The position after Game 5 could hardly be better for the Dallas Mavericks, with just one win left to reach the second round of the playoffs. In the blowout against Utah, Luka Doncic finally wipes away all worries about his calf. But the real star of the game is elsewhere. Insights into the game.
1. Mavs vs. Jazz: Who Should Stop This Backcourt Duo?
The Jazz probably feared that something like that would happen after Luka Doncic returned. Even in the first three games without the Mavs Superstar, perimeter defense was a reason why two games went haywire. During his comeback in the fourth duel, Utah still benefited from the fact that a lot went wrong for Dallas. But now Utah was hopelessly inferior against the Mavs backcourt.
Jazz fans should look away for a moment when we compare the numbers of the two starting backcourts. There’s Doncic and Jalen Brunson on the one hand with a total of 57 points and 9 assists – and on the other hand there are Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley with 13 points and 6 assists. Again, these are the cumulative numbers.
The Mavs duo managed to drive apart their opponent’s defense almost at will. Bojan Bogdanovic, who also shouldered the main defensive burden against Doncic in game 4, was mostly lost. In 57.5 possessions that Bogdanovic defended against the Slovenians in Games 4 and 5, Dallas scored 68 points for an offensive rating of 118.3.
Things didn’t really look any better for Utah when Doncic and Brunson attacked the other perimeter defenders, be it Mitchell, Conley, Jordan Clarkson or Royce O’Neale. Far too often, the Mavs guards found their way into the zone via dribble penetration, where they either don’t be afraid of deals against Rudy Gobert had or put it down to Dwight Powell for light dunks, for example. The latter had three dunks and a layup in the early minutes.
Among other things, it showed how easy Dallas sometimes had it this scene late in the game when Brunson shoved his defender Conley away and scored two easy points with a bench shot. His performances not only earned him a hefty offseason payday, but earned him MVP honors in Game 5 – and he didn’t even want to drop the three-pointer (1/7).
Doncic was also not in rhythm from a distance for a long time, until all dams broke in the third quarter. He sank three threes in quick succession (his only ones of the game at 3/10), unwrapped the shimmy shake and let the party in Dallas escalate completely. “It was great. You can’t describe such feelings,” said the 23-year-old. “The whole arena is cheering for your team, it’s amazing.”
It should give the Jazz some headaches on the drive back to Salt Lake City that Dallas won by 25 points despite the Texans scoring just 27.9 percent overall from Downtown. But Utah didn’t find any means against the drives from Doncic and Co. into the zone – like almost the entire series.
2. Luka Doncic: Get rid of the problem calf
A little history lesson on the side: Doncic has now played 15 playoff games under his belt in his young career, with 499 points scored he shot up to 5th place among the best playoff scorers of all time in the first 15 appearances. His ninth and tenth 30+ point performances came after his injury, which cost him the first three games. But the problem calf seems to be doing just fine.
This was not only confirmed by the performances shown, but also by Doncic himself at the press conference: “I felt great. In the first game after the injury, I felt a little inferior.” There was really no reason for that after game 5.
However, coach Jason Kidd has yet to send Doncic to his usual rotation. In the regular season, he usually played through the entire first quarter, and in his first two playoff appearances he was on the bench after about eight minutes. It seems pretty damn close to 100 percent though.
“In his second game it looks like he’s going to play the whole series,” said Coach Kidd. “His condition, his use of defense or rebounding. In this respect he is one of the best with us and he showed that today.”
In fact, Dallas had trouble rebounding against Gobert for much of the series, but Doncic’s rebounding skills (13 rebounds) helped that wasn’t a factor in Game 5. And of course the 33 points weren’t bad either.
