PLAYOFF ROUND 1 GAME 6: DAL (4-2) vs. UTA (2-4) | 98-96 WIN!!!

[Chicagojk]

Great to get the win, but that was stressful.  Mavs were lucky the Jazz didn't get some shots to fall.  The Jazz really played hard.

The Mavs offense late was really bad.  So much isolation but worse they waited way to long to attack.  Need to get that fixed fast, because Phoenix wins their games in the last five minutes.   Mavs need good offense late against PHX.

You really see the Mavs need another big player.  Powell was not a factor today and Maxi hit a three and a tough 2, but he looked lost on offense the rest of the game.   I think he had some good defensive plays though.

Really nice scoring games by Luka, Din and Brunson though.   DFS was really good too.  

Lets enjoy it.

[Mavs2021]

You guys can thank me now for winning this series. I did two things to seal this win:

1. Did not watch a single second of the second half. Basketball gods hate me watching the Mavs win.

2. Made an anti-jinx bet with a Utah fan, I now owe him a $50 video game.

Well I started watching, when they were down 10 in the 3rd, so you can thank me, too.  

Bojan oh Bojan that was a bad botched defensive assignment,but it would have been against the overall run of play in this series, if Utah somehow got this to game 7. Mavs were clearly the better team throughout and deserved to advance between 4-1 and 4-2 ish.

[SleepingHero]

Utah got the look they wanted.  Lucked out!

Was it luck though? Bojan had no legs. We've seen all the stats how his offense was basically DOA since he started primary defending. Dinwiddie made him hesitate just a bit which I think combined with his tired legs made the three a prayer.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Let's hope CP3 doesn't go 14-14 from the field again and we might have a chance.

[Jym]

Glad we limped out of there
Crazy the Jazz couldn't figure out how to take advantage of Luka and DFS as the bigs against Gobert

[ItsGoTime]

MUCH needed rest before the start of the next round.

[Fuerza1]

Tonight's 4Q offense ends in a sweep vs PHX. But lets enjoy this, finally out of the 1st round again!

Coach Kidd (worst coach in the league) does it in his first year! 

Playing the best team in the NBA in round 2, it doesn't get better than this, can't wait!

[MaxiThreeba]

Kidd has a lot to learn from this gamefilm…and that’s fine.  It wasn’t just Luka missing a few shots…he couldn’t get by Royce freaking O’Neale at all…his passes out of doubles were lazy and no zip (think one got swiped and a couple more deflected in 4th quarter). 

They almost lost that game because Kidd rode Luka too damned hard.  We learned JB can handle things adequately without Luka.  There was an opportunity in the 4th to either sit Luka for a couple minutes or at least run offense through JB here and there.  

Luka expended a ton of effort defending in the post and fighting for rebounds.  The trade off was non-existent perimeter defense and a dead leg Luka trying to finish off a close out game.

[omahen]

Not a fun game to watch, but I will take the win

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Bad coaching by Utah. They let Dallas get whatever they wanted in regards to open 3's with no defensive adjustments whatsoever. Expect major changes in Utah.

[cow]

Tonight's 4Q offense ends in a sweep vs PHX. But lets enjoy this, finally out of the 1st round again!

The 1Q offense and 2Q defense would have prevented the 4th quarter from mattering.  We played pretty terrible tonight and should have lost.  Bojan gagging that gift of three at the end just sums up this Utah team.  Woof!

[BolsDamols]

2nd Round Baby!

[Branduil]

Also, we finally got the good Dinwiddie game!

[ThisIStheYear]

I think Luka will play better against Phoenix. He seemed about 85% over the course of the last three games—all star but not all world level.  A few more days and he’ll approach 100%.

[Branduil]

I think Luka will play better against Phoenix. He seemed about 85% over the course of the last three games—all star but not all world level.  A few more days and he’ll approach 100%.

He looked good in Game 5 but he was absolutely off tonight. There were multiple times in the first half where he drove into the paint and then gave up on trying to make something happen.

[Halfnir]

What a win!

Everybody who wonders why Bojan was so open to shoot the final 3 (like me). Take a good look at was Clarkson does on the play ... 
https://youtu.be/n1thwdACIVg?t=200

I really hate how the refs always get caught ball watching and most rules are switched off on clutch plays. Great reaction by Dinwiddie to switch and at least get to the fly-by contest.

[Jym]

He looked good in Game 5 but he was absolutely off tonight. There were multiple times in the first half where he drove into the paint and then gave up on trying to make something happen.

Still shocked he played the entire second half while staying so ball dominate on offense
If you're going play him that much, you need to hide him in the corner on a few possessions to get him a breather while Brunson and  Dinwiddie do their thing

[MaxiThreeba]

Still shocked he played the entire second half while staying so ball dominate on offense
If you're going play him that much, you need to hide him in the corner on a few possessions to get him a breather while Brunson and  Dinwiddie do their thing

They made a mistake.  Most of it has to fall to Kidd and staff because that’s the nature of coaching.  Luka has to be smarter than that too and understand he can’t do it all….and doesn’t have to all the time. 

Games 2 and 3 should be the catalyst toward a much more diverse clutch offense in terms of who is initiating.  Brunson showed he can carry some of that load.

[mvossman]

Glad they are getting a big rest before next series.  The minutes in that game were crazy.  A 6 man rotation is going to wear this team down.  Our starting center got 11 minutes and averaged 4 and 4 this series.  Getting a quality center has to be top priority this offseason.  I think THJ would have made the trusted rotation 7, but he makes the most sense going out to get that center.  Really hope Green develops into a true rotation level player next year.  That would help a lot.

[Arioch]

He looked good in Game 5 but he was absolutely off tonight. There were multiple times in the first half where he drove into the paint and then gave up on trying to make something happen.

Dan mentioned this much earlier, but there's tape on Luka's back and shoulder that I'm almost certain wasn't there last game. I'm thinking he had some level of back or shoulder soreness/stiffness which contributed to some of his passes and circus shots not being as crisp as usual.