Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz to victory by putting the team on his back and scoring 33 points and 5 assists in the game. The superstar on the other end of the floor, Luka Doncic had a good game but not his best. The Mavericks guard had 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 11 assists in the game. While it wasn’t a bad performance, it wasn’t enough to lead his team to victory.
The Jazz had 5 players with double-digit scoring, Mitchell- 33 points, Bojan Bogdanovic – 18 points, Rudy Gobert – 14 points,17 rebounds, Mike Conley – 15 points, and Jordan Clarkson – 13 points. The Mavericks had only 4 players with double-digit scoring but 3 of them had 20+ points (Spencer Dinwiddie – 20 points, Luka – 23 points, and Dwight Powell – 22 points) which helped keep the game close.
A major issue for the Mavericks was rebounding and they were outrebounded by 14. Of course, having the league leader in rebounds on the opposing team didn’t help at all. The Mavericks and the Jazz are battling for the 4 seed right now. The Jaholdsold 4th place in the west right now and the Mavericks in 5th. With the loss, the Mavericks fall behind to 3.5 games of the Jazz and will find it difficult to catch them.
Right now Donivan Mitchell is averaging 25.7 points, 5.2 assists, and 4.2 rebounds. He was out for a bit of the season due to injury but the Jahasave did a great job of holding their own despite their superstar being unavailable. Mitchell also has help from his teammate Rudy Gobert, timeline defensive player of the year and league leader in rebounds this season. The Jalooksook is like a dangerous team as they always have. The question is if that can translate to the playoffs.
Similar to the Jazz the Mavericks have struggled to perform well in the playoffs. Under the leadership of Luka Doncic, the Mavericks have failed to get past the Clippers in the first round of the playoffs in the last 2 seasons. With Kristaps Porzingis out of Dallas, the Mavericks’ are Luka’s team right now. Luka is averaging 27.5 points, 9 assists, and 9.2 rebounds this season. With the way, he is playing the Mavericks have a very good chance to get to a championship if they surround him with better players.
While the two teams have not performed well in the playoffs it is important to remember that their superstars ( Luka and Mitchell) are extremely young and they do have time to grow into great players. The important thing is that these franchises do not waste their youth and keep a mediocre team around them with no improvements, throughout their stint with them.