Everything went wrong for Mavs down the stretch during 100-99 loss to Jazz

SALT LAKE CITY — Only 39 seconds away. That’s how close the Dallas Mavericks were from taking a commanding 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the Utah Jazz on Saturday afternoon at Vivint Arena.

Instead, they fell victim to Murphy’s Law, because everything that could go wrong for the Mavs down the stretch, definitely went wrong. Terribly wrong.

Superstar point guard Luka Doncic drained one of his patented step-back three-point shots with 39.1 seconds left that gave the Mavs a 99-95 lead and put them on the doorstep of coming home to close out this series. Instead, the Jazz scored the game’s final five points, including a wide-open dunk by Rudy Gobert with 11 seconds left, and eked out a pulsating 100-99 victory.

After Gobert’s basket, Spencer Dinwiddie’s three-point attempt under pressure at the buzzer was short. Dinwiddie received the ball from Doncic, who was facing a double-team.

“We didn’t really execute it well,” said Doncic, in analyzing the game’s final play. “I should have maybe (drove) the ball.

“We should have gotten a better shot. But it’s tough. We just got to learn from it and go to the next one.”

The series is now tied, 2-2, with Game 5 at 8:30 p.m. Monday at American Airlines Center. Game 6 will be back in Utah on Thursday, and a seventh game, if necessary, will take place on April 30 at AAC.

The three-pointer by Doncic, who was back in the lineup after missing the first three games of this series with a strained left calf muscle, made it a two-possession game and appeared to give the Mavs exactly what they needed to sweep the two games in Utah.

But the Jazz – desperate to do whatever they could to extend this series – caught lightning in a proverbial bottle at the most opportune time.

First, Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell stormed down the right side of the lane and missed a shot, but grabbed the offensive rebound, scored and made a free throw after he was fouled on the play. That got Utah within 99-98 of the Mavs with 31.2 seconds left.

The Jazz then fouled Dwight Powell, who had an opportunity to extend the Mavs’ lead to three points with 19 seconds to go. Powell, however, missed both free throws.

That set the stage for Gobert to be the hero, and his dunk wound up being the game-winning basket and sent the crowd into a frenzy.

It was a heartbreaker for the Mavs, who are trying to win a playoff series for the first time since they defeated the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals. The Mavs won Game 3 here on Thursday, and were seconds away from backing the Jazz into a corner.

But. . .

“We got some great looks, we get to the free-throw line (and) we just don’t make them,” coach Jason Kidd said. “That’s just part of the game. You got to be able to step up and knock them down.”

Indeed, it was a painful loss for the Mavs, who saw Doncic score a game-high 30 points, grab 10 rebounds and pick up two steals in 34 minutes. The Mavs just couldn’t take advantage of his superb play.

Doncic started the game and played the first six minutes and four seconds before going to the bench with four points, two rebounds, one assist and one foul while going 2-of-4 from the field. During that early stretch, Doncic also missed his only three-point field goal attempt — and the Mavs were ahead, 11-5.

“I’m a little bit tired now, but it felt great to be back,” said Doncic, who was 11-of-21 from the field. “At the beginning, you’re always just thinking (about getting your wind back) a little bit.

“As the game went on, I kind of forget about it. But to start, I was just a little thinking about it.”

After playing the final 2:39 of the first quarter, Doncic started the second quarter and his three-pointer got the Mavs within 31–28 of the Jazz. But Utah scored the next seven points and increased its lead to 38-28 with 6:02 left before halftime.

The Mavs were down, 51-35, with 1:51 remaining in the first half as their offense took a nosedive and the basket appeared to have a lid on it. They also saw themselves in a 54-42 hole at intermission.

But with Brunson hitting his stride, the Mavs busted out to a 74-71 lead with 2:53 to go in the third quarter. With the offense finally energized and clicking, the Mavs outscored the Jazz, 39-24, in the third quarter and carried an 81-78 lead into the fourth quarter.

“We fought,” Kidd said. “We were down 12 at half, we stayed the course and it comes down to the last possession.

“And if you’re on the road in the playoffs and it comes down to the last possession, you couldn’t ask for a better situation.

“We kind of just brought the ball up a little slower than we wanted to. But it’s something we’ll learn from and get better.”

Kidd was referring to the game’s last possession when the Mavs inbounded the ball under their own basket and slowly jogged it up the court instead of advancing the ball and taking the opportunity to inbound the ball near midcourt.

“Everybody assumes you have to advance it, but you don’t,” Kidd said. “We’ve done that all year and had success with it.

“We had the opportunity, we just let it slip away. Spencer has made that shot before from Luka. We got what we wanted. It’s just the ball didn’t go down for us.”

Brunson, who scored 72 points with just one turnover in the previous two games, finished with 23 points on 7-of-18 shooting. However, Dinwiddie, who scored 59 points in the first three games of this series, was held to just five points on 2-of-9 shooting.

Also for the Mavs, Reggie Bullock, Finney-Smith and Powell tallied 11 points apiece. Meanwhile, Clarkson led Utah with 25 points, Mitchell scored 23, Gobert finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds, and Bojan Bogdanovic tallied 12 points.

A huge play in the game occurred when replays clearly showed Gobert popped Doncic in the face with an errant elbow near the Jazz basket with 2:08 left and the Mavs trailing, 93-92. The referees reviewed the play for a possible hostile act on Gobert, but decided that this was nothing other than a jump ball.

That decision didn’t sit at all well with the Mavs.

“I talked to a couple guys about the NBA rules,” said Doncic, who was 4-of-10 from downtown. “When they call this something to the face I think it should be a technical foul.

“If I’m not wrong, I think that’s by the rules. So I don’t know. They reviewed it, so I guess this was not. But I don’t know.”

In addition, the Jazz attempted 42 free throws – they missed 16 of them – while the Mavs were 18-of-23 from the line.

“You got to give them credit,” Brunson said. “They played well. During that first half they were really outplaying us, playing harder than us.

“In the third quarter we kind of got our groove back and started playing a little more physical, playing our style of basketball, picked up our intensity.”

In the end, however, it wasn’t enough.

“But again, in this building, to give yourself a chance to win two games, we will take that,” Kidd said. “We gave ourselves a chance to win (Saturday), but we didn’t. They did (win), so now we just have to go home and protect home.”

Twitter: @DwainPrice