Utah Jazz at Dallas Mavericks Preview: Jazz seek third win over Dallas

The Utah Jazz are aiming for their third straight win over Dallas and their fourth straight win overall when they hit the court on Wednesday night.

This Utah Jazz season has been full of deja vu so far. As the Jazz head into game number 14 on the season on Wednesday night, they’ll be playing their third game of the season already against the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies, who the Jazz have also played three times already, will have been the Jazz’s opponent in 43 percent of their contests so far after Wednesday night.

That’s kind of insane. And I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m excited to start seeing some fresh opponents.

Luckily, the Jazz don’t play those two teams for 43 percent of the 82-game season, and in fact will only see each team one more time apiece – the Mavs in February and the Grizzlies in March. The Jazz fell both times to the Grizzlies earlier in the season before beating them Monday, but have thus far defeated the Mavericks twice, once at home and once on the road. Hopefully they can maintain that trend on Wednesday night.

The Jazz will be back in Dallas on Wednesday for game two of a daunting five-game road trip. The Mavericks have had their fair share of struggles this season as they’re currently sitting at third to last in the West with a record of 5-8. However, they’re coming off back-to-back wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder and Chicago Bulls, so look for them to have a bit of swagger when they face the Jazz in this next bout.

Even so, Utah should be able to outmatch them. They certainly did so in the last contest by forcing the Mavs into a whopping 24 turnovers while holding them to just 39.7 percent shooting from the field and 33.3 percent from deep. Despite a bit of complacency creeping in late in the game, the Jazz posted a dominant performance, especially on defense.

But as the Mavericks continue to improve, the Jazz will have to keep up their solid play and not be caught unaware. Dallas rookie Luka Doncic continues to be phenomenal, as he’s now averaging a team-best 19.6 points per game on 47.4 percent shooting from the field and 38.6 percent from deep. The Mavs aren’t without their weaknesses, such as youth, inexperience, a lack of depth, etc., but they definitely have a winner in Doncic.

Meanwhile, Dennis Smith Jr. has been playing well so far this year as well, posting averages of 15.2 points on shooting splits of 45.2 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from the perimeter. As those two continue to improve and if Dallas can get a more consistent effort out of former All-Star DeAndre Jordan, they could slowly turn into a competitive squad. They’ve certainly showed as much on occasion this season.

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However, as good as Doncic and Smith have been, turnovers have been their Achilles’ heel, with the former posting 4.1 per game and the latter putting up 3.4.

The Jazz took full advantage of that last time these squads faced off, and if they’re able to do so again, they should be in for a big win. Utah is simply more talented overall than Dallas, so as long as the defense is locked in and the offense is crisp and focused, then they should be able to log a third straight win over the Mavs and a fourth straight win overall.

With the exception of Donovan Mitchell‘s inefficiency and Ricky Rubio‘s downright awful shooting, Utah’s starters and key bench players Jae Crowder and Alec Burks have all been playing extremely well lately. If they maintain the trends they showed at home against Dallas and Boston, and on the road in Memphis, then I’m expecting a big win for the visiting Jazz.

Prediction – Jazz 118, Mavericks 104

The Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks tip off from American Airlines Center at 6:30 PM MT on Wednesday.