Mavericks vs Jazz Preview and Game Thread: Can Dallas win a second straight road game?

Jan 29, 2023 - 1:00 AM

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The Dallas Mavericks (26-24) continue their short road trip with a visit to face the Utah Jazz (25-26). After a Herculian effort to hold off the Phoenix Suns on national television on Thursday, the Mavericks will need one again to defeat Utah. The Jazz are tied for the third best offense in the league whereas the Mavericks have the 25th best defense. The Mavericks may have to hope for an off shooting night from Utah if they want to pull a rabbit out of a hat on this one. Let’s get to the major points for the game:

• WHO: Dallas Mavericks at Utah Jazz
• WHAT: Be runnin’ up that road, be running up that hill
• WHERE: Footprint Center, Phoenix, Arizona
• WHEN: 8:00 p.m. CST
• HOW: BallySports Southwest

Luka Doncic’s been ruled as “day-to-day” after his sprained ankle Thursday, but today is not one of the days where he’s playing. Dallas heads home after this one so I’d expect he plays in one of those two home contests. Christian Wood and Maxi Kleber remain out as well. Jazz doesn’t have any listed injuries as of this writing.

What the Mavericks did against the Suns was impressive. Already down Christian Wood, pulling something like that out minus Luka Doncic is the kind of win which has to grant confidence to a team without a lot of consistency lately. Dallas will need another sterling performance from Spencer Dinwiddie on offense and they’ll have to find some connective tissue on defense with the limited players they have. If this is a loss, it shouldn’t be a shock as Dallas hasn’t won any games where Lukad doesn't play a minute.

Look for the normal stuff after this game. Thanks for hanging out with us. Go Mavs.