Luka Doncic and Co almost ran away with the game in the European maestro’s return, but Rudy Gobert didn’t let that happen.
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Saturday night marked the return of Luka Doncic. After missing 3-straight games for the Mavericks, their MVP took the court for the first time in the 2022 postseason and his return almost resulted in Mavericks taking a 3-1 lead in the series.
Doncic scored 30 in the 100-99 loss. But Utah Jazz won in the clutch, on both ends of the floor, despite a Luka Magic moment that almost killed the series when the Slovenian hit a 3 with 39 seconds to go in the game.
LUKA DONCIC IS CLUTCH pic.twitter.com/EmjDhZxKpl
— Dallas Texas TV (@DallasTexasTV) April 23, 2022
He took his team 4-points up on the back of two magical jump shots. The first 2-pointer jumper gave them a one-point lead and then the fadeaway 3-pointer shot made it a two-possession game. But Rudy Gobert and his team came roaring back into it with the least expectation.
Rudy Gobert snatched a victory out of Mavericks’ hand
Rudy Gobert couldn’t buy himself a block throughout the game, nor did anyone else apart from their backup center Hassan Whiteside. But the French international did pluck a crucial defensive rebound in the last possession and got rewarded when Donovan Mitchell gave him an easy pass defense.
After the game, he had this to say when asked the talk about what the Utah team can and can’t be?
“F–k the talk.” 👀
Gobert didn’t hold back postgame. pic.twitter.com/zRjrY0Wj88
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 23, 2022
Gobert was the only starter for Jazz with a positive plus-minus rating in the game with just 1+ to show for it. But he did have an unusual game scoring 17-point and 15-rebounds in a 100-99 win.
Every bit of it was as much needed for the Jazz to be in the series as they set themselves for 2 more games in Dallas. Luka will bring his A-game in all the remaining games. It’ll be interesting to see if Jalen Brunson could keep up his unbelievable form, if he does, the series will be Luka’s to shoot.