Jazz Blow Big Lead, Suffer Third Road Loss To Dallas Mavericks

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz dropped their third straight road game falling to the Dallas Mavericks 103-100.

Jordan Clarkson led the Jazz with 22 points and had a chance to send the game to overtime, but his three-point shot rimmed out at the buzzer and the Jazz opened their three-game road trip with a loss.

The Jazz led by 15 early in the third quarter, but Dallas erased the lead by way of a 33 point outing from Luka Doncic en route to the Mavericks victory.

Jazz Haven’t Played Great On The Road

Though the Jazz have been one of the most surprising teams in the league, they’ve been less than stellar on the road, especially in their last three outings.

The Jazz have dropped three straight road games including Wednesday night’s loss in Dallas, with previous losses coming against the Houston Rockets, and a blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets.

By season’s end, there may be little shame in losing to either the Mavericks or Nuggets on the road as both teams project as playoff teams, but at this point early in the season, neither has hit their groove.

A Jordan Clarkson three was just off the mark, and the @utahjazz fall to the @dallasmavs 103-100. #takenote https://t.co/wD2Pn3MuPB

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) November 3, 2022

Dallas has had a rough start to the year blowing big leads to the Phoenix Suns and Oklahoma City Thunder, with another close loss on the road to the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Nuggets are undefeated at home, but the Jazz never made the game competitive.

The loss to the Rockets marks Houston’s only win so far this season.

Even in the Jazz road wins they blew a 17 point lead in the fourth quarter to the Pelicans and found themselves down 17 before eventually beating the Minnesota Timberwolves in overtime.

The Jazz are 6-3 on the season, with both road wins coming in extra time, and three losses that wouldn’t be considered great performances.

With five of their next six games on the road, the Jazz could see their hot early start rapidly cool off.

Jazz Rookies Are Out Of The Rotation In Dallas

Rookie Walker Kessler returned from a three-game absence due to an unspecified illness in Dallas but recorded only four minutes, all of which came in the second quarter.

A personal foul was the only statistic the Auburn product recorded during his time on the floor.

While Kessler works to regain his wind, Ochaci Agbaji never left the bench, despite averaging 19 minutes, and 6.7 points per game in the Jazz last three outings.

Agbaji’s playing time coincided with the absence and subsequent return of Rudy Gay who missed the prior three games in the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Gay had two points and five rebounds in Wednesday night’s loss.

Walker Kessler who has missed the last two @utahjazz games is practicing with the team before they head out on their three game road trip. #TakeNote  | @kslsports

— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) November 1, 2022

The Jazz third rookie, forward Simone Fontecchio, missed his fourth straight game in the NBA’s health and safety protocol.

Jazz coach Will Hardy hasn’t been shy about adjusting his rotation, so the fourth total minutes from a healthy Kessler and Agbaji likely doesn’t mean they’re out of the rotation for the foreseeable future.

But it’s worth tracking for the rest of the Jazz road trip.

Jazz Struggle When Markkanen Doesn’t Score

Lauri Markkanen has placed himself in the early All-Star conversation but managed just 14 points on the road in Dallas.

So far this season the Jazz are just 1-3 when Markkanen scores 17 points or fewer with their lone win coming against the Nuggets to open the season.

Markkanen maintained his efficiency inside the arc against Dallas connecting on a perfect 6-6 of his field goal attempts but missed all four of his threes.

JC 🪡 to Lauri#TakeNote https://t.co/qEucLbIATp

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) November 3, 2022

The Finnish forward’s 10 field goal attempts were his fewest of the season as Dallas made a more concerted effort to slow the Jazz’s leading scorer on the offensive side of the ball.

Markkanen has a career 15.6 point per game scoring average, so needing to cross the 17 point threshold isn’t all that out of the ordinary. But, he can’t have the same amount of field goal attempts as Jarred Vanderbilt if the Jazz expect to win games on the road.

Extras

• Collin Sexton is finding his groove offensively. Over his last four games he’s averaging 16.5 points per game, shooting 50 percent from the floor and 39 percent from the three-point line.
• Kelly Olynyk has come back to earth. After scoring in double-digits in three of the Jazz first four games, the Gonzaga product has broken the 10 point mark only once in his last five games.
• If you exclude Olynyk’s 4-6 three-point shooting performance in Saturday’s win over Memphis, the center has connected on just one of his last nine three-point attempts.
• Olynyk has had 25 fouls in his last five games.
• Jarred Vanderbilt has 35 fouls, second most of any player in the NBA. He trails only Olynyk who has 42 through nine games this season.
• Olynyk’s 4.7 fouls per game are tied for the most in the NBA.

Jazz Next Broadcast

The Jazz now travel to Loss Angeles to face the Lakers on Friday night. The game will tip off at 8:30 pm MT and will be televised on AT&T SportsNet and can be heard on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone. The game will also be streamed on DirecTV Stream and FuboTV.

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