John Collins dunk seals Utah Jazz win as Dallas Mavericks stumble again
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Utah Jazz forward John Collins dunks the ball against the Dallas Mavericks during the second quarter at Delta Centre.
PHOTO: REUTERS
UTAH – Dallas coach Jason Kidd lamented his team’s habit of starting slowly, as the Mavericks were handed a fourth straight loss thanks to John Collins of the Utah Jazz slamming in a game-winning dunk with only six seconds left.
Dallas, whose last three National Basketball Association (NBA) losses were tightly contested outcomes decided by three points or fewer, once again suffered an agonising near miss as Utah snatched a 115-113 home victory.
“It’s got to be addressed,” Kidd told reporters after the defeat on Nov 14.
“We’ve talked about it. Now there’s got to be action. Someone needs to come with energy. We’re flat.
“With a new group, that could be an issue early on, but there’s no better way to go through it than being able to play close games and learn from your mistakes and also learn from being able to win games.
“It’s the small details. If we can clean up some of these little details on these plays, that puts us in a better seat.”
Collins led Utah’s scorers with 28 points – 13 of them coming in a third-quarter rally that saw the Jazz outscore Dallas 38-21 to lead by 14.
But the Mavericks, spurred by a 37-point performance from Luka Doncic, roared back into contention with a dominant fourth quarter that saw them edge into a slender 110-108 lead with under two minutes left.
Collins scored a tip-in dunk with 37sec remaining to put Utah three points clear at 113-110, only for Klay Thompson to tie it at 113-113 with a 29-foot three-pointer.
With overtime looming however, Jordan Clarkson punished some slack defence by Dallas to pick out Collins under the rim, and the power forward made no mistake to seal a victory which helped improve Utah to 3-8, one place off the bottom of the Western Conference.
Dallas, meanwhile, fell to 5-7 with the defeat.
Collins was one of six Utah players in double figures, with Clarkson adding a crucial 20-point contribution off the bench, and Colin Sexton chipping in with 16.
Doncic was the pick of the scorers for Dallas, who were without Kyrie Irving. Thompson added 17 points that included five three-pointers.
With the victory, Utah picked up their first home win in six games this season.
The Jazz were off to their worst home start since the franchise’s inaugural 1974-75 season in New Orleans. They have now won three of five after starting the season 0-6. AFP, REUTERS