Jazz Blown Out by Mavs in Game 5 102-77

The hope was that the Utah Jazz would be able to parlay their win on Saturday into a Game 5 road victory over the Dallas Mavericks. Alas, in the fifth frame of this series, the Jazz were brutally steamrolled by Luka Doncic and the Mavs, falling by double-digits, 102-77.

Monday night's loss was a Murphy's Law type of game: what could go wrong for the Jazz did. Late in the fourth quarter, even star guard Donovan Mitchell, as Utah trailed by 20-plus points, pulled up lame with what looked like a hamstring injury and was immediately escorted off the court and into the locker room.

Reports indicate that Mitchell's injury will be evaluated on Tuesday once the Jazz are back in Salt Lake City. Fans will hold their collective breath in hopes that a two-day R-and-R is all 'Spida' needs.

So what went wrong for the Jazz on Monday night? In a word, everything.

Utah kept the game relatively close through the first quarter-and-a-half, and then, Doncic caught fire. It wasn't just the All-Star, but his play lit a fire under all his Mavs teammates and midway through the second quarter, they never looked back.

Doncic finished with 33 points on the night, complemented by Jalen Brunson's 24. The biggest story of the night, outside of Mitchell's health status, was Utah's inability to connect on three-point shots while head coach Quin Snyder failed to provide an adaptive game-plan to counter his team's suddenly cold touch.

Utah finished with a putrid 37.7% from the field and a staggeringly-bad 3-for-30 from three-point land. The Mavs out-hustled the Jazz with nine additional rebounds, 11 of which were offensive.

The biggest disparity between the two teams, outside of any semblance of consistency, was Dallas' ability to answer in any and all situations where it needed to. Just when the Jazz might be poised to climb back into the game on the heels of a basket, that's when Doncic and company would respond with authority, effectively stiff-arming the road team like a big brother toying with his baby sibling.

It's sad that in a Game 5 when the series was tied at 2-2, the Jazz found themselves playing for pride before the fourth quarter even started. Suddenly, all the rumors of discord and bad chemistry in the Jazz locker room that were temporarily brushed under the rug following Game 4's win — they're back under the microscope in stark contrast.

It's gut-check time for the Jazz. Can Snyder go back to the drawing board and galvanize his team?

Here's to hoping. The Jazz will get the shot to tie the series up again with Game 6 returning to the Rockies on Thursday.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.