Mavericks overcome rare Luka Doncic loss to beat Jazz 110-102

The Dallas Mavericks returned home on Monday night after losing to the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night, their first loss of the season. They came home to play the Utah Jazz, who were looking for their first win of the season.

Dallas fielded the same starting lineup with Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford, while Utah started Keyontae George, Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Taylor Hendricks and Walker Kessler.

READ MORE: Kendrick Perkins praises Mavs center as “Best Defensive Big”

Offensively, it was once again a slow start for both sides. When Utah head coach Will Hardy called a timeout five minutes into the quarter, the score was just 9-5. Dallas led, with both teams shooting a combined 6/23. Klay Thompson beat the Mavs; The first shot gave the Jazz a 3-2 lead, but the Jazz hit the offensive glass hard and grabbed five offensive boards in the first five minutes. Hardy quickly substituted Jordan Clarkson in the opening minutes, with mixed results.

Spencer Dinwiddie was the first player to come off the bench for Dallas, which is a surprise considering he didn't play at all against Phoenix. Dallas got some help from Utah, with the Jazz missing their first three free throws. The Jazz would cut the lead to 13-12 before Dallas went right back in front with a quick 6-0 run and would lead 21-14 until the next timeout. There was some sloppy basketball play, some missed shots and double dribbles on both sides, but Kyrie Irving finished the quarter with consecutive three-pointers to extend the lead to 27-19.

The second quarter also started pretty sloppy. A rim rocker from John Collins roused the crowd, but Doncic responded with a lob to Gafford, who beat it into the goal. Doncic didn't shoot the ball well early on, but he passed it well and played solid defense. After missing his 10th shot attempt in a 1/10 start, he suffered a frustration foul 90 feet from the basket. Despite its rough start, the Mavs were still winning 35-31 midway through the quarter.

Lively's sequence of blocking a Cody Williams shot and then completing a lob in transition was the best of the first half, especially when he blocked a lob attempt at the other end on the next play. However, the rest of the quarter was still sloppy. A shoe change on Doncic helped him score a basket, but the same wasn't true for the rest of the team. Dallas would go into halftime with a 49-43 lead as the two teams combined to go 16/46 in the second quarter.

Dallas played great defense and held the Jazz to 28.8% shooting from the field, but they fouled too often, allowing Utah to hang on. PJ Washington had a great half even if he didn't shoot well from outside, as he had eight points, seven tackles, three steals and two blocks in his 18 minutes in the first half.

READ MORE: Luka Doncic on the Wrong Ending of Viral Kevin Durant Taunt

After shooting just 4/21 from three-point range in the first half, Dallas ran with Klay Thompson wide open at the end to start the half. A couple of quick baskets from Kyrie Irving that pushed the lead back to double digits forced Will Hardy to take an early timeout.

Both offenses faltered, and that was made worse when Jazz sophomore Taylor Hendricks slipped and suffered a gruesome lower leg injury. Trainers rushed to cover his leg as he was lifted off the ground, and that halted the game for a while while the Jazz recovered from the mental image of their teammate's fall. Hopefully he recovers soon, but it was a terrible injury.

The Jazz got the game back to a one-possession lead after that injury, but a corner three from Spencer Dinwiddie, his first basket of the season, helped stop the bleeding. A few minutes later, he hit another three-pointer, extending the lead back to double digits after Utah had cut the lead to two. He then hit a three-pointer in the final second of the quarter to extend the lead to 82-70 in the fourth quarter. He was HUGE in the third quarter after barely playing in the first two games. Dallas scored 15 points in the final 3:30 minutes of the third quarter after scoring just 18 points in the previous 8:30 minutes.

John Collins started the fourth period with three three-pointers in a row, cutting Utah's lead back to five. Kyrie Irving kept the offense going with some smart finishes before Quentin Grimes made a few free throws to extend the lead back to 11 with about 8:30 left.

The lead fluctuated between 8 and 11 over the next four minutes before Utah increased it to six with 3:51 left. Doncic went on the attack after missing a fadeaway that negated Markkanen's potential three-pointer that would have narrowed the lead even further. Even though he didn't score, Doncic was determined to make an impact on the game.

Doncic's first three-pointer of the game finally came in the final three minutes, increasing the lead to nine. Fast, great defense and quick baskets from the Mavs pushed the lead to 13 with just over a minute to go, nearly sealing it. A few late baskets from the Dallas bench cut the lead, but Dallas won 110-102.

Luka Doncic would finish with 15 points, nine rebounds and eight assists while shooting just 5/22 from the floor and 1/9 from three shots. While Doncic struggled, Kyrie Irving stepped up and scored 23 points on an efficient 8/14 shooting along with nine assists and six rebounds.

Four other Mavs would finish in double figures: Klay Thompson (18 points, 4/11 from three), PJ Washington (12 points, 11 rebounds, four steals, two blocks), Dereck Lively II (14 points, four rebounds and three). blocks) and Spencer Dinwiddie (11 points, all in the third quarter).

Dallas still struggled to hit threes, just 11/39 on the night, and taking out Doncic's 1/9 doesn't make it much better. They also fouled way too often, allowing the Jazz to shoot 29 free throws, which kept them in the game.

Utah was led in scoring by Collin Sexton, who scored 23 points on the 9/11 shootout. Dallas did a great job against Lauri Markkanen, who had 17 points but shot just 4/15 from the floor.

Dallas moves to 2-1 and will play on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves for the second night in a row on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. CST.

READ MORE: 3 takeaways from the Mavericks' early loss to the Suns

Stick with it Mavericks game day for more FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the 2024-25 season

Follow MavericksGameday on Twitter and Austin Veazey continued Twitter