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Game Thread Apr 25, 2022 7:30PM MT: Jazz at Mavericks - Game 5

Added to Calendar: 04-25-22

Nah, the real must win game are the must win games we lost along the way.

Or something.
 
homeytennis said:
The odds makers have jumped on the Mavs express. Time for Rudy and Spida to prove them wrong.
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The Mavericks are only -2.5 for tonight’s game and the series odds haven’t changed since Saturday. It is still basically a pick-em. Essentially if this was a neutral court game we’d be favored tonight.
 
Elizah Huge said:
The Mavericks are only -2.5 for tonight’s game and the series odds haven’t changed since Saturday. It is still basically a pick-em. Essentially if this was a neutral court game we’d be favored tonight.
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I just checked a couple of Vegas sports books and the Jazz are 3.5 to 4.5 dogs with them. Some gambling experts are saying take the Mavs and lay the points.
 
Mitchell absolutely must improve on his shooting or this will be a tough row to hoe. He is currently at 30 ppg, but so inefficient shooting splits it is ridiculous. .396 FG/.235 3PT FG, but his free throws are money at .892, so there is that. He is averaging at his career high for assist per game though, and that is also a good thing, at 6 assist per game, tied with his 2nd year for assist per game in the playoffs. He need to keep his assists where they are and just start making shots.

I still wonder if he is secretly injured and that is why his shot is off so bad. Someone one game mentioned he was favoring his right wrist. If he is nursing a wrist injury on his shooting hand that could be really really bad. That is one of the chronic issues that diminished D Will so much later in his career.

Whatever it is I hope DM sorts it out. We need playoff DM to emerge and lead us to the promised land.


edit: for comparison his career playoff averages are .432 FG/.378 3 PT FG and .866 FT. And in the denver series he was an other-worldly .529 FG/.516 3 PT FG/.948 FT
 
Saint Cy of JFC said:
Utah missed a lot more FTs in that span....

Utah definitely outplayed Dallas in the final 5. Of course every game has a luck factor, but Utah deserved to win (and probably should have won by more if Gobert **** his FT average)
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I'm not saying Utah didn't deserve to win, only saying that even with a few bounces, a home crowd and a do-or-die game essentially, the Jazz still barely pulled it out.

That is what gives me pause.

I keep thinking about the 2007 Houston series and how the Jazz controlled every game in Salt Lake, and were extremely competitive in every game in Houston, to the point where I think they held a 4th quarter lead in every single one of those games. The only problem was that the Jazz just couldn't seal the deal and lost those three games in the final minutes.

But eventually they were able to put things together in that game seven to win on the road.

My point? You could see the Jazz were better than Houston... they just had to work out things before it finally aligned on the road and they got that road victory. It took seven games but they got it.

I don't have that sense from this Jazz team. I don't really know if I believe they're the better team. Certainly game four, at home, didn't give me confidence they are - not like if they had rolled the Mavs like those Jazz tend did Houston in that 07 series in SLC.

But we'll see. Tonight is a big opportunity to take advantage of that momentum and head back to Salt Lake looking to close Dallas out.

I just worry we'll squander it.
 
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