Dallas Mavericks have been on a great run lately as the wins mount up heading to the final part of the season.
Luka Doncic and co. showed determination Monday night to get a big 103-111 victory against the Utah Jazz.
At the end of the day, it’s all about home-court advantage in the playoffs and Doncic led the Mavs to the fifth straight win. Jason Kidd’s squad is 0.5 games behind Utah after last night.
Doncic had 35 points and a season-high 16 rebounds for the Mavericks, who held on for the win in the fourth quarter, despite allowing 35 points.
Utah and Dallas is a potential first playoff round matchup this season. The Jazz dropped to 40-24 and the Mavericks improved to 40-25.
Dallas can even the series in the final regular-season meeting at home, March 27. Utah won twice in Salt Lake City, and the home team has won six in a row in this pairing going back to last season.
If Dallas continues its rise in the Western Conference standings, it will be the first time in many years that the team will start the postseason on home court.
”Four, you have the home advantage. That’s a big thing,” Doncic told reporters. ”We’ve never had it since I’ve been here, so I think we’re trying for the home advantage for sure.”
The Mavs, with Doncic as their corner stone, faced the Los Angeles Clippers two consecutive years. Both occasions were with Dallas being the lower seed.
Dallas was determined to push themselves in victory Monday night. They increased their lead to 20 points late in the third quarter, but Utah fought back.
They cut the lead to seven in the final two minutes of the game, before Doncic stole the ball from Donovan Mitchell and fed Dorian Finney-Smith for an alley-oop dunk to give Dallas the momentum back.
ACTUAL BEAST MODE 🥵🥵🥵 pic.twitter.com/h7pkT2vPwy — Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) March 8, 2022
“They’re really good, obviously,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said on the Mavs. “The way they’re playing right now, they’re as good as anybody in the NBA, and that’s obvious.
“You can point to what Luka does. It’s special the way that he scores, rebounds and play makes.”
The Mavs will hope to continue their winning streak against New York to end up a four-game home stand. The Knicks are coming off two consecutive wins on the road.
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