Mavericks at Jazz
The Utah Jazz have yet to win on the road but are luckily near the beginning of a stretch with eight of nine at home. The Jazz will try to improve to 2-0 in that stretch and 4-0 at home overall when they host the struggling Dallas Mavericks on Monday.
Utah dropped back-to-back games at Phoenix and the Los Angeles Clippers last week but returned home and clamped down on defense in a 96-81 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday. "This team is still trying to discover who it is," Jazz coach Quin Snyder told reporters. "...I've said all along, it's a work in progress. As long as our defense stays strong, we'll have an opportunity to be competitive while we're trying to get better." The Mavericks are trying to get better as well and dropped six of their first seven games, including a 112-110 home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday. “We’ve just got to do better really over the course of 48 minutes,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. "That’s really the biggest thing."
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Dallas), AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Utah)
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (1-6): Dallas small forward Harrison Barnes scored a team-high 25 points on Saturday but was a minus-18 on the night and had some harsh words for himself and his fellow starters. "It’s our starting unit," Barnes told reporters. "At the beginning of the first quarter and at the beginning of the third quarter we’re getting off to slow starts, and it puts the whole team in a deficit. I mean, look at the way the second unit was playing with just the plus-minus. All of those guys were contributing and getting us back in the game. But as starters, we can’t put ourselves in that deficit." Point guard J.J. Barea is the leader of that reserve unit and is averaging 13.1 points and 5.1 assists in 22.9 minutes.
ABOUT THE JAZZ (3-3): Utah lost leading scorer Gordon Hayward over the summer to free agency but could be witnessing the emergence of a new go-to scorer in rookie guard Donovan Mitchell. The 21-year-old enjoyed a breakout with 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting in Saturday's win while knocking down 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and showing off his athleticism on some highlight-worthy dunks. “Biggest thing for Donovan is to not get too high or too low after games," Snyder told reporters. "… He obviously doesn’t have a lot of fear. That’s a good thing."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Mavericks SG Wesley Matthews is 10-of-17 from 3-point range over the last three games.
2. Jazz PF Derrick Favors recorded his first double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday and is 14-of-20 from the field in the last two contests.
3. Utah took three of the four meetings last season, falling in overtime at Dallas on Feb. 9 for the lone loss.