Mavs-Jazz preview: Homestand finale needed for .500 stay at AAC

When the Mavericks came out of the All-Star break, they were full of hope for this six-game homestand.

Dominate it and the rest of the season could be set up for them. They had a new superstar. They had a rested roster. They had a good mix of challenging, but beatable, teams coming in.

Nearly two weeks later, things have not worked out like they’d hoped.

The Mavericks will bring a close to this longest-of-the-season run at American Airlines Center with Tuesday’s clash against the Utah Jazz. The ledger so far during their home-cooking stretch: 2-3. It reinforces that the Mavericks have not been particularly strong at home this season. In that respect, maybe it’s a good thing they are going on the road for 10 of their next 13 after Tuesday.

But first, they need to get out of this stay at home with a break-even record.

The two wins have been by convincing margins – 26 against San Antonio and seven against Philadelphia in a game that they led by as much as 25 points in the third quarter.

But the three losses have been absolute heartbreakers. The Mavericks had a chance to win all three of them, but wound up losing by three to the LA Lakers, two to Indiana and four to Phoenix on Sunday.

Those close calls are equal parts encouraging and infuriating. You can’t ask for better teaching mechanisms than crunch-time games that come down to the last possession. Sooner or later, it will benefit the Mavericks from having gone through those.

And the good news is that Kyrie Irving and Luka Dončić are getting better by the game. They have put together two strong performances, having combined for 64 and 82 points in the last two games.

The Mavericks still have problems on the defensive end, where they are 25^th in the league in overall defensive rating. They also remain a subpar rebounding team, something that hurt them late in the close loss to Phoenix on Sunday.

Here’s a few noteworthy items to watch for as the Jazz come through Dallas for the final time this season, unless a playoff series develops.

• The Jazz will be desperate for a win. They have lost three consecutive, one to San Antonio and two games in Oklahoma City by a combined 37 points. This will be the third of a six-game trip for the Jazz.
• The Mavericks have won two of the first three meetings this season and can claim a season-series win with a victory Tuesday. It’s another team clumped near the Mavericks in the Western Conference standings that the head-to-head tiebreaker could come in quite handy against. The Mavericks haven’t won a season series from Utah since 2015-16 (2-1).
• The Jazz are led by Lauri Markkanen, who earned his first All-Star berth this season and is averaging 25.2 points and 8.6 rebounds. However, the 7-footer from Finland missed Sunday’s game at Oklahoma City with a back issue. Before that, he had averaged 29.5 points in four games since the All-Star break.
• Jordan Clarkson has been a premier sixth man most of his career, but he’s worked out just fine as a starter this season, averaging 20.8 points, 4.4 assists and 4 rebounds per game.
• The Mavericks are starting a back-to-back, the first of three remaining sets left on the schedule. They will be at New Orleans on Wednesday. So far, the Mavericks are 5-5 on the first night of back-to-backs and 2-8 on the second night.

UTAH JAZZ (31-34) at DALLAS MAVERICKS (33-32)

• When: 7:30 p.m., Tuesday.
• Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas.
• TV: Bally Sports Southwest.
• Radio:1 FM, 99.1 FM Zona MX (Spanish).

Twitter: @ESefko