Mavs Lose To Utah

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SALT LAKE CITY — In a game that featured some interesting lineups between short-handed teams, the Utah Jazz defeated the Dallas Mavericks 109-92 Monday night at EnergySolutions Arena.

Rookie point guard Bryce Cotton, who was called up from the D-League by the Jazz, topped all scorers with 21 points, and center Rudy Gobert had a big game to help Utah to its seventh win in nine games.

Gobert finished with 20 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks to lift the Jazz to their second win in a row against a playoff-bound team after Saturday’s victory at Portland.

“Opportunities like this don’t come along too often,” Cotton said. “I wanted to go out there and make the most of this opportunity.”

Both teams needed some no-name guys to do that.

Utah played without leading scorers Gordon Hayward (Achilles inflammation) and Derrick Favors (back) along with backup point guard Trey Burke (back).

The Jazz, who improved to 38-43 after going just 25-57 last season, upped their record on their own court to 21-20 in the final home game of the season.

“When you have a group of guys that works as hard and are as committed as our guys are, it’s nice to see some of those guys get an opportunity to play,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “You want your other

guys to be healthy, but we did have a chance the last two games to give these kids a chance to play.”

Guard J.J. Barea led undermanned Dallas with 18 points, while big men Charlie Villanueva and Amar’e Stoudemire each contributed 15 points. Backup forward Al-Farouq Aminu had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

The Mavericks fell to 49-32 after losing to Utah for the first time in four tries this season and for the first time in nine games overall against the Jazz.

Dallas, locked into the seventh spot in the Western Conference playoff standings, played without the majority of its key players. Dirk Nowitzki, Tyson Chandler and Monta Ellis returned home before Monday’s game, and the Mavs were also without injured Chandler Parsons (right knee).

The Mavs finished without point guard Devin Harris, who jammed his left big toe and missed the second half.

“Injuries can happen at any time, so you don’t go into a game thinking about not getting hurt. That’s when things do happen,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle on trying to stay injury free. “The important thing is to play hard all the time and you got to hope for the best.”

Both teams had interesting lineups at times with backup and rarely used players seeing extended time. The starting groups were also out of the norm, with Utah adding Joe Ingles and Trevor Booker to its first unit. Dallas started Rajon Rondo, Raymond Felton, Richard Jefferson, Villanueva and Stoudemire.

The teams were tied at halftime at 57, but the Jazz blew the game open by outscoring the Mavs 30-12 in the third quarter.

The Mavericks finish the regular season at home Wednesday against Portland, while Utah wraps up its slate that night at Houston.

“We have another game in two days,” Dallas guard Rajon Rondo said after a 13-point, five-assist outing. “It is getting closer, but I am very patient. We still have one more game to sharpen some things up.”

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