The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Utah Jazz on Thursday night in Dallas, winning 113-97. The game remained close throughout the first half, but in the third quarter, the Mavericks found a rhythm and quickly put distance between them and the Jazz. Utah couldn't find a way to threaten Dallas in the fourth quarter, and the Mavericks cruised to victory.
Luka Doncic led all scorers with 34 points. He also grabbed nine rebounds and recorded eight assists. Daniel Gafford led the Jazz with 24 points and Lauri Markkanen had 21 points.
The three numbers you can see from the game are:
27: Number of fast break points by Mavericks
It was crazy to see the Mavericks turn into a running team this year. For years, Dallas plodded along, bringing the ball up the court and slowly getting into action. Now they either get a turnover or a rebound and run. Doncic and Irving's playmaking ability usually translates into easy points. They outscored the Jazz 27-7 in fast break points. Tonight was a parade of alley-oops for the Mavericks. Lob City has moved to North Texas.
12: Number of stolen bases for Dallas
Many of the aforementioned fast break points came from live ball turnovers the Mavericks created. Tonight they emerged with active hands. That's out of character for this Dallas team. They entered tonight ranked 27th in the NBA with just 6.8 steals per game. On Thursday, they had 10 steals by the end of the third quarter. They were aggressive against a weak Jazz team and it paid off with easy buckets in transition.
18: Mavericks dunks
It will look like this. First the steal, then the fast break, then the dunk. And the Mavericks made a lot of dunks tonight. Lob in traffic, putback. They dunked dunk after dunk. Their 18 dunks were a season high for the Mavericks and the most in the NBA this year. This is also the highest total in a game since the 2003-04 season. He may not be able to take as many shots this year, but it is expected that he will continue to dunk on opponents. They have two talented passers in Doncic and Irving, and a bunch of athletic frontcourt players who can attack guys. The D in Dallas now stands for dunk.
