The Utah Jazz took Game 2 of the series. They could double their series lead this Monday in Game 2. Will the Jazz go up 2-0? Or will the Dallas Mavericks even it all up before the series goes to Salt Lake City? Check out our preview below of Game 2 of Jazz vs. Mavs 2022 NBA Playoffs series.
The Jazz stole a win on the road right away in the series, as they took Game 2 via a 99-93 score. Utah capitalized in the absence of Luka Doncic. Bojan Bogdanovic scattered 26 points, while Donovan Mitchell erupted for 32 points. Rudy Gobert scored just five points but grabbed 17 rebounds. It was actually the Jazz’s rebounding that titled the tide towards their favor. Utah shot just 43.4 percent from the field and 31.8 percent from deep but had 13 offensive rebounds and 53 total rebounds to just 34 by Dallas. As long as the Mavs have no answer for Gobert, Mitchell and company will have all the confidence in the world to take shots, knowing their relatively high chances of keeping possessions after misses. On the other side, Utah’s defense and defensive rebounding limited the Mavs to just 76 attempts from the field—way lower than Dallas’ regular-season average of 85.0 FG/G which was already 27th fewest in the NBA.
The Jazz are 7-2 against the spread in their last nine playoff games as the favorite.
The Mavs might be forced to play Luka Doncic in Game 2. Doncic missed Game 2 with a calf injury. He is currently considered day-to-day, but the Mavs also can’t afford to lose home advantage while also going down a 0-2 series hole. A return by Doncic, even if he’s not 100% healthy, will change the outlook for the Mavs for the better. If Doncic can’t still go, the Mavs will start Jalen Brunson again at the point. Brunson had 24 points in Game 2 but was 9/24 from the floor. Spencer Dinwiddie had 22 but was just 6/15. The hope for Dallas is that both Brunson and Dinwiddie will shoot more efficiently from the floor, though the latter went 10/16 from the free-throw line in Game 2. Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber, meanwhile, need to be more sturdy in the middle. The Jazz carved up Dallas’ defense in the pain, with Gobert gobbling most of the rebounds.
The Mavs are 6-2 against the spread in their last eight contests overall.
