After being hit by Royce O' Neale, Jalen Brunson hurts his lower back. On his way to the bench and locker room, he gets a technical foul for arguing. There is a delay of 0:45.
As he rubbed his lower back and gingerly walked toward the locker room after earning his second technical foul of his NBA career, Dallas Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson barked a few choice words at a referee, earning only the second technical foul of his NBA career.
Utah Jazz forward Royce O' Neale had just delivered a running elbow to Brunson's back as players positioned themselves for a rebound, forcing him to exit Thursday's Game 3 for the final 4 minutes and 38 seconds of the first half.
Over the past couple of games, the Jazz have only been able to slow down Brunson by using that method.
The Mavs seized a 2-1 series lead with a 126-118 win in large part due to the performance of point guard Luka Doncic, who is recovering from a left calf strain. Doncic hopes to make his series debut in Saturday's Game 4 after ramping up his basketball activity.
He had 31 points on 12-of-22 shooting. That came on the heels of a career-high 41 points on 15-of-25 shooting in Monday's Game 2 win. It is the first time in his NBA career that he has scored 30 or more points in back-to-back games.
The point guard said he was just trying to help his team win. I am not thinking about it as a coming-out party.
The second-leading scorer with 16.3 points per game has starred in the series as Dallas' primary ballhandler with Doncic out. He has exploited the Jazz's shoddy on-ball defense, often serving as a catalyst for ball movement that has been a critical element in the Mavs making 40 3s in their two victories, including 18-of-42 shooting from long range in Game 3.
In Game 3, all 31 of his points came off the dribble. He scored 22 points in the paint, using a blend of ballhandling, footwork, power and touch to torch the Jazz.
Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell said that he is a talented player. You are seeing that. For the first time in his career, people are seeing it.
Mitchell scored 28 of his game-high 32 points in the second half, when the Jazz cut a 17-point deficit to one.
The fact that we were able to do that tonight is special because we are playing at such a high level. We have to keep playing our style of basketball and stick together. I think we did that. We were still poised even when they cut it to one. We were calm and collected. We have to keep that up.
Eric Paschall was at center for Utah in the second half and he was scrambling for solutions.
Rudy Gobert has been on the floor for the Jazz in the past two games. The Mavs have had success playing a five-out offensive style because backup center Maxi Kleber has snapped out of his shooting slump, going 12-of-16 from 3-point range. Kleber had 17 points in 22 minutes on Thursday, when he made four of his five 3-point attempts.
The crowd booed the Jazz late in the second quarter and went into halftime frustrated because they saw Utah get picked apart by Dallas without Doncic in the same way the LA Clippers did without Leonard last year.
Mitchell said that everybody expects them to take care of business, but they didn't in the first half. It is what it is. Our character is shown by the team that bounced back. We will look at the film and adjust.
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