-time series with a record of 104-74.

The Mavericks started this game by having Josh Richardson (left calf tightness) available but have Willie Cauley-Stein (health and safety protocols), Kristaps Porzingis (right wrist sprain), JJ Redick (right heel soreness), Tyrell Terry (personal reasons) and Trey Burke (left calf strain) all will miss this matchup. As a result, the Mavericks went with Doncic, Richardson, Kleber, Finney-Smith and Melli (his second start since becoming a Maverick) as their starting five in this game. The first points in the game would belong to Donovan Mitchell as he nailed a two pointer within 6 seconds of the game for the Jazz to get this game underway. The Jazz would go on a 5-0 scoring to begin the game as the Mavericks had a slow start to the game. The Mavericks wouldn’t get their first points until the 10:03 mark as Luka Doncic drilled a jump shot to come within 5-2 of the Jazz. The Mavericks were able to comeback and tie the game after Dorian Finney-Smith drilled a three pointer to tie the game at 5-5 with 9:08 left in the quarter. The Mavericks would grab their first lead in the game after Josh Richardson drilled a three pointer to take a 8-7 lead with 8:10 left in the quarter. Both teams would go on scoring droughts as neither of them could get a shot to go down until Luka Doncic drilled a jump shot that touched every part of the rim to reclaim the lead at 10-9, that forced the Jazz to call a timeout with 6:33 left in the quarter. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks had a slow start to begin the game as they only made four of their first twelve attempts taken while the Jazz had some “sour notes” as well as they also were struggling to begin the game, with them making just four of their first eleven attempts taken thus far. Coming out of the timeout, the Jazz turned to Bojan Bogdanovic off an offensive rebounds as he was able to convert on a jump shot to reclaim the lead at 11-10 with 5:59 left in the quarter. The Mavericks were able to soon find themselves on top after Tim Hardaway Jr nailed a slam dunk to reclaim the lead at 16-15 with 3:24 left in the quarter. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 2:55 left in the quarter to give the Mavericks a breather in hopes of finishing the quarter strong. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks were able to generate a 6-2 run to grab the lead. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Jalen Brunson as he was able to convert on a three pointer to extend their lead to 19-17 with 2:41 left in the quarter. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Mavericks were able to maintain control of the lead and take a 27-25 lead into the second quarter. The game leading scorer after one quarter of play would belong to Mike Conley as he scored 13 points for the Jazz. The Mavericks were led by Luka Doncic as he scored 9 points. The Mavericks were getting their offense to get on a roll as they were able to play good defense on a Jazz team that’s extremely difficult to stop, considering they are the best team in the NBA (record wise). The Mavericks finished the quarter by shooting 45.8% on 11-of-24 shooting from the field. In a rare feat, both teams attempted and made the same amount of shots in the quarter.

The second quarter would begin by having Jalen Brunson nail a jump shot for the Mavericks to get this quarter underway. The Jazz wouldn’t get their first points in the quarter until the 11:35 mark as Rudy Gobert nailed an alley-oop dunk from Mike Conley to come within 29-27 of the Mavericks. The Mavericks were able to extend their lead to six points after Jalen Brunson drilled a three pointer to take a 35-29 lead with 10:48 left in the quarter. The Jazz were able to cut their deficit to three points after Georges Niang drilled a three pointer to come within 35-32 of the Mavericks with 10:12 left in the quarter. Both teams continued to answer each other’s threes after Josh Richardson drilled a three pointer to extend their lead back to six points at 38-32 with 8:46 left in the quarter. While the Jazz were on a scoring drought of more than two minutes, the Mavericks started to capitalize on the opportunity after Josh Richardson drilled a jump shot to take a 40-32 lead with 7:50 left in the quarter. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 6:57 left in the quarter as the Mavericks were holding a 40-34 lead. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the quarter by making five of their first nine attempts while the Jazz had struggles of “hitting the right note” as they got off to a tough start to the quarter as they only made three of their first nine attempts taken thus far. The Mavericks began the quarter on a 13-9 run. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Jalen Brunson off an offensive rebounds as he was able to convert on a driving layup to extend their lead to 42-34 with 6:37 left in the quarter. With no Kristaps Porzingis, the Mavericks still had a good start to the game after Josh Richardson drilled a three pointer to extend their lead to 45-36 with 5:41 left in the quarter. The Jazz weren’t looking like the Jazz that everybody has been accustomed to seeing as they had trouble getting shots to fall down and were trailing for the majority of the game (thus far). You couldn’t of ask the Mavericks to get off to a better start than this as they were ready to show everyone what they’re capable of. The Mavericks were able to extend their lead to 10 points after Luka Doncic completed the “three point play” by nailing the “AND-ONE” free-throw to take a 48-38 lead with 3:01 left in the quarter. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Mavericks were able to maintain control of their lead and take a 50-42 lead into halftime. The game leading scorer after two quarters of play would belong to Mike Conley as he scored 15 points for the Jazz. The Mavericks were led by Josh Richardson as he scored 14 points. The quarter belonged to the Mavericks as they needed to have this one go their way if they wanted to have a shot at coming away with a win, and they did by playing good defense while getting their offense rolling to generate some separation from the Jazz in the quarter. The Mavericks finished the first half by shooting 41.7% on 20-of-48 shooting from the field.

