After analyzing the situation, the Dallas Mavericks know they were only a rebound or two away from getting a leg up on the Utah Jazz in this best-of-seven Western Conference first-round playoff series.
Instead, it’s the Mavs who will have to rebound in Game 2 on Monday after they dropped the series opener to the Jazz, 99-93, Saturday afternoon at American Airlines Center.
With Rudy Gobert – a mountain of a man at the center position – grabbing 17 rebounds, the Jazz outrebounded the Mavs by a sizeable 53-34 margin. The 19-point rebounding differential ties for the worst of the season by the Mavs.
Back on Jan. 3, the Denver Nuggets outrebounded the Mavs, 47-28. And on Jan. 25, the Golden State Warriors enjoyed a 58-39 rebounding advantage over the Mavs.
Saturday’s rebounding disparity weighed heavily on the Mavs, who have quickly lost home court advantage in this series.
“We talked about it before the game and through the week,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We’ve got to rebound the ball. We have to do a better job as smalls and help.
“We knew that was going to be an issue, especially playing zone. But I thought the guys fought. That’s something we’ve got to get better at. If we can do that, that hopefully puts us in a better seat to win.”
Indeed, the Mavs would have been in a better seat to win if they had just protected the defensive boards a bit better. The Jazz also nearly doubled up the Mavs on the offensive boards, winning that battle, 13-7.
And no offensive rebound was bigger than the one Baylor-ex Royce O’Neale grabbed. With Utah up, 92-91, O’Neal missed a shot, grabbed the offensive rebound and eventually got it back from Donovan Mitchell, who shuffled the ball to O’Neale, who calmly buried a back-breaking three-pointer to put the Jazz ahead, 95-91, with just 57.3 seconds left.
“That was one of the things coach talked about – rebounding,” said forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who had 14 points and five rebounds. “We really just got to keep them off the offensive glass.
“The second-chance points can be big, especially when they’re threes.”
Utah outscored the Mavs, 20-7, in second-chance points. Of course, the Mavs were without their best overall rebounder and defensive rebounder in Luka Doncic, who sat out Game 1 with a left calf strain.
Doncic’s absence put a strain on what the Mavs were trying to do as far as protecting the boards better. Not to mention what they were unable to do as far as scoring the ball is concerned.
“Everybody’s got to get back and get in there,” said Spencer Dinwiddie, who finished with 22 points, eight assists and four boards. “We know Royce is going to crash in the corners, Bojan (Bogdanovic) may crash and obviously Gobert and (Hassan) Whiteside are going to be in there
“We’ve got to send five guys to the boards as opposed to their two or three.”
Led by Gobert, the Jazz had six players snatch at least five rebounds. Their dominant work on the boards prevented the Mavs from protecting their home court.
“Just focus on getting Rudy off the glass, that’s the biggest part of it,” said Jalen Brunson, who collected team highs of 24 points and seven rebounds. “Fifteen boards (for Gobert) is a lot of defensive rebounds.
“So getting the rebound, I think, is our carry over into game two.”
QUALITY SHOTS IN SHORT SUPPLY: Those quality looks at the basket the Mavs normally get when Luka Doncic is in the game were in short supply Saturday.
Consequently, the Mavs shot just 38.2 percent from the field (29-of-76) and only 28.1 percent from downtown (9-of-32).
On the looks at the basket sans Doncic, Spencer Dinwiddie said they were “probably a little worse than what it is when (Doncic) is in. But we got some open looks in the corner for Maxi (Kleber), Josh (Green) — and (Reggie) Bullock hit a couple threes.
“We had a chance. We held them under 100 points.”
Doncic is one of the top five playmakers in the NBA, and his absence was clearly noticeable. Especially when the game was on the line and it was time for someone to take the crucial shot – that crucial shot that Doncic normally takes and makes.
