Jazz 'Circle Calendars' For Revenge vs. Doncic, Mavs
The Dallas Mavericks (40-25) and Utah Jazz (40-24) faced off on Monday in what felt like a fierce playoff game amid the race for home-court advantage in the first round of the NBA playoffs. After facing an 0-2 deficit in the season series, Luka Doncic and the Mavs won 111-103 and are now within a half-game of the fourth spot.
"We go up 2-0 in a sense, and they came out and counter and take care of home court," Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell said. "And now it's how do we respond on the 27th?"
Doncic had a strong performance with 35 points, 16 rebounds, and seven assists while shooting 12-23 (52.2 percent) from the floor, 5-11 (45.5 percent) from deep, and 6-7 (85.7 percent) from the line. He led the Mavericks' offense with more precision as the team adjusted from their Feb. 25 loss that featured Doncic being contained to an inefficient 23 points.
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
What makes a series of games between two teams so fascinating is the chess match that takes place game-by-game. For the Mavericks, they sorely struggled in the first of their previous matchup against the Jazz running traditional high ball screens because Utah used a stunt to force an early pickup against Doncic while staying home on weak-side shooters. This required Doncic to make a deep play on a drive against Gobert.
Doncic and the Mavericks adjusted in order to avoid getting caught looking for the deep pass on a drive where there may not have been one. They involved multiple screens, more often, in actions like the Spain pick-and-roll and double-drag screens to force multiple defenders to make decisions and pick their poison.
With Gobert often staying in the paint, the Mavericks' creativity with screening opened up the half-court offense for Doncic to operate – all while Doncic knew he needed to embrace scoring with his shot creation and having to draw multiple defenders on the drive before passing to the big.
“(Luka Doncic) definitely made some shots tonight," Gobert said. "Obviously, he is a very good and a very unique player. I think you just have to try to keep mixing it up."
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Gobert explained he needs to do a better job of switching against Doncic to take away the step-back jumpers he likes to take. It sounds as though he is willing to live with the results, but that's a bold strategy to stick to against one of the best players in the league.
"I have to do a better job switching after him. I just have to do a better job," said Gobert. "Try to take away the easy step-back and just make him work. He is a very good player. Tonight, he made those shots on his step-backs. They were uncontested, but he made them at the high pick. Hopefully next game he will miss a few more."
Both the Mavericks and the Jazz have Mar. 27 circled on their calendars. The stakes will be higher for both teams in that game than any they will have played all season.
