Doncic didn't score the ball well, but Kyrie Irving stepped up when he was needed most
The Dallas Mavericks returned home on Monday night after losing to the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night, their first loss of the season. They came home to play the Utah Jazz, who were searching for their first win of the season.
The second quarter started pretty sloppy, too. A John Collins rim-rocker woke the crowd up, but Doncic responded with a lob to Gafford, who slammed it home. Doncic wasn't scoring the ball well early but was passing it well and playing solid defense. After missing his tenth shot attempt in a 1/10 start, he picked up a frustration-foul 90 feet from the basket. Despite his rough start, the Mavs were still winning 35-31 midway through the quarter.
Both offenses ground to a halt, and that only worsened after Jazz's second-year player Taylor Hendricks slipped and suffered a gruesome lower leg injury. Trainers rushed out to cover his leg as he was stretchered off the floor, and that stopped play for a while as the Jazz recovered from that mental image of their teammate going down. Hopefully, he will recover soon, but it was a horrific injury.
The lead would fluctuate between 8 and 11 for the next four minutes before Utah chipped it to six with 3:51 remaining. Doncic drew a charge after missing a fadeaway, which wiped away a would-be three by Markkanen that would've cut the lead further. Even if he wasn't scoring, Doncic was determined to make an impact on the game.
Four other Mavs would finish in double figures: Klay Thompson , P.J. Washington , Dereck Lively II , and Spencer Dinwiddie .
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