3 keys to the Utah Jazz’s Game 3 loss to the Dallas Mavericks

Despite a furious second half comeback, the Utah Jazz lost to the Dallas Mavericks Thursday night in Salt Lake City.

The Mavericks, still without All-Star Luka Doncic, took a 2-1 series lead over the Jazz in the best-of-seven first round series.

Here are three keys to the Jazz’s 126-118 loss to the Mavericks.

Dallas’ reserve shooting

• The Mavericks’ 3-point shooting was once again too much for the Jazz to overcome.
• Dallas made 18 of 42 3-point attempts, shooting 42.9% from behind the arc.
• The Mavericks’ reserves were particularly effective from deep, with Maxi Kleber, Davis Bertans and Josh Green combining to hit 13 3s.

No answer for Jalen Brunson

• Yet again, Dallas’ point guard had an answer for anything and everything that Utah threw at him.
• Brunson finished with a game-high 31 points, connecting on 12 of 22 shot attempts.
• Brunson was especially effective in the fourth quarter, when he and Spencer Dinwiddie (19 points) combined to hold off the Jazz’s final push of the game.

Cold from distance

• While Dallas could not be contained from deep, the opposite held true for Utah.
• The Jazz made only 9 of their 28 attempts from 3-point range and only two Jazz players — Bojan Bogdanovic and Eric Paschall — shot better than 33% from behind the arc.
• Donovan Mitchell and and Mike Conley especially struggled, combined to make three 3s on 14 attempts.