Doncic made his series debut in Game 4 at Utah, when the Jazz scored the final five points of the game in the final 31 seconds to tie the series at one. He never allowed Game 5 to get close. “In his second game, it appears as though he’s played the entire series,” coach Jason Kidd remarked. “His fitness, his defensive effort. When it comes to rebounding, he is one of the best for us, as he demonstrated tonight.”‘
Utah never had a chance as a nearly six-minute scoreless stretch in the second quarter sparked a 22-4 Dallas surge on route to a 52-36 halftime lead. Game 6 is scheduled for Thursday night in Salt Lake City, with the Jazz recovering their imposing home-court advantage but facing the enormous odds of only 18% of teams winning a series after losing the fifth game in a four-game series split.
Since winning the 2011 title, the Mavericks have not advanced to the postseason. Utah is in the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season but has yet to get past the second round. Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points and Rudy Gobert added 17 points and 11 boards in the Jazz’s lowest-scoring game since Nov. 14, 2018 (118-68 loss to Dallas). They made three of thirty three-point attempts (10 percent) and shot 38 percent overall.
