PINANOOD lang sa monitor ni Jalen Brunson ang kanyang Dallas teammates sa pagtipon ng 17-point lead sa halftime habang nasa locker room siya sa Salt Lake City.
“I saw how hard the team was playing when I was laying back there,” ani Brunson. “It gave me a little mojo to come back out there and do my thing.”
Umiskor si Brunson ng 31 points kahit may bruised back at nakatakas ang Mavericks — naglalarong wala si Luka Doncic — kontra Utah Jazz, 126-118, upang kunin ang 2-1 lead sa first-round playoff series.
“We’re all on the same page,” sabi ni Brunson. “We’re all clicking. We’re all talking and communicating.”
Sa kabila ng panalo, hindi satisfied si Dallas coach Jason Kidd sa road win at series advantage.
“I just told the guys we haven’t done anything,” wika ni Kidd. “They won at our place and now we won here. We need to put this game behind us and figure out what we need to do better.”
Nagdagdag si Spencer Dinwiddie ng 10 sa kanyang 20 points sa fourth quarter para sa Dallas, si Maxi Kleber ay may 17 points at Dorian Finney-Smith ay nag-ambag ng 14 points, kabilang ang 3-pointer sa nalalabing 1:56 para sa 10-point lead ng team.
Hindi pa nakalalaro si Doncic sa playoff series dahil sa strained calf, ngunit probable sa Game 4 sa Salt Lake City pa rin.
Si Donovan Mitchell ang nanguna sa iniskor na 32 points, nagdagdag si Bojan Bogdanovic ng 24 at si Mike Conley ay may 21 para sa Jazz, nanalo ng 11 in a row at home kontra Dallas.
Naidikit ni Conley ang Utah, 103-102, ngunit agad sumagot ng dalawang basket si Dinwiddie na sinundan ni Brunson ng six points sa three straight possessions para sa 113-104 score.
“His shot-creating and shot-making has been amazing all season, but the determination he has coming down the stretch to hit those big shots and the confidence he has is just fun to watch,” sabi ni Kleber.
Midway sa second quarter nang tinamaan ni Royce O’Neale sa likod si Brunson. Nagreklamo ang huli kaya na-technical bago lumabas ng court.
“I said what I had to say,” depensa ni Brunson, may 96 points sa three games sa series at isang turnover lang sa last two games.
“He’s unique in his physical strength and his ability to kind of keep his dribble alive in the lane where he really uses his body. He’s able to play with his feet on the floor, so if you do try to come over and help, he has the ability to find people and spray the ball out,” sabi naman ni Utah coach Quin Snyder patungkol sa relyebo ni Doncic.
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