10/30 Utah Jazz vs. Dallas Mavericks: Keys to the Game

Key #2 – Slow Down Harrison Barnes

Through the Dallas Mavericks’ first seven games, Harrison Barnes has been their leading scorer at 18.1 points per contest and he looks poised to repeat as their main offensive weapon for the second straight year. However, while his scoring figure has been solid, his efficiency has been lacking as he’s converting on just 38.9 percent of his attempts from the field and 34.3 percent from deep.

Nevertheless, he’s proven himself as a solid scoring option since joining the Dallas Mavericks and the Jazz will have to force him into yet another inefficient night if they hope to shut down the Mavs. Dallas has some other prolific scorers such as the aforementioned Wesley Matthews and veteran Dirk Nowitzki, not to mention the guy that many have pinned as the frontrunner for the Rookie of the Year Award – Dennis Smith Jr.

But while someday Smith may be the one to take over the main scoring load for the Mavericks, for now Barnes is still the focal point of the offense. As such, it will be crucial that the Jazz shut him down, which will likely hinder the rest of his Mavericks team.

The Jazz are well-equipped to deal with Barnes with a slew of solid defenders in the likes of Joe Ingles, Donovan Mitchell and Thabo Sefolosha so hopefully that combination of wing defenders can team up to make his life miserable thereby giving the Jazz an extreme advantage in their pursuit of defeating the visiting Mavs.