The Dallas Mavericks traveled to Salt Lake City desperate for a win, having lost their last three games, all in tough situations. To get a win against the Utah Jazz, they would have to do so without Kyrie Irving, who was knocked out late with a sprained shoulder.

Without Irving, Jason Kidd decided to really shake up the starting lineup, rolling with Luka Doncic, Quentin Grimes, Klay Thompson, Maxi Kleber and Dereck Lively II. This is the first start of the season for Grimes, Kleber and Lively, with Grimes’ start being a bit of a surprise considering he was a DNP coach’s decision just two games ago.

Utah started Collin Sexton, Keyonte George, Lauri Markkanen, Kyle Filipowski and John Collins with injuries to Taylor Hendricks and Walker Kessler.

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This new starting lineup got off to a good start defensively, with great shots from Luka Doncic and Quentin Grimes to open a seven-point lead. Coach Kidd was clearly playing with the lineups, as the first person off the bench was Dwight Powell…at power forward. And it kind of worked, at least on defense. Powell was +7 in his first few minutes of this game without scoring, but he had two blocks and two assists in that span.

Dallas’ offense was unable to take advantage of Utah’s start and the Jazz began to lose ground late in the first quarter. Turnovers and missed rabbits were a huge problem as the Jazz cut the lead to 26-25 in the final two minutes of the quarter. Dallas would lead 28-27 heading into the second quarter, which is only the fourth time it has led the game heading into the second quarter this season. This could have been a much bigger lead if they (Naji Marshall, in particular) hadn’t missed a few floaters right at the rim.

Utah would take a 34-32 lead after three straight plays from Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson, then a bucket from Cody Williams capped an 8-0 run. Early fouls and bad turnovers kept Dallas in a bad position despite good shooting from the floor and from three. For Derek Lively to become a consistent starter, he can’t commit three fouls in six minutes like he did in this game.

The Mavericks eventually regained the lead, 47-45, following some key shots from Grimes and Klay Thompson. Of all the players who could have given the Mavericks problems, it was second-round rookie Kyle Filipowski, who they constantly lost to on defense. In just his fourth career start, Filipowski had 13 points in the first half, which allowed them to hang around, with the Mavs taking a 64-61 lead into halftime. For the work done to contain Lauri Markkanen, who had only four points, Filipowski was making up for it.

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Lively picked up her fourth foul just 1:15 into the second half, which must have been frustrating for Jason Kidd, and then her fifth a few minutes later with Daniel Gafford waiting to come in. Some of his fouls were questionable, but Lively continued to put himself in bad positions, something he will learn with more experience. A three-pointer from Markkanen would give Utah the lead again, 75-73. The Jazz then hit two more threes to extend the lead to 81-73 as Daniel Gafford left the game after slipping on a wet spot, putting the Mavs’ center rotation in a difficult situation. Luka Doncic would score five straight points to bring the game back to one possession.

Before they knew it, however, the Mavericks were facing a 12-point gap as the Jazz were on a 25-7 run to go up 90-78. Turnovers and fouls remained a problem against a bad Jazz team, but the Mavericks were fighting themselves. They were hesitant to shoot, lacking energy and in their own heads as they faced a 99-85 deficit heading into the fourth quarter.

A Collin Sexton basket early in the fourth quarter gave the Jazz their biggest lead of the SEASON with 16 points. Dallas responded with a 7-0 run to bring it back to single digits, then a pull-up jumper by Naji Marshall cut the lead to seven at 101-94. Dallas’ run came to a halt with a Jordan Clarkson heave as the shot clock expired to cut the lead to 10.

Kidd put Lively back in the game with his five fouls with just under eight minutes remaining, and the Mavericks began to claw back, cutting the Jazz lead to 106-103 with just over four minutes left. play. Dallas had two chances to tie the game with open three-pointers on the ensuing possession from Grimes and Marshall, but they missed both. Luka Doncic, however, would tie the game at 108-108 with a long three over Filipowski.

Dallas would regain the lead with 1:33 remaining with a back-and-forth between Doncic and Marshall leading to a lob for Lively. Jordan Clarkson would convert on an and-one to put the Jazz up 111-110, Jaden Hardy nailed an open three, then John Collins cleaned up a Jordan Clarkson miss to extend the lead to 113-110 with 36.7 seconds left. play.

Luka Doncic drew a double team on the next possession, and he dealt it to Klay Thompson, who tied the game with 27 seconds left, but Doncic then lost track of John Collins, who slammed it with 6.5 seconds remaining. On the final possession, Doncic was double-teamed on a post-up, he dealt it to Naji Marshall in the corner, who took the shot, and the Mavericks would lose their fourth straight game, all in the clutch , 115-113.

It was the Jazz’s first home win of the season as they improved to 3-8, while the Mavericks fell to 5-7.

It’s the same issues for the Mavericks, who allowed 16 offensive rebounds, turned it over 17 times and shot just 30.8 percent from the free throw line. They have a lot of problems to solve; some of these could be solved by being healthy, but often they just don’t show energy.

Luka Doncic led all players with 37 points and nine assists, but he also pulled down three rebounds. He was 4/13 from three in this game, continuing a trend of shooting from deep. Naji Marshall made a few sloppy plays in the first half but bounced back to finish with 19 points and three steals, but he too had three turnovers. Klay Thompson had 17 points and three turnovers, Quentin Grimes 15 points (all in the first half) and Daniel Gafford 10 points.

John Collins led the Jazz with 28 points and nine rebounds, Jordan Clarkson 20 points, Collin Sexton 16 points, Keyonte George and Kyle Filipowski 14 points and Lauri Markkanen 13 points. Dallas just wasn’t good enough defensively, especially in the third quarter, against a team that was dead last on offense heading into the game.

The Mavericks return home to face the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.

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