“Obviously, we talk about the playmaking hierarchy on our team, so it’s going to fall on me and JB to make plays,” Dinwiddie said. “And that’s with obviously scoring or passing the ball, just making the reads, getting the matchups right, getting the spacing right and just staying in attack mode.”
Brunson attacked enough to go 9-of-24 from the floor, while Dinwiddie converted 6-of-15 shots.
“We’re just playing basketball,” Brunson said. “There’s no telling who’s shooting what and where. Coach Kidd gives us that ability and that confidence.
“I think we’ve got to do a better job of making the easier shots. We missed a lot of easy shots and we made a lot of hard shots. We just got to keep our focus when it comes to that.”
DEFENSE WAS ON-POINT: After putting up a solid defensive performance Saturday, the Mavs are kicking themselves for not getting out of Game 1 with a victory.
“I think also personally we lost by six (and) I missed six free throws, so we are right there,” Spencer Dinwiddie said. “If anything, this should be encouraging for the fan base, in my opinion.
“We are disappointed in the locker room. Obviously, give them credit. They went out there and won the game. Bogdanovic played great, Mitchell played great, but we had a chance to win it and we just didn’t do it. Myself, obviously first and foremost, feels like it’s inexcusable in playoff games to miss six free throws.”
The Jazz shot just 43.4 percent from the field and misfired on 15 of their 22 attempts from three-point land.
“I think our defense gave us an opportunity to win this game,” Jalen Brunson said. “Offensively, we missed a lot of shots.
“I missed a lot of shots, but our defense gave us a chance to win. Pay attention to those details a little more. Those little details can be the difference between wins and losses.”
BRIEFLY: Coach Jason Kidd isn’t sure when Luka Doncic will start engaging in some basketball activities. “The first step is to see how he feels today,” Kidd said. “Again, I’ve said this all week, he’s in a good place, his spirit has been great, he’s smiling, laughing, and doing the stuff that he’s supposed to which will get him prepared to hopefully play in this series.” The Mavs have listed Doncic as day-to-day. . .The Mavs and Jazz are two of the slower paced teams in the entire NBA. Before the game, Kidd joked about why the Mavs-Jazz game was the very first contest – with a very early tipoff time – of the 2022 NBA playoffs. “I think that’s why (the NBA) got us on at noon is because of the slow pace,” Kidd said. “I think we’ve got to explore to try to get easy baskets, so if that means playing a little faster, then that’s what we have to do. I think both teams are going to look to try to get easy baskets because they know both defenses play at a very high level. I don’t know if that means we’re going to play faster, but we got to explore — once we get the stop — of looking to get easy baskets.”. .Guard Frank Ntilikina sat out Saturday’s game after having a tonsillectomy earlier this past week. . .Igor Kokoskov used to use the term players putting another player in a “blender” when he was an assistant coach for the Jazz from 2015-’18. Now that Kokoskov is in his first year as an assistant coach with the Mavs, the “blender” has made its way to Dallas. “As we know the league is a copycat league, so we borrowed that terminology,” Kidd said. “Driving and ball touching the paint. Players can identify with that, so we borrowed that from the Jazz.”. .Kidd knows why Dorian Finney-Smith is a top-notch defensive player. “You start with your will and your want,” Kidd said. “In this league if you want to do something you practice it and you can do it. He’s the guy that has always wanted to guard. So he’s always started on the defensive end – I think coming into this league — and worked on his game to be a two-way player. There’s not a lot of them in this league, but he’s one of them. And it starts with his will and his want, and he does it at a high level.”. .Maxi Kleber returned after missing four games with right ankle soreness. Kleber finished with 10 points in 24 minutes, and buried four clutch free throws and a three-pointer late in the fourth quarter. However, with the Mavs down, 92-91, Kleber missed a three-pointer that would have given Dallas the lead with 1:35 remaining in the game. “I thought he made a big three for us, and then he had another great look at a three,” Kidd said. “It just didn’t go down for us. He’s a big part of our team and we’re going to need him.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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