It's a series, now.
Despite a combined 59 points from Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanović, the Jazz let a golden opportunity slip through their fingers when they fell 110-104 to the Dallas Mavericks in game two of their first round series.
Following the loss, the series is now tied at 1-1 and heads back to the snowcapped mountains of Salt Lake City — with tipoff set for 7 p.m. MST on Thursday.
"Our execution wasn't where it needed to be tonight. … I thought we were a step slow from the beginning of the game," head coach Quin Snyder said. "This is the playoffs. … It's 1-1, and we are going back home. We got to clean some things up, be better, and we got a group capable of doing that."
Mitchell continued his torrid run through the postseason, finishing with a 2022 playoff-high 34 points. He added five assists and two rebounds. He was particularly dominant in the opening half, finishing with 21 points by attacking his defender and getting into the paint consistently.
With point guard Mike Conley and backup guard Jordan Clarkson in constant foul trouble throughout the night, Mitchell was forced into a playmaker role — a position he's adapted to in the season. While his five assists were box score proof that he's comfortable as the lead guard, he often made the right decisions by making the pass before the pass that set up a shot.
"We are not going to overreact," Mitchell said. "We just have to go home and try and take care of business. … They are going to try and get a split there like we got a split here."
After a slow first half, Bogdanovic finished with 18 of his 25 points over the final 24 minutes. He shot 9-of-15 from the floor and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line, adding five rebounds.
He found a lot of success in the second half because Dallas elected to go small. The bigger Bogdanovic found himself with either a size or strength advantage every time down the court, and made the Mavericks pay with eight points in the paint in the fourth quarter.
Without Luka Doncic out for the second straight game, the Mavericks came out looking like a team with everything to lose as Jalen Brunson scored an early 11 points to give Dallas a 14-6 lead early. But Utah responded, finding a rhythm late in the quarter as Clarkson's three-pointer capped a 13-6 run as the teams were tied at 24 after one.
The second quarter was a back and forth fair with the teams exchanging the lead multiple times. However, with the game tied at 48 late in the half, Utah rallied for a 7-0 run to take a 55-48 lead at the break.
Dallas refused to go away, fighting back in the third quarter to take a 74-73 lead late as Maxi Kleber started to find his stroke from deep. But Bogdanovic responded with a personal 6-0 run to give the Jazz the advantage, taking an 81-77 lead into the fourth.
Utah appeared in control midway through the fourth as a Mitchell and-one gave them a 93-86 lead with 8:07 to play. But as they'd done all night, the Mavericks fought back and reeled off a 10-0 run — before Royce O'Neale's three-pointer tied the game at 96 with just over five to play.
After Dallas took the lead, Bogdanovic got a bucket in the lane to cut the deficit to two with 2:40 to play, but Dorian Finney-Smith knocked down a corner three-pointer on the ensuing possession, giving the Mavericks a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Clarkson added 21 points in 23 minutes despite dealing with foul trouble, shooting 8-for-11 from the floor and 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. O'Neale added 12 points (4-of-6 from deep), while Rudy Gobert finished with eight points, 17 rebounds, and two blocks.
Brunson finished with 41 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, while Kleber added 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting from three-point territory.
The series now shifts to Salt Lake City for game three on Thursday.
"You don't run from the things that you feel like you need to do better, but I think there's also the flip side of that," Snyder said. "You don't hang your head when you play against a team that played very well tonight, and the game goes down to the wire."