The Dallas Mavericks moved in front of the Utah Jazz for fourth place in the Western Conference with a 114-100 home win in a likely first-round playoff series preview.
Finishing fourth is crucial as it gives a team home-court advantage in the first-round playoff series against the fifth seed. Overall, the Mavericks have not won in Utah’s Vivint Arena in their last 11 games.
They are 0-8 in Utah during Luka Doncic’s four-season career. The last time the Mavericks won in Utah was April 11, 2016.
That trend continued as Dallas (46-29) and Utah (45-30) split their four games this season, with the home team winning each time. Both teams have seven games remaining.
Dallas must hold on to a better record than Utah to clinch the fourth-place finish. If both teams finish with identical records, the Jazz will hold the tiebreaker by virtue of being the Northwest division winners. Meanwhile, Dallas is locked into second in the Southwest Divison behind the Memphis Grizzlies.
If the Mavericks do clinch the home-court advantage in the playoff series, it will be the first time they do so since 2011, when Dallas went on to win the championship. Current head coach Jason Kidd was the starting point guard on that championship-winning team.
“That’s what we wanted, but it’s like a long way to go,” said Luka Doncic. “We’ve got to keep our composure.”
The win also put Dallas just two games behind the Golden State Warriors for third place in the West. Because the Mavericks are 3-1 in the season series over the Warriors, Dallas would come out on top in a tiebreaker.
In Sunday’s game against the Utah Jazz, Doncic led the Mavericks with 32 points, ten rebounds, five assists. Jalen Brunson added 22 points while matching Doncic with ten rebounds and five assists for his seventh double-double of the season.
Their stat lines also marked the first time in Mavericks franchise history that both starting guards had at least 20 points, ten rebounds, and five assists in the same game.
Dallas won by coming from behind double-digits for an NBA-best 16th time this season. After one quarter, the Jazz was up 29-20. In the second, Utah extended their lead to 11, 46-35, with 5:30 remaining in the second. The Mavericks would outscore the Jazz by 25 points the rest of the way.
Doncic helped flip the momentum in Dallas’ favor by beating the halftime buzzer with a long three-pointer that narrowed the Mavericks’ deficit to one point, 59-58, at halftime.
“Luka did Luka,” Kidd said.
The buzzer-beater propelled Doncic to start the third quarter, as he scored 11 points in that period alone. Dallas beat Utah 32-20 in the third to take an 11-point lead into the final quarter.
“Wanting that moment is No. 1, basically, for him,” Brunson said. “He loves putting his team in position to win games. That’s all he wants to do is win, so it’s a credit to how he’s always been as a player. Before he got to the league, everyone said that he was a winner, and you’re seeing it.”
In the fourth, the Mavericks’ Reggie Bullock scored consecutive three-pointers, giving Dallas its most significant lead of the night at 17 points. Bullock finished with 23 points by connecting on a season-high seven three-pointers.
Dallas got its 18th win in its last 22 home games. Next, the Los Angeles Lakers will be in Dallas on Tuesday before the Mavericks begin a four-game road trip.
When a reporter asked Doncic what his priority for the rest of the season after the game, he responded with a smirk: “Get the home-court advantage.”
