Jalen Brunson scored 24 points (14 in the paint), and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz 98-96 in Game 6 of the first round to advance to the Western Conference semifinals.
Brunson’s corner 3-pointer put the Mavericks ahead for good with 2:03 left in the fourth quarter.
The Jazz got within 97-96 on Rudy Gobert’s layup with 35 seconds to play, but Brunson answered with a free throw, and the Jazz got no closer. They had the ball down 2 after a timeout, but Bojan Bogdanovic missed a corner 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds left that would have put them ahead.
During clutch time, the Jazz outscored the Mavericks 12-10. Gobert scored 6 of the Jazz’s 12 on 2 for 2 shooting and 2 for 2 at the line.
Luka Dončić had 24 points (12 on 4 3-pointers), 9 rebounds and 8 assists.
For the Jazz, Donovan Mitchell had 23 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists.
The Jazz outscored the Mavericks 54-36 in the paint. The Mavericks outscored the Jazz 21-4 in 6 minutes with Bullock, Dinwiddie, Finney-Smith, Kleber and Dončić on the floor together.