LAS VEGAS – The Dallas Mavericks seemingly had control of Saturday’s NBA 2K25 Summer League opener against the Utah Jazz.
The Mavs led, 59-48, early in the third quarter. But the Jazz went on a furious 30-11 run and proceeded to edge the Mavs, 90-89, at Cox Pavilion.
That pivotal run bridging the third and fourth quarters gave the Jazz a 78-70 lead with 7:11 remaining in the game. From there, they squeezed out the victory at the end.
“Obviously they got a lot of vets there, they switched a lot of ball screens, a lot of turnovers, driving and getting bad shot selections, and we knew that was going to happen,” Mavs summer league coach Jared Dudley said. “That was a team that has a lot of talent, a lot of first-round picks, a lot of vets.
“Give them credit. I remember last year when we played OKC, it’s hard to prep for when you have two guys who are picking and popping, which they had. We got to the free throw line 
32 times, we attacked. It’s a play here and there, man, and credit them.”
Melvin Ajinca was whistled for a foul against Kenny Lofton Jr. with just 0.2 seconds left and the scored knotted at 89. After Dudley’s coach’s challenge was unsuccessful, the referees put 2.1 seconds on the clock.
Lofton converted the first free throw, missed the second one, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper’s desperation heave missed its mark.
Prior to that, AJ Lawson went to the charity stripe with the Mavs trailing, 89-88, with 7.5 seconds to go. Lawson missed the first three throw, but tied the game with the second charity toss.
“Honestly, I thought I was going to make it, but (it went) in and out,” Lawson said of his missed free throw. “It hurt.
“I just got to focus in, control my breathing and just knock it down. If I made both (free throws) the odds of the game would change, I feel like. But I’ll get it back next time.”
Brandon Williams led the Mavs with 21 points, five assists and two steals, Lawson finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, Ajinca had 13 points and five boards, and Prosper collected 11 points, six rebounds and two steals.
The Mavs, who shot just 38.2 percent from the field, will play their next summer league game Monday at 7 p.m. Dallas time against Memphis. But they know they clearly let this
one get away from them when they had control of the game early in the third quarter.
“It was tough for sure, especially when they got a little momentum there in the fourth quarter,” Williams said. “Bad turnovers on my part, especially initiating the offense and stuff like that.
“But overall, I think defensively we could have picked it up a little more.”
Prosper, who the Mavs are hoping will have a solid summer league, converted just 2-of-11 shots and missed all four of his three-pointers. But he was 7-of-8 from the free throw line in 29 minutes.
“I thought O-Max did a good job of attacking the basket,” Dudley said. “I think O-Max, he wants it so bad (and) we want it for him, and sometimes we have to do a better job of finding him.
“O-Max was playing a little bit in a crowd and sometimes you just got to run with the ball, and sometimes if you have it, get off it. He got to the free throw line (and) I thought defensively he was good, but we just have to see every game improve. And for him, the first thing is shot selection. Shot selection and spacing
. For him, when he doesn’t do it, it magnifies because of how strong he plays looks kind of wild at times.”
Emanuel Miller and Lawson buried consecutive three-pointers which put the Mavs ahead, 59-84, with 4:51 remaining in the third quarter. After that, the Mavs couldn’t find the basket while the Jazz caught fire and seized control of the game with that 30-11 run.
“I feel like it probably was just fatigue,” Lawson said. “All the guys were probably just tired and not really communicating on the defense part and not getting back on defense and (not) rebounding.
“We just got to do better as a team, especially guys like me, B-Will, O-Max as leaders of the team.”
BRIEFLY: There were several notable moments during Saturday’s game. One of them occurred in the first quarter when Miller fired a pass through traffic to Ajinca for a lob dunk. Another one happened in the second quarter when AJ Lawson flew in out of nowhere to block a layup attempt by Brice Sensabaugh, then raced down the court and scored to give Dallas a 30-29 lead . . . The Mavs outrebounded the Jazz, 43-34, including 12-5 on the offensive end of the court . . . Jamarion Sharp picked up four blocked shots to go with his four points and six rebounds for the Mavs.
X: @DwainPrice
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