(4)Dallas Mavericks vs. (5)Utah Jazz Game 1: Saturday, April 16 Jazz at Mavs 12:00pm ESPN Game 2: Monday, April 18 Jazz at Mavs 7:30pm NBATV Game 3: Thursday, April 21 Mavs at Jazz 8:00pm NBATV Game 4: Saturday, April 23 Mavs at Jazz 3:30pm TNT Game 5* Monday, April 25 Jazz at Mavs Game 6* Thursday, April 28 Mavs at Jazz Game 7* Saturday, April 30 Jazz at Mavs TNT *All times Central
I just don’t trust the jazz at all. They should have no business losing this or next game. I think Luka’s injury is worse than they are letting on
Mavs without Luka is not a scary team. Jazz is dysfunctional but still have talent and playoff experience, Jazz in 6
John Hollinger: https://theathletic.com/3248347/2022/04/15/hollinger-2022-nba-playoffs-suns/ (4) Dallas vs. (5) Utah On paper, this series grades out as a toss-up. The teams split the series, 2-2, and though the late-season narrative on the Jazz hasn’t exactly been all flowers and puppies, they had a dominant scoring margin and quietly rebuilt their bench late in the season. Utah also faced a fairly murderous schedule over the final month and beat the absolute snot out of the few bottom-feeders on the slate. Yes, they had a couple of jarring collapses mixed in, and in the bigger picture, there’s some weird mojo that could get much weirder come June and July, but let’s cut them some slack as far as what that means for the playoffs. The Jazz are a dangerous opponent, one that a full-strength Mavericks team would have a tough time advancing against. Narrator voice: This is not a full-strength Mavs team. We don’t know exactly how long Luka Dončić will be out with the calf strain he suffered in the final regular-season game (great job getting that 16th tech overturned, by the way), but it figures to be the biggest story in this series. As with Curry above, I expect him to be listed as “questionable” with as little information as possible leaking out, just to keep Utah off guard. Nonetheless, it’s naive to think that whenever Dončić returns he can just roll into the gym and play 40 minutes at an All-NBA level. Even when he does, calf strains are notorious for their capacity for reinjury — especially if a player tries to shortcut the recovery schedule. All told, this is a no bueno development for a Mavs team that looked to be hitting its stride at exactly the right time. Without Luka, they’re cooked. Pick: Jazz in six
https://theathletic.com/3244311/202...and-executive-pick-2022s-first-round-winners/ No. 4 Dallas Mavericks vs. No. 5 Utah Jazz Scout’s outlook: “Utah’s psyche is an issue. They’ve lost a lot of leads in the fourth quarter recently. So the Jazz might be the better team, but I’m not sure they have the mindset at the current time. There seem to be some issues there. … “Dončić’s health could be an issue. … Obviously, he’s got to be 110 percent, because he’s their team, basically. Dallas has been very under the radar, but they won 52 games. They’ve had a good season despite losing Tim Hardaway Jr. for a large amount of time. (Maxi) Kleber was out for a considerable amount of time. “I think the addition of Spencer Dinwiddie gives them another guy who can get his own shot, and I think that trade has benefited them since both Dinwiddie and Dāvis Bertāns are available as opposed to the other guy (Kristaps Porziņģis), who’s never available. But in terms of what you need in the playoffs, I think Dinwiddie is an excellent addition because he can get his own shot. He’s played pretty well for them. Bertāns is a little bit of a crapshoot, but he does allow them to spread the floor. There are three guys who can get him the ball: Dinwiddie, Dončić and Jalen Brunson. “Bojan Bogdanović is absolutely key to Utah. When he was out, they really struggled. They need him to take some scoring pressure off of Donovan Mitchell.” Coach’s outlook: “I think it’s going to be a heck of a series. You’ve got a couple of superstars. I’m going to go with the Mavs. Their defense, especially in the last 75 or 80 percent of the year, has been terrific, and I think they’ll have some good adjustments and coverages throughout the series for Utah. The home court will pay dividends for both teams throughout. “I will say this: It depends on the Luka injury. If he’s out for the series, I would take Utah. I would probably say it would go 4-2 in Utah’s favor, but it also could be 4-1. Luka’s ability to create and score does so much for (the Mavericks), and I think it would be hard for Dallas if he ends up being out in this series.” Executive’s outlook: “If Dončić isn’t hurt, I’d look at Dallas to win in seven. This is the time of year that we start to micro-analyze every flaw, especially in Utah’s case, just given the recent weeks and all of the stuff surrounding that. But Dončić can really control a game, and he can almost win the series even by himself. So the individual matchup between Dončić and Donovan Mitchell will be fun to watch, I would imagine, and how the Dallas coaching staff allocates the defensive assignments is going to be fun to watch, too, because Rudy Gobert is such a huge force. “But the narrative has been in the last couple of years that you can play Gobert off the floor in the playoffs. I’m not sure I totally buy that. At the same time, it’s kind of happened to the Jazz in recent years where they’ve had difficulty producing at the same level in the playoffs. So I would say Dallas (will win) in seven with the difference being Luka Dončić. “If he’s out for the series, I would look at it as Utah in five or six just because Dončić’s the driver of the Mavs’ whole team.” Scout’s pick: Mavericks in six Coach’s pick: Mavericks in six Executive’s pick: Mavericks in seven Consensus advancing team: Mavericks
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33720582/nba-playoffs-experts-picks-every-first-round-series Dallas Mavericks (4) vs. Utah Jazz (5) Kendra Andrews: Mavericks in 6 Jamal Collier: Mavericks in 6 Nick DePaula: Mavericks in 6 Nick Friedell: Mavericks in 7 Kirk Goldsberry: Jazz in 7 Israel Gutierrez: Mavericks in 6 Richard Jefferson: Jazz in 7 Tim Legler: Mavericks in 7 Andrew Lopez: Mavericks in 6 Zach Lowe: Jazz in 6 Tim MacMahon: Jazz in 6 Bobby Marks: Jazz in 6 Dave McMenamin: Mavericks in 6 Kevin Pelton: Jazz in 6 Kendrick Perkins: Jazz in 7 Omar Raja: Jazz in 6 Jorge Sedano: Mavericks in 7 Ramona Shelburne: Mavericks in 7 André Snellings: Jazz in 6 Marc J. Spears: Jazz in 6 Ohm Youngmisuk: Mavericks in 5 Final tally: Mavericks 11, Jazz 10
