Oct 30, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Brandan Wright (34) defends against Utah Jazz center Derrick Favors (15) during the second half at the American Airlines Center. The Mavericks defeated the Jazz 120-102. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
This game 102-120 loss in Dallas was a story of two halves. Jazz got their butts kicked in the first half, with the Mavericks taking a 69-44 lead. The Jazz went into the locker room with their heads down, but came back ready to attack. The Jazz showed resilience and won the second half 58-51.
The Mavericks did their damage in the paint, where they got 52 of the 120 points. The Jazz simply could not defend the paint without fouling. They walked away with 0 blocks and 21 fouls. Dallas showed they are an offensive juggernaut. They made so many great additions this offseason, that they should be considered a top 4 team in the West.
The Utah Jazz will likely want to for get this game, but it should be one they study over and over again. They can learn a lot from what they did wrong in the first half, and what they did right in the second. So let’s take a look at some of the key points of the game.
- Dirk Nowitzki showed how underrated he really is. Because this was a blow out, he got to rest and only played 24 minutes. However, he managed to get 21 points in that time.
- Trevor Booker went 3-4 from 3 tonight. Previously in his career he had only hit one 3-pointer. He is showing that he is the new stretch 4 for the Jazz. Enes Kanter on the other hand went 1-2, and is now 1-4 from 3 this season. Our friend, Aaron Falk from Salt Lake Tribune, said it well.
The Kanter 3-point storyline was probably overplayed. The Trevor Booker storyline probably under played. Just hit his third of the night.
— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) October 31, 2014
- Kanter should be worried about losing his starting job. He only got 20 minutes tonight. This was primarily because of his awful defense on Dirk, but Bookers shooting also contributes to the little run he got.
- The Utah Jazz tied a franchise high with 35 3-point attempts. They did so successfully doing so at a 40% clip. These 3’s drastically helped the Jazz efforts to make a come back in the second half.
- Derrick Favors did what I thought he would do this year, and led the team in scoring with 17 points. He added 11 rebounds and two assists to that stat line.
- Alec Burks only played 26 minutes. This was largely because he was in foul trouble for most of the game. Burks went 3-5 from 3, which was a wonderful sign! If he can do that, teams will not be able to guard him. We saw him get 15 points in his short amount of time on the court.
- Gordon Hayward was much more aggressive offensively tonight. He took seven 3’s, because of the deficit, but he continued to attack the basket. Hayward had a game high 6 FTAs. His 16 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists were right at his average from last year.
- Trey Burke continues to attack the rim. He had a poor shooting night going 6-15, but was able to add on 7 dimes for the night.
- The rookies had a rough night. They went a combined 1-11 and had 5 fouls and 2 turnovers. Both Rodney Hood and Dante Exum got some good run tonight, despite their poor play. Jazz fans had to be happy to see them still get minutes.
This was a rough one. It was a good reminder of how far away the Utah Jazz are from the playoffs. Tonight was one of the nights were you can say, “that team was simply better than us”. Dallas is an experienced, competitive, playoff team. They gave this young Jazz young team a lot of good tape to study.