Coming out of the half, the Jazz were able to get on the board first in the third quarter by having Donovan Mitchell nail two free-throws to come within 50-44 of the Mavericks. Dorian Finney-Smith was able to score the first points in the quarter for the Mavericks as he nailed a three pointer with 10:51 left in the quarter to extend their lead to 53-44. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 8:34 left in the quarter after the Jazz started to wake up on offense as they were able to cut the Mavericks lead to 55-50. Prior to this timeout, the Jazz started the quarter by making three of their first five attempts while the Mavericks offense had gone quiet as they had a tough start to open the quarter with them only making two of their first seven attempts taken thus far. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Dorian Finney-Smith as he was able to convert on a THUNDEROUS SLAM DUNK BY HIM SLAMMING IT THE BALL WITH ONE HAND WITH AUTHORITY to extend their lead to 57-50 with 8:14 left in the quarter. Again, the Jazz were threatening the Mavericks as they again cut their deficit to five points after Bojan Bogdanovic drilled a three pointer to come within 60-55 of the Mavericks with 7:25 left in the quarter. The Mavericks were able to kill off the Jazz threat as Luka Doncic drilled a three pointer to extend their lead to 63-56 with 5:55 left in the quarter. The Jazz would call a timeout with 4:23 left in the quarter as the Mavericks were able to extend their lead back to eight points at 66-58. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks were able to generate a 6-2 run to help prevent the Jazz from catching up to them. Coming out of the timeout, the Jazz turned to Royce O’Neale as he couldn’t convert on a missed three pointer that kept the score at 66-58 with 4:03 left in the quarter. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Mavericks were able to maintain control of the game as they took a 87-69 lead into the fourth quarter. The game leading scorer after three quarters of play would belong to Luka Doncic as he scored 28 points for the Mavericks. The Jazz were led by Mike Conley as he scored 20 points. The Mavericks were able to hold on and maintain control of the game as the Jazz started to pick up the pace of their offense with their shots starting to fall down. Through three quarters of play, the Mavericks were shooting 45.7% on 32-of-70 shooting from the field. The “eye-popping” stat, through three quarters of play, would be the Jazz shooting just 21.2% on 7-of-33 shooting from behind the arc. The Mavericks were one 12:00 minute quarter away from doing this as this would be a remarkable win for them to show everyone that they too can compete among the best in the western conference.

The fourth quarter would begin by having Jordan Clarkson nail a three pointer while being fouled, thus setting up the rare “four point play” which he did convert by nailing the “AND-ONE” free-throw for the Jazz to get this quarter underway. The Mavericks weren’t able to get their points in the quarter until the 10:56 mark by having Jalen Brunson nail a pull-up jump shot to extend their lead to 89-75. The Mavericks were able to reach the 90-point mark in the game after Josh Richardson drilled a three pointer to extend their lead to 92-77 with 10:14 left in the game. The start of the quarter would begin with both teams “answering each other’s shots” as they would copy each other which benefits the Mavericks as they had the lead and the time in their favor. The Mavericks quickly reached the 100-point mark in the game as Dorian Finney-Smith drilled a three pointer to take a 101-86 lead with 8:31 left in the game. The Jazz were doing everything they could to try to generate some momentum and get closer to the Mavericks but the problem was that both teams were “answering each other’s shots” and that only helps the Mavericks with the huge lead and time on their side. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 8:09 left in the game as the Mavericks were holding a 101-88 lead. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the quarter by making five of their first six attempts while the Jazz started the quarter making five of their first six attempts taken thus far. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Jalen Brunson as he was able to convert on a three pointer to extend their lead to 104-88 with 7:54 left in the game. All the momentum seemed to be on the Mavericks as they were able to dictate and control the quarter. The Jazz would need a huge scoring run while getting stops on defense to get closer to the Mavericks, otherwise they can kiss their nine game winning streak goodbye. What a performance the Mavericks have given in the game, without their co-star Kristaps Porzingis. The Mavericks were almost there to finish the game with a victory as their lead was 106-92 after Donovan Mitchell nailed a free-throw with 5:36 left in the game. The Mavericks could feel it and see the writing on the wall, all they needed was to play good defense the rest of the way and the game is there’s to claim. Luka Doncic would ultimately seal the deal for the Mavericks as he drilled a three pointer to extend their lead to 111-96 with 2:47 left in the game.

This team looked like they wanted to prove to everyone that they belong in the tough western conference as the Mavericks played outstanding defense in the first half while generating a 50-42 lead. The Jazz are a terrific shooting team and they can kill you from behind the arc on any given day but not this one as they were shooting just 17.4% on 4-of-23 shooting from behind the arc. This was a big test for the Mavericks and they were ready as their offense were rolling by shooting 41.7% from the field. The Mavericks have the chance to snap the Jazz’s nine game winning streak and beat the best team in the NBA (record wise). Regardless of the result, without their co-star, Kristaps Porzingis, the Mavericks were prepared and gave the Jazz a run for their money.

In the end, it was the Dallas Mavericks defeating the Utah Jazz 111-103 to remain undefeated in the month of April. The Mavericks record would improve to 28-21 on the season. Luka Doncic finished the game with 31 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists in the BIG WIN. The Jazz were led by Mike Conley as he finished with 28 points and 7 assists. Without Kristaps Porzingis, the Mavericks gotten production from Dorian Finney-Smith as he finished with a season-high 23 points. The Mavericks also got production from their bench as Jalen Brunson and Tim Hardaway Jr scored 36 points combined. With the win, the Mavericks extended their winning streak to five games. This was a huge win as they now prove they can compete among the best in the western conference with them now beating the best team in the NBA (record wise). FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS SEASON THE MAVERICKS NOW HAVE A 5 GAME WINNING STREAK. WHAT A WIN FOR THIS TEAM. The Mavericks are now 5-0 since acquiring Nicolo Melli.

The Mavericks will be on the road, once again, and play the Houston Rockets on Wednesday in the third road game this month and their sixth road game in seven games.

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