5 stats in the Mavericks game 5 win over the Jazz
Luke’s first home playoff game of the year could not have been better. After the razor-sharp defeat in Game 4, Dallas did not waste time licking their wounds. They came out early, regained control, and turned to wire-to-wire victory.
They will have a chance to close out the series in Utah, but first, here are some figures from Dallas’ 102-77 blowout victory in Game 5.
36: First half points for Utah
Utah scored just 36 points in the first half. This is the lowest in their first half of the entire season. He scored 18 runs in the first and second quarters, though nothing else. It was a balanced effort.
This was another defensive effort by Dallas – a feature for the Mavericks in the series and a big reason for them to win two of the three games without Luca Donsic. Dallas has consistently placed Utah in second place in the league with 40.3 three-point attempts per game, and in tonight’s game, Utah hit a 3-out-of-30 shot from deep. Defensive efforts were important early on because it gave Dallas some early turnover and time to clear the messy property, but once settled in Dallas they began to travel smoothly.
13 to 11: Luca Donsick overtakes Rudy Gobert of Utah
One of the questions in the series is how much Rudy Gobert should be featured in jazz crime plans, but one thing that was never in doubt was Gobert’s presence on board. He managed 10 offensive rebounds in Game 4 alone and was instrumental in giving Utah a 22-to-12 edge in second chance points.
Dallas did a great job of adding those missed shots from Game 5. Luca led the team on board, while Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber – who stayed away from the wrong issue overnight – kept Gobert away from the glass. In fact, Dallas not only won the rebound battle but also won second chance points. He left 14 behind, leaving Utah with just eight. This is the same winning formula that Dallas used to steal Game 3 in Utah where the Jazz managed just six second-chance points.
4: Dallas gains bench points in three quarters
With Luca back and Spencer Dinvidi back on the bench, you’d think Dallas would have some more firepower in the second unit. We’ve definitely seen how it works – Kleber, Bertons and Green have all had big nights in this series.
Tonight, however, it was as pure a test of team talent as you can build; Your five best kids versus our five best kids. Dinwiddie, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss added a few more bench points late in the fourth and waste time, but Game 3 was a statement game for the starting five, just as it was a statement game for the bench.
2: Extraction
When teams get bigger, things get quieter. With the game well underway in the fourth quarter, Luka tried to get Hassan Whiteside to retire early. There was definitely some contact when Whiteside met him on the rim, but there was probably nothing to worry about.
However, a shocking confrontation ensued between Whiteside and Reggie Bullock and Dorian Finney-Smith, who came to Luca’s aid, when Luca suffered some tangled hands as he descended. Everyone split up after sharing a few words, and when the dust settled, Whiteside got himself two technical fouls and an ejection, and Bullock and Finney-Smith got one each. In the case of Bullock, the tech was paired with a (very weak) technology before the game and so they were also excluded. It was probably a ploy by Dallas to play 40-plus minutes in each game from Bulls, the Iron Man of the series. Compared to 31, he left this one minus.
Hopefully, that’s enough to keep his feet fresh for a closeout game in Utah. Dustup may not be anything – moving a bit during the series – but it should be something to look forward to when these teams meet next time, because at best the love between the teams doesn’t diminish and that seems to be the case. Their patience with each other is rapidly waning.
19: Luca scores in the third quarter
Dallas scored a total of 29 points in the third game, 19 of which went to Luka Donsic. It was a crucial quarter for Dallas in which Donetsk played a full 12 minutes and gave Dallas the distinction needed to ensure that Utah would not hang in fourth.
Their 52-36 halftime lead was good, but we have seen both teams score. When Donsick came out and scored Dallas ‘first eight points in the frame and pushed Dallas’ lead to 20, any hopes for that were quickly dashed. Holding Utah to just 19 points (ah, they’re better than the first game and second), Luke’s big third-quarter performance gave Dallas the guarantee they needed for a pretty easy win – which is hard to come by in this series.
