The Dallas Mavericks headed to Salt Lake City desperate for a win after losing their last three games, all in clutch situations. To win against the Utah Jazz, they had to do it without Kyrie Irving, who was late with a shoulder sprain.

Without Irving, Jason Kidd decided to really shake up the starting lineup, adding Luka Doncic, Quentin Grimes, Klay Thompson, Maxi Kleber and Dereck Lively II. This is the first start of the season for Grimes, Kleber and Lively, with Grimes’ start coming as a bit of a surprise as he was a DNP Coach’s Decision just two games ago.

Utah started Collin Sexton, Keyonte George, Lauri Markkanen, Kyle Filipowski and John Collins with the injuries to Taylor Hendricks and Walker Kessler.

READ MORE: Dallas Mavericks Unveil New City Edition Jerseys

This new starting lineup got off to a good start defensively, with some great shooting from Luka Doncic and Quentin Grimes creating a seven-point lead. Coach Kidd was clearly playing with lineups, as the first person off the bench was Dwight Powell…at power forward. And it sort of worked, at least on defense. Powell was +7 in his first few minutes in this game without scoring, but he did have two blocks and two assists in that time.

Dallas’ offense was unable to capitalize on Utah’s start, and the Jazz began to fade toward the end of the first quarter. Turnovers and missed bunnies were a major problem as the Jazz cut the lead to 26-25 in the final two minutes of the quarter. Dallas would lead 28-27 heading into the second quarter, marking only the fourth time they have led the game heading into the second quarter this season. It could have been a much bigger lead if they (particularly Naji Marshall) hadn’t missed a few floaters near the rim.

Utah would take a 34-32 lead after consecutive threes from Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson, then a Cody Williams bucket capped an 8-0 run. Early fouls and poor turnovers kept Dallas in bad position despite shooting well from the floor and from three. If Dereck Lively wants to develop into a consistent starter, he can’t make three fouls in six minutes like he did in this game.

The Mavericks eventually regained a lead, 47-45, after some key shots from Grimes and Klay Thompson. Of all the players who could have given the Mavericks problems, it was second-round rookie Kyle Filipowski, who they continually lost on defense. In just his fourth career start, Filipowski had 13 points in the first half to help them hang on, with the Mavs taking a 64-61 lead into halftime. For the work they did to contain Lauri Markkanen, who had just four points, Filipowski made up for it.

READ MORE: Proposed trade sends Sharpshooter from Thunder to Mavericks

Lively picked up his fourth foul just 1:15 into the second half, which had to be frustrating for Jason Kidd, and his fifth a few minutes later as Daniel Gafford waited to enter. Some of his mistakes were questionable, but Lively kept going. himself in bad positions, something he will learn with more experience. A three-pointer from Markkanen would put Utah ahead again, 75-73. The Jazz would then hit two more threes to push the lead to 81-73 when Daniel Gafford left the game after slipping on a wet spot, putting the Mavs’ center rotation in a tough spot. Luka Doncic would score five straight points to pull the game within one possession.

Before they knew it, however, the Mavericks found themselves facing a 12-point gap while the Jazz went on a 25-7 run to go up 90-78. Turnovers and mistakes continued to be an issue against a bad Jazz team, but the Mavericks were beating themselves. They were hesitant to shoot, had no energy and were in their heads as they faced a 99-85 deficit heading into the fourth quarter.

A basket early in the fourth quarter by Collin Sexton gave the Jazz their largest lead of the SEASON with 16 points. Dallas would respond with a 7-0 run to get the score back to single digits, and then a pull-up from Naji Marshall cut the lead to seven at 101-94. Dallas’ run stopped with a Jordan Clarkson heave as the shot clock expired, returning the lead to 10.

Kidd got Lively back into the game with his five fouls with just under eight minutes left, and the Mavericks started to make a comeback, cutting the Jazz lead to 106-103 with just over four minutes left . Dallas had two chances to tie the game with open threes on Grimes and Marshall’s ensuing possessions, but they missed both. Luka Doncic would tie the game at 108-108 with a long three on Filipowski.

Dallas would regain the lead with 1:33 to go, with a give-and-go between Doncic and Marshall leading to a lob for Lively. Jordan Clarkson would convert on an and-one to put the Jazz back up 111-110, Jaden Hardy made an open three, then John Collins made up for a Jordan Clarkson miss to extend the lead to 113-110 with 36 to go. .7 seconds to go.

Luka Doncic was double-teamed on the next possession, and he gifted it to Klay Thompson, who tied the game with 27 seconds left, but then Lively lost sight of John Collins, who got the ball with 6.5 seconds left to go home. On the final possession, Doncic was double-teamed on a post-up, he dished it to Naji Marshall in the corner, who airballed the shot, and the Mavericks would lose their fourth straight game, all in the clutch, 115 – 113.

This was the first home win of the season for the Jazz, as they moved to 3-8, while the Mavericks fell to 5-7.

It was the same problems for the Mavericks, who allowed 16 offensive rebounds, committed 17 turnovers and shot just 30.8% from the free throw line. They have a lot of problems to solve; Some of them can be remedied by getting healthy, but often they just don’t show energy.

Luka Doncic led all players with 37 points and nine assists, but he also turned it over three times. He was 4/13 from three in this game, continuing the trend of shaky shooting from deep. Naji Marshall had a few sloppy plays in the first half, but recovered to finish with 19 points and three steals, but he also had three turnovers. Klay Thompson had 17 points and three turnovers, Quentin Grimes had 15 points (all in the first half) and Daniel Gafford had 10 points.

John Collins led the Jazz with 28 points and nine rebounds, Jordan Clarkson had 20 points, Collin Sexton had 16 points, Keyonte George and Kyle Filipowski had 14 points and Lauri Markkanen had 13 points. Dallas just wasn’t good enough defensively, especially in the third quarter against a team that entered the game last on offense.

The Mavericks return home on Saturday to play the San Antonio Spurs.

READ MORE: Luka Doncic admits he made a costly mistake in Mavericks-Warriors

Keep up MavericksGameday for more FREE coverage of the Dallas Mavericks during the 2024-2025 season

Follow MavericksGameday on Tweet and Austin Veazey Tweet