After two first quarters next to his sneakers (2 pts, at 1/9), during which Bogdanovic took over offensively by scoring 20 of his 26 points, Mitchell accelerated the tempo for the Jazz, with 19 registered pawns in the 3rd quarter which allowed his team to break away, to finish with 32 in total.
Almost not used in attack, Rudy Gobert (0/1, 5 pts only free throws) was effective in his role of deterrence (3 against, 17 rbds), the Mavs having been limited to 38.7% shooting success .
Led by 12 lengths at the start of the last quarter, Dallas fought back to come back to one unit two minutes from time, when Royce O'Neal, invisible until then, came out of his box.
He captured an unexpected offensive rebound, the ball almost immediately returning to him for his first basket of the game, three points (95-91), which definitively extinguished the Texan hopes.
Royce O'Neale celebrates his only 3-point basket which allowed the Utah Jazz to resist the return of the Dallas Mavericks and win (99-93), during the 1st game of the 1st round of the NBA playoffs, April 16, 2022 in Texas TOM PENNINGTON GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Without Doncic, who is nursing a calf strain, Dallas obviously lacked solutions in attack, despite the efforts of Jalen Brunson (18 pts) and Spencer Dinwiddie (17 pts).
Game N.2 will take place on Monday, still in Dallas.
© 2022 AFP