Dallas keeps finding new ways to lose in the clutch.
On Thursday night the Mavericks dropped their fourth game in a row — by a total of eight points — when a defensive miscommunication left Luka Doncic in no-man’s land and Utah’s Jordan Clarkson whipped a pass right past him to John Collins for a game-winning dunk. .
Naji Marshall of Dallas missed a 3, and Utah collected the victory, 115-113.
After the game, both Mavericks coach Jason Kidd and Doncic agreed on a defensive communication issue that led to Collins getting free for the game-winning dunk, with Doncic saying it was his fault for not understanding what Mavs defensive coordinator Sean Sweeney was calling.
“There was a misunderstanding,” Doncic said, via Grant Afseth. “I thought I was going to get hit, and Grimes thought he was going to get hit. And it was a lob, so we got the bench wrong. That’s on me.”
The Mavericks have been similarly unanswered about their late-game execution issues overall – Dallas is 1-6 on the season in clutch games (within five points in the final five minutes) with a -20.5 net rating in those minutes. All four games in Dallas’ losing streak have been within one possession.
This was a nice victory for the Jazz, who were led by Collins with 28 points and nine rebounds, while Clarkson scored 20. Lauri Markkanen could not finish the game due to a blow to his face that led to vision problems.
Doncic had 37 points and nine assists to lead Dallas.
