SALT LAKE CITY — Dallas Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson The referee made only his second technical mistake in his NBA career as he rubbed his back and crept toward the locker room.
Utah Jazz front Royce O’Neale just hit an elbow to Brunson’s back as the players found a position to recover, forcing Brunson out of the Third Half on Thursday in the final 4 minutes and 38 seconds of the first half.
It’s the only way the Jazz has managed to slow Brunson in the past few games.
The Mavs led the series 2-1 with a 126-118 win largely due to Brunson’s second consecutive spectacular performance while the Mavs superstar defended the point. Luka Doncic recovering from straining his left calf. Doncic has ramped up his basketball activism and hopes to debut his series in Game 4 on Saturday.
Brunson had 31 points when he shot 12 out of 22. That came after a career-high 41 points shot 15 of 25 in Game 2’s Monday win. It was the first time Brunson, a four-year veteran, had scored 30 or more points in consecutive games. in his NBA career.
“I’m just being myself, just trying to help my team win,” said Brunson, who also had five assists on Thursday. “That’s all I’m thinking about right now. I don’t really think of it as a coming-out party.”
Brunson, the Mavs’ second-highest scorer with 16.3 points per game, featured in this series as Dallas’ main pitcher with Doncic sidelined. He repeatedly exploited Jazz’s poor on-ball defense, often acting as a catalyst for ball movement, which was a key factor in helping the Mavs produce 40 threes in two wins. their scores, including 18 of 42 shots from long range in Game 3.
According to research by ESPN Stats & Information, all of Brunson’s 31 points in the third half came from dribbling. He scored 22 points in paint, using a combination of tackle, footwork, power and touch to ignite the Jazz.
“He’s a talented player,” Defender of Jazz Donovan Mitchell speak. “And he’s the winner. You’re seeing that. Pretty much the first time in his career, people really get to see it.”
Mitchell scored 28 of his game-high 32 points in the second half, as the Jazz lowered the 17-point deficit to one point before the shortfall.
“We are playing at a level where we can withstand their games,” said Brunson, who has committed only one revenue in the last two games. “The fact that we can do that tonight is special, because obviously this is a tough place to play. We just have to keep playing basketball in our style and stick together. I think. that we’ve made it. Even if they cut it into one, we’re ready. We’re calm and collected. We just have to maintain that.”
Utah played a considerable amount of time in the second half with 6 foot-6 Eric Paschall in the center, jostling for solutions.
Jazz has been ranked 26th with the All-Star center Rudy Gobert on the floor in the last two matches. Mavs have succeeded in playing a five-out offensive style, in large part due to the backup center Maxi Kleber came out of a slump at the end of the season, hitting 12/16 games from the 3-point range. Kleber had 17 points in 22 minutes on Thursday, as he made four of his five 3-point attempts.
The Vivint Arena crowd booed Jazz at the end of the second quarter and entered halftime, disappointed to see Utah eliminated by Dallas without Doncic the same way LA Clippers did it without getting hurt Kawhi Leonard in the playoffs last year.
“Everybody expected us to take on the business, and we didn’t in the first half,” said Mitchell. “We got booed. How it was. The team reacted, which shows who our characters are. We’ll take that, look at the movie and adjust.”
