· What a play. Jordan Clarkson had the ball at the top and he was let the clock wind down. I was getting nervous he wasn’t leaving himself much time. On the previous plays he had gone after Luka Doncic and gotten the switch and attacked. He wasn’t doing that and Luka wasn’t really guarding John Collins. In fact, on my play by play call I said Luka is kinda guarding John Collins. Then out of no where Jordan bullets a one hand pass through the defense to a wide open John Collins who had snuck behind Luka for the dunk and the lead with :06 left.
· On the previous possession the Mavericks got the switch they wanted with Kyle Filipowski on Luka Doncic (welcome to the NBA kid) and then when Lively rolled to the basket the Jazz started to execute perfectly and had John Collins bump onto Lively and Keyonte then goes back out to perimeter but with Clarkson shading to Luka to help Klay Thompson came up top and no one got him in time either Clarkson getting back to him or Keyonte getting out in time. In theory, Keyonte’s man was in the corner. Luka perfectly timed pass left Klay wide open for a game tying three.
· On the final possession the Jazz really play great defense. Sexton is guarding Luka. Luka gets into the paint and Keyonte face guards Klay Thompson not letting the pass get to him. John Collins stays between Derrick Lively and the basket and Jordan Clarkson shades off the 17% three point shooting Najee Marshall. I am stunned Luka makes the pass to Marshall. It is a 2 point game and he has Sexton on him. He should have been able to get a pretty good look to tie the game certaintly with a better chance than Marshall making the three.
· Really great effort by the Jazz. Things had gotten very squirrely in that 4th quarter and they Jazz were falling apart and they were able to bring it back together.
· Jazz were up 104-94 when Lauri Markkanen got hurt with 7:37 left. The Jazz scored on just 2 of their next 11 possessions.
· Maybe the biggest play of the night was with 8:08 left Jordan Clarkson threw up a three point prayer as the shot clock was going to go off and it went in. It was the Jazz only field goal for a 5 minute period of time.
· Jazz played their best third quarter all year. They had been outscored in every third quarter but one before tonight. The Jazz led going into the 4th quarter for just the 2nd tie all season .
· Kyle Filipowski started for the first time. He had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists. He made his only three he took. Defensively tonight he really held his own. Doncic went after him the entire 4th quarter and he was fine. No one is going to handle Doncic but his ability to guard Doncic is the most encouraging thing we have seen from him this year in regards to his future.
· The Jazz played in transition a lot in the first three quarters, almost 20% and were averaging 2 pts per transition opportunity
· Jazz took the ball out of Keyonte’s hand late after back to back turnovers. Clarkson and Sexton started the offense
· John Collins 28 points and 9 rebounds. He has always played well against the Mavericks and did it again.
· Jazz got 36% of all offensive rebounds
· Jazz had one of their best pick and roll games of the season. It was largely Keyonte George and John Collins and that is a pair that had not clicked together before tonight.
