His return in Game 4 did not allow Dallas to win (99-100). But Monday evening, for his first steps at home in these 2022 play-offs, Luka Doncic led the Mavericks recital against Utah (102-77) to regain the advantage in the series. With 33 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists, the Slovenian martyred the Jazz defense, powerless like Bojan Bogdanovic, regularly sent to Doncic.
Utah held a quarter and a half with two award-winning shots from Danuel House then Juancho Hernangomez to erase a first gap created by Dallas (30-28, 15th). But Quin Snyder’s players’ evening quickly turned into a nightmare on the outside address (3 out of 30, 10% success). And between two balls returned by the circle, Luka Doncic found his rhythm.
The former Real Madrid prodigy broke the morale of the Jazz by scoring two baskets in quick succession plus the opposing foul: the first against Bojan Bogdanovic and the second under the circle, against Rudy Gobert, after a nice feint to blow up the pivot of the Blues (50-32, 22nd).
Doncic then folded the match in his other favorite area. In three minutes, the Mavericks star hit the mark three times behind the arc to roar the spans of the American Airlines Center (79-46, 32nd).
10
Luka Doncic now has 10 games with 30 or more points in the play-offs out of his 15 games played in the finals.
Under the impetus of Rudy Gobert (17 points, 11 rebounds), the Jazz slightly reduced the gap at the start of the last quarter to give the final defeat a slightly less painful scale. The pivot of the Blues and his teammates will absolutely have to win Thursday evening to avoid elimination and play a match 7. Donovan Mitchell (9 points, 4 out of 15 shooting) and Bojan Bogdanovic (2 points, 0 out of 9) will be eagerly awaited after their failed performance on Monday night.
Toronto still believes in it
The statistic is recalled in each play-off match: no team has ever managed to win a series after being down 3-0. The Raptors are just halfway there. On the brink after Joel Embiid’s decisive shot in Game 3, the Canadian franchise raised its head last Saturday before winning Monday night on the Philadelphia floor (103-88).
Injured in the ankle during the first game of the series, Scottie Barnes is back in the five of Toronto and the rookie of the year blackened the statistics sheet (12 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals). At the start of the fourth quarter, he distilled two caviars synonymous with dunks for Thaddeus Young and Precious Achiuwa (83-70, 40th). Pascal Siakam (23 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists) came to the rookie relay to conclude the meeting.
Far from the Canadian joy, concern begins to rise among the Sixers. Joel Embiid is diminished by a ligament tear in the right thumb. But the pivot (20 points, 11 rebounds Monday night) decided to play and have surgery after the play-offs.
The other local star, James Harden, is struggling to find his rhythm offensively (15 points, 4 of 11 shooting). Doc Rivers and his men have three days to dispel those doubts before traveling to Toronto and Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night for Game 6.
