Mavericks comeback bid fails, losing to Jazz in preseason

The Dallas Mavericks took on the Utah Jazz on Thursday night looking for their first win of the preseason. They lost to the Grizzlies on Monday night, but had some additional reinforcements this time around with Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving making their first appearances.

Luka Doncic, PJ Washington and other Mavs were still unavailable due to various injuries, so Dallas started Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, Thompson, Olivier-Maxence Prosper and Dereck Lively II, while Utah started Keyontae George, Collin Sexton and Lauri Markkanen started, Taylor Hendrick and Walker Kessler. This was Utah's third preseason game of the year, winning its first two.

READ MORE: Dallas Mavericks re-sign prospect to two-way deal

It was an ugly offensive start for the Mavs as they missed their first five shots before Olivier-Maxence Prosper got them on the board after a second chance. At the first media timeout the score was tied at 6 with the teams a combined 5/21 from the floor. Thompson missed his first few shots, but had a nice fake shot to allow Dereck Lively II the easy assist for a dunk.

Although the defense worked early, Dallas came out of that timeout in a zone, which could be a sign of things to come in the regular season. There has been a lot of emphasis in their defense on replacing Derrick Jones Jr. with Thompson, who isn't as good a defender as he once was, and a zone could be a good way to address that.

Both teams began to wake up, with Utah hitting three straight threes after the timeout to gain a small lead, but Kyrie Irving also made the shot and kept the Mavericks in the lead. A dunk by Daniel Gafford in transition forced a timeout by Utah's Will Hardy a few minutes before the end of the quarter, so the game ended 17-17. Towards the end of the quarter, Thompson finally got on the court with a free throw, but missed the second attempt. A sure three-pointer from Utah's Isaiah Collier and some free throws from Jordan Clarkson gave the Jazz a 24-18 lead early in the second period.

Klay Thompson opened the second quarter with his first basket, a three-pointer that bounced back and forth. That wouldn't be enough to get Dallas going, as Utah would extend the lead to 11 after back-to-back contested three-pointers from Lauri Markkanen, who signed a big contract extension this offseason.

Kyrie Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie helped get the Mavs back within striking distance, but then the offense stalled. Dallas went scoreless for several minutes, and in the NBA that was enough to put them behind by a wide margin. Utah went up by 11 several times before taking a 60-47 halftime lead. Markkanen led all scorers with 14 points in the first half, closely followed by teammate Jordan Clarkson, who had 13. In the first half we would only see Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving. Thompson woke up late in the half and had 10 points; he had to shake off the rust.

READ MORE: Dallas Mavericks Fantasy Basketball Outlook

Keyontae George, an exciting young player for the Jazz, hit a tough three-pointer early in the second half, but then suffered what appeared to be a non-contact knee injury when he slipped in the backcourt under pressure from Naji Marshall. When he made his three-pointer, he had spilled water everywhere, which may have caused his slip, and he went straight to the locker room with the help of his teammates.

That didn't stop Utah from extending its lead to 20 midway through the third quarter. After a slow start for Lauri Markkanen, he turned everything around in the second quarter and carried it over into the second half. His shots opened up the offense for everyone else. Without Luka Doncic and Irving, Dallas continued to struggle to make shots in the second half. They had sloppy passes, bad turnovers and were too unselfish at times. There were opportunities for Mavs to take open shots and they tried to pass the ball to someone else, which would kill the possession.

Thanks to great energy and effort from Daniel Gafford, Dallas was able to cut the lead to 11 before the end of the period, and a free throw from Utah would give them a 92-80 lead heading into the final frame.

Utah played with its key players well into the fourth quarter, while Dallas began the period with a rotation of Hardy, AJ Lawson, O-Max Prosper, Dwight Powell and Jamarion Sharp. That left Powell with guarding Markkanen, which was a little riskier than one would expect, even if Markkanen did throw down a poster dunk.

Dallas pushed Utah's lead to single digits for the first time since the first half after a couple of free throws from Prosper, but a Markkanen gain brought the Jazz back to within 12. However, with five minutes left, Dallas cut the lead to 8 on a jump shot from Jazian Gortman Points.

With some defensive help from Sharp, Dallas cut the lead to six with two minutes left, and a three-pointer from Prosper cut the lead to three with 26 seconds left, and Dallas didn't foul until six seconds left. Free throws from Sensabaugh would ice the game and Dallas would fall behind 107-102, falling to 0-2 in the preseason.

Gafford led the Mavs with 15 points off the bench, along with seven rebounds and three blocks. Dallas has an elite rotation of bigs with him and Lively. Irving (12 points), Jaden Hardy (12), Thompson (10), Spencer Dinwiddie (10) and O-Max Prosper (10) also all scored in double figures. Prosper had 10 rebounds and finished the game with a double-double.

Utah was led by Markkanen's 26 points as they shot 11/28 from three-point range while Dallas was just 8/28. The Mavs had 17 turnovers in this game, three each by Sharp, Irving and Prosper, something they are looking to clean up as the regular season begins. They also gave up 15 offensive rebounds.

Dallas will play at the Clippers' new Intuit Dome on Monday at 9:30 p.m. CST.

READ MORE: Anthony Edwards regrets calling Kyrie Irving before WCF

Stick with it Mavericks game day for more FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks throughout the 2024-25 season

Follow MavericksGameday on Twitter and Austin Veazey continued Twitter