The last time the Mavericks won a game in Salt Lake City, they had three starters score over 20 points.
Their names were Wesley Matthews, Deron Williams and Dirk Nowitzki. The other starters were J.J. Barea and Zaza Pachulia and the date was April, 11, 2016.
Since then, there had been 10 visits to Utah’s home court – and 10 losses for the Mavericks.
Nearly six years after that last win at Vivant Arena, the Mavericks tried again on Friday night. Unfortunately, nothing much changed.
In agonizing fashion, the Mavericks fell again in Utah, dropping a 114-109 heartbreaker to the Jazz in their first game after the All-Star break and one of three meetings they will have with the Jazz in a 16-game stretch.
It was a game that, for the longest time, appeared to be there for the taking.
“We put ourselves in position to win and that’s all you can ask for,” coach Jason Kidd said. “On the road in an environment that’s hard to win in, we had a chance.
“It comes down to the stretch and we got to make plays defensively and make some shots. I’m proud of the way the guys fought. Utah’s a good team. They’re hard to beat, not just at home, but on the road.”
This is what the Mavericks can expect the rest of the way. They fell to 35-25, 2 ½ games behind the 37-22 Jazz, who occupy the fourth seed in the Western Conference, one spot ahead of the Mavericks.
The end of this game looked exactly like you would expect a match between two teams fighting each other for playoff positioning in the Western Conference. It was a rugged fight in the fourth quarter after the Mavericks had led most of the way.
Tied at 107, Luka Dončić was blocked in the paint by Rudy Gobert. That led to a 3-pointer by Bojan Bogdanovic with 1:29 to play. The Mavericks got a couple of looks, both 3-pointers by Dončić, but neither connected.
When Gobert tipped a pass from Mike Conley into the basket with 11.1 seconds left, the Jazz were up 112-107.
The Jazz got 33 points from Donovan Mitchell, who helped lead them back from a nine-point deficit in the third quarter. Gobert had 14 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks.
The Jazz did a commendable job of switching on the defensive end, which ended up putting the 7-1 Gobert on Dončić, who led the Mavericks with 23 points and 11 assists.
That said, the Mavericks’ 6-7 point guard got good looks on the perimeter and it’s debatable whether the block by Gobert with the score tied was a foul or not.
But, to Luka, it was not debatable.
“I like the matchup,” Dončić said. “I think twice I got fouled. But I know the ref. He won’t call a foul. He don’t like me. But I thought I got fouled. We got the matchup we want. They were good shots. They just didn’t go in.”
Said Kidd: “That’s to our advantage. For a big (guy) to be out on the perimeter, we believe that’s to our advantage to be able to have Luka with the ball and he can dictate what he gets, whether it’s a layup, a three or an open shot.
“They were going to switch and hope that Gobert kept him in front or could get away with Luka taking a tough shot. I thought Luka did the right thing. He drove him, he got to the basket. Was there a foul or not. There was not call. But you look at the threes he got, they were open.”
Luka also had some running dialogue with the front-row fans at Vivant Arena, which he said is one of the loudest arenas in the league.
To the one particularly loud customer in the expensive seats, he said: “Thank you for paying to watch me, that’s it. This is going to be my phrase if somebody talks to me.”
Regardless of the officiating, the Mavericks couldn’t blame anybody but themselves when it came to their inability to stop the Jazz.
Utah is the No. 1 scoring team in the league, and there were too many instances when Mitchell and others took advantage of defensive miscues.
The Jazz shot 54 percent, including 42 percent from 3-point range. That was enough to help them overcome 18 turnovers.
“Our defense has to be better,” Kidd said. “And the zone wasn’t very good for us today. We gave up too many threes.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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