Now You Know: Doncic-Less Mavs Aren’t Here For Participation Trophies

Jalen Brunson went off for a career-high 41 points and Maxi Kleber rediscovered his 3-point stroke at the perfect time as the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Utah Jazz in Game 2.

Although the Dallas Mavericks were always capable of beating the Utah Jazz without Luka Doncic — they were 8-10 without him this season, including their Game 1 loss — there was still very much a "we’ll believe it when we see it" attitude in the national media.

The day before Game 2, despite Dallas being highly competitive throughout Game 1, NBA on TNT’s Charles Barkley predicted the Mavs would get swept by Utah. On NBA TV’s pregame panel, there was a mix of sweep and gentleman’s sweep (five games) predictions.

Well, if you didn’t already know, now you know. The Doncic-less Mavs aren’t just here for playoff participation trophies. They’re here to win by whatever means necessary.

Dallas defeated Utah in Game 2, 110-104, behind big individual efforts from Jalen Brunson and Maxi Kleber. Brunson put up a career-high 41 points, and Kleber broke out of his shooting funk by nailing a career-high 8-11 from 3-point range.

“I’m already trying to forget about it,” Brunson said. “This is great, but long way to go. This is a great win for us. Something we can build off of, but we have a lot of room for improvement. Things we can clean up and get better and we just got to stay the course.”

Spencer Dinwiddie, who finished with 17 points, reiterated his Game 1 comments about being optimistic after the bounce-back win, while also praising his teammates’ performances.

“Like I said after the first game, there was a reason for optimism with the way we defended and style of the game,” Dinwiddie said. “We just had to hit shots. Maxi, big time right? Eight 3s and I can’t say enough about Jalen – the way way he played. You saw the same style of game – 104 is not a far crack from 99.

“We obviously gave up a couple too many 3s, but we played the way we wanted to and were fortunate to hit more shots than 93 points.”

Although Brunson’s night was breath-taking, we’ve seen on many occasions what he’s capable of producing when Doncic is out. Kleber’s night, however, was a complete surprise, given that he’s shot just 24 percent from deep over the last few months of the regular season.

“Obviously it is a big boost, but even in the games before when I didn’t shoot well, I think overall I still did many things and we won as a team,” Kleber said. “That is the most important part. And in the playoffs, numbers don’t really matter; all we care about is winning. … Obviously, it feels really good to make those shots because the end of the season wasn’t my prettiest. 

“But this was one game, and now you have to move on to the next one.”

The next one is on Thursday night, as the 1-1 series shifts to Utah for Game 3. Assuming Doncic’s calf strain was only a Grade 1, it’s reasonable to believe that he could make his series debut on Thursday.

Whether Doncic is able to play or not, though, the Mavs have proven that they can take care of business either way when focused and hitting their open shots. 

Will Dallas take back home court? The Mavs have only won in Utah once since April 2016, and that was on Aug. 10, 2020 when Tim Hardaway Jr. led with 27 points with Doncic out. Let’s see if they can keep surprising people.