NBA: Luka Doncic’s 35 points propel Mavericks past Jazz
Luka Doncic #77 of the Dallas Mavericks celebrates after scoring against the Utah Jazz in the second half at American Airlines Center on March 07, 2022 in Dallas, Texas. Tom Pennington/Getty Images/AFP
Luka Doncic amassed 35 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists as the Dallas Mavericks claimed their fifth straight win, beating the visiting Utah Jazz 111-103 on Monday.
Dallas never trailed after the opening three minutes and led by as many as 20 points thanks to a strong defensive effort.
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The Mavericks held Donovan Mitchell, Utah’s leading scorer on the season with a 25.8-point average coming into Monday’s matchup, to 17 points on 5-of-19 shooting from the floor.
The Jazz rallied in the fourth quarter behind Jordan Clarkson, who scored seven of his 19 points in the period. The visitors cut the deficit to six points in the final minutes but came no closer.
Article continues after this advertisementLuka picks off the pass and finds Dorian Finney-Smith for the lob on the break
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Doncic helped slam the door on Utah’s comeback hopes when he found Dorian Finney-Smith for an alley-oop with 59.5 seconds left. Doncic then rebounded a missed Bojan Bogdanovic 3-point attempt on the other end and made his free throws on the ensuing foul.
Finney-Smith scored 21 points and shot 4-for-10 from 3-point range. Spencer Dinwiddie hit 5 of 9 from beyond the arc and scored 23 points, the fourth time he has scored at least 20 points in eight games since being acquired by Dallas in mid-February.
With Doncic adding 5-of-11 success on 3-point attempts, the trio of Dinwiddie, Finney-Smith and Doncic accounted for all but three of the Mavericks’ made shots from deep. Maxi Kleber hit 2 of 7 from outside and finished with eight points on 3-of-11 overall shooting, and Reggie Bullock made 1 of 4 from beyond the arc.
Bogdanovic, who set a Utah franchise record with 11 3-pointers in the Jazz’s road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, shot 4 of 8 from 3-point range on Monday. He scored a team-high 21 points.
Royce O’Neale added 13 points and Rudy Gobert recorded 12 points and 13 rebounds for Utah, which has lost two of the past three games.
Dwight Powell scored 13 points for the Mavericks.
