Jazz catch Mavs sleeping on final play for first home win of the season

Maybe the Dallas Mavericks were thinking what a lot of the people inside the Delta Center were thinking on Thursday night — late-game situation, waiting for the shot clock to wind down, ball in Jordan Clarkson’s hands, he’s probably taking the shot.

Instead, with the game tied and just seconds left to play, Clarkson saw John Collins sneak toward the basket without a defender on him and Clarkson hurled a pass to his fellow J.C. with laser precision.

Easy, undefended, game-winning dunk.

The Utah Jazz improved to 3-8 overall and earned their first home win of the season with a 115-113 victory over the Mavs, and Collins punctuated his team-high 28 points with the final two of the night.

“(Luka) Doncic was on John and Quentin Grimes went to pre-switch out of the corner to run up with John to keep Luka low on the court, and John kind of took one step up, and they got confused on whether they were switching or not,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said of the play.

“J.C. threw him a dart, but that’s J.C. and John understanding the moment together.”

Collins said there was a moment, as Clarkson was dribbling out the shot clock, that the two made eye contact and he felt like he knew Clarkson was telling him to stay close to the basket.

Clarkson said he was waiting to read the pre-switch, expecting that it was coming, but when the Mavericks hesitated and Doncic was standing with his back to Collins, Clarkson knew it was time to act.

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“Just a mistake on their end, and then we capitalized,” Clarkson said. “I’m just happy me and John had some telekinesis action going on, and he just read my eyes and knew what I was looking for.”

The Jazz were over the moon about finally getting a win at home. After their most recent win, in San Antonio against the Spurs, Collins noted that the two road wins definitely felt good, but that he was craving a win at home in front of the Jazz fans.

“At the end of the day, J.C. made a great read, finished the play and we finally get a home win, which we’ve been searching and striving hard to get,” Collins said.

Next up for the Jazz, another four-game road trip. They’ll play Saturday in Sacramento, Sunday in Los Angeles against the Clippers, Tuesday in L.A. against the Lakers and finish the trip once again in San Antonio, which will be their third game against the Spurs this season.