OKLAHOMA CITY – Here’s our five takeaways from the Mavericks’ 112-107 loss to the Utah Jazz Saturday afternoon.

Late problems for Luka (and everybody else): Luka Doncic came back into the game after his usual rest period early in the fourth quarter. In the final 7:03, he had two points, one assist sand no rebounds. He shot 1-of-3 and missed both his 3-point tries. The 20-year-old does so much on the court that we are sort of caught off guard when things don’t go well. But he had a lot of company. The Mavs shot just 37.5 percent in the fourth quarter and were 3-of-13 (23.1 percent) from beyond the arc. And it was clear that Utah was bound and determined not to let Doncic beat them. “Any team is going to do anything possible to make it hard on him down the stretch,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “I’ll look at it. I got to do a better job of getting him in better situations. We’ve just got to do a lot of things better.”

Free-throw discrepancy: Carlisle often talks about defending without fouling. It didn’t happen often enough on Saturday. The Mavericks had more field goals that Utah (42-40). They had more 3-pointers (16-15). But the Jazz outscored the Mavericks 17-7 at the free-throw line. They shot 22 of them compared to the Mavericks’ 13. This is not an indictment on the officiating. The Mavericks have been adjusting in the last two-plus games to life without Dwight Powell. Their defense in particular has changed with Kristaps Porzingis playing more center instead of power forward. The arrival of Willie Cauley-Stein, perhaps on Monday, should help things.

Dealing with Rudy Gobert: The Jazz’s 7-1 center did everything you possibly want a non-3-point-shooting big man to do. He made all eight of his shots. And his stat line was amazing: 22 points, 17 rebounds, 5 blocks and a couple of assists. You could overlook the five turnovers and the 6-of-9 free-throw shooting. The bottom line is that Gobert dominated the game at both ends for certain stretches. You look down the road at potential playoff matchups and if the Jazz end up meeting the Lakers at some point, the Gobert matchup with Anthony Davis (or JaVale McGee) would be a very difficult one for the Lakers. Or any other team in the NBA, by the way.

Long-range numbers perking up: In three of the last four games, the Mavericks have made at least 16 3-pointers and they’ve made 20 or more in two of them. Their accuracy has been better than 39 percent in all three of those games. Yes, they had the clunker against the Clippers in there. But by and large, the basket seems to be getting bigger for some of the Mavericks’ best shooters. Against the Jazz, Seth Curry hit 4-of-5 3-pointers, Kristaps Porzingis was 3-of-8 and Tim Hardaway Jr. was 2-of-3. It’s a good trend to see.

On the rebound? Not exactly: The Mavericks had been rebounding the ball very well before Dwight Powell’s injury. They had outrebounded four consecutive opponents and all those games were victories. In the last three, it’s been another story. They have been outrebounded by a combined 20 boards by the Clippers, Blazers and Jazz. They are 1-2 in those games primarily because they only lost the glass battle 43-41 against the Blazers. This is a direct result of playing smaller lineups, although with a 7-3 Porzingis and a 6-7, 230-pound point guard in Doncic, it’s hard to say the Mavericks are playing historically small. Still, they must figure it out – sooner than later.

Twitter: @ESefko

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