Donic, Mavericks beat Jazz to advance to second round
SALT LAKE CITY — Luke Doncic believes he can score on anyone. To advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time, he had to trust his teammates.
After previous postseasons filled with individual highlights, Doncic shared the ball and the Dallas Mavericks slipped past the Utah Jazz.
“I like sharing the ball. If they’re going to hit or blitz me, someone is going to be open,” Doncic said.
Doncic and Jalen Brunson each scored 24 points and the Mavericks beat the Jazz 98-96 on Thursday night in Game 6 to wrap up the first-round series.
“It was all about trust,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. “Luka did an incredible job knowing they were going to try and take the ball out of his hands.”
After Brunson hit a 3-pointer from the corner, Mike Conley was called for traveling with five seconds remaining, and Brunson made one of two free throws with 4.3 seconds to play.
“Playing with Luka the past couple years, I should expect the ball when I’m not expecting it. The ball found me,” Brunson said of his clutch 3-pointer.
The Jazz got an open look for Bojan Bogdanovic on the left wing on the final play, but he came up short and the Mavericks moved on to face top-seeded Phoenix in the second round.
“Bogey don’t miss a lot of those. My heart stopped. It felt like that shot was 15 seconds in the air,” said Doncic, who had nine rebounds, eight assists, two blocks and two steals.
Spencer Dinwiddie added 19 points, and Dorian FinneySmith had a playoff career high of 18 points as the Mavericks finally got the “monkey off their back,” as Kidd put it.
The Mavericks won in the first round for the first time since winning the 2011 NBA championship.
“We have played a lot of games in the playoffs and still haven’t got to the second round. But we feel like we can do something great this year, so we all expected to get this win,” Finney-Smith said.
Donovan Mitchell had 23 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for Utah.
“I’m speechless,” Mitchell said about failing to advance. “It’s on me. I put a lot pressure on myself, but I just wasn’t who I needed to be. I need to be better.”
Bogdanovic finished with 19 points, but couldn’t make the shot that would have won it.
“Obviously, Bojan is as clutch a player there is. You see him hit big shot after big shot,” Utah coach Quin Snyder said. “I think everybody in the locker room would want him to have that shot.”
Bogdanovic was crestfallen. “There’s no excuse. I needed to hit that shot to force Game 7,” he said.
Earlier in the fourth quarter, Finney-Smith’s 3-pointer gave the Mavericks their largest lead at 88-80 before the Jazz scored eight straight — many coming off hustle plays as Utah played with desperation — culminating with a Mitchell-to-Rudy Gobert dunk.
The Mavericks found their range in the third quarter as the Jazz tried multiple defenses but somehow seemed to consistently leave someone alone behind the arc. Doncic had 10 points and Dallas made 8 of 12 from 3-point range to outscore Utah 36-19 in the third quarter.
“For guys like me, that’s when I start smiling,” FinneySmith said about the ball movement to start the second half. “That’s when we get our spot-up shots. Luka causes so much pressure and then he finds guys.”