In what has been a back and forth series, perhaps the best in the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs thus far, the Dallas Mavericks finally broke through on Monday night with a monster win in a pivotal Game 5 to reach the precipice of the Western Conference semifinals.

Two days after losing a tough Game 4 in Utah, Coach Jason Kidd had the Mavericks not only prepared to bounce back on their home court, but to do so in resounding fashion in the form of a 102-77 blowout victory at American Airlines Center to take a 3-2 lead in the series.

With Dallas healthy and clicking on both ends on the floor on Monday night, they put together their most complete performance of the series, one that may raise eyebrows around the league about what they could be capable of in these playoffs. However Coach Kidd believes this was nothing new for the Mavs.

“Not to take away from the score, but the guys stayed in character, they [played within] the game plan, they executed, they trusted one another, they protect one another on the defensive end and they’re unselfish on the offensive end and that’s kind of cool to watch as a coach and as a fan,” he said. “We’ve been in situations throughout this journey of letting things get away from us, bad losses, and we tend to bounce back. Everybody talks about the playoffs, but its basketball and we’ve seen this before.”

The duo of Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson combined for over half Dallas’ total points, and on the defensive side the Mavs held the Jazz to their lowest point total since 2018. Doncic, playing in just his second game of the series after missing the first three with a calf injury, put himself in the elite company. The Dallas star finished Game 5 with 33 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. With those numbers he joined Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson as the only players in NBA history to reach 450+ points, 125+ rebounds and 125+ assists in just 15 playoff games.

“For his second game back, it looks like he’s been playing this whole series, his conditioning, his effort on the defensive end, rebounding the ball, he’s one of the best [rebounders] for us and he did that tonight,” Coach Kidd said.

Brunson, meanwhile, hasn’t missed a beat despite Doncic’s return to serve as the team’s primary scorer. He posted his fifth straight game scoring more than 20 points, contributing 24 points with five rebounds and four assists in Game 5. He has the most total points scored in these playoffs with 143, and his 28.6 points per game rank sixth in the league this postseason.

“I thought the guys responded well, the fans were incredible for us and supported us for 48 minutes,” Coach Kidd said.

With the home crowd behind them, but Mavs jumped out to an early lead thanks to the connection between Doncic and Dwight Powell in the pick-and-roll. The duo showcased their excellent chemistry on the first possession of the game when Luka found Powell for an alley-oop dunk. After both teams exchanged a few baskets, the Mavs started to get hot from outside. Brunson swung a pass to Reggie Bullock for three, and a few possessions later Dorian Finney-Smith gathered a rebound and with no defenders making an effort to contest, he drained a 25-foot three-pointer.

After a pair of free throws from Rudy Gobert, the Mavs went back to Powell, who scored on three straight possessions with three different teammates finding him for an assist. The mini 6-2 run put Dallas up 16-8 halfway through the first. The Jazz tried to trim their deficit but Dallas kept hitting timely shots and got to the line. Powell was perfect from the field in the first quarter and his eight points led to the Mavs to a 24-18 lead after one.

Utah answered Dallas’ first quarter success from deep with some of their own in the second to cut the Mavs lead to two. However, Dallas responded with a 10-2 run to push their lead back to double digits, 40-30. The Mavs ability to play stingy defense in the second echoed in the box score, as they denied Utah the extra opportunities and trips to the charity stripe that kept the Jazz afloat in Game 4 and allowed them to come back and win it late. In the second quarter of game five, the Mavs played fundamental defense by forcing five turnovers and not allowing a single free throw attempt.

https://twitter.com/tysonchandler/status/1518802732383182848

Offensively Dallas was led by three players: Luka, Brunson and DFS, who combined to score all the team’s points in the second and outscored the Jazz by 10, 28-18 for the quarter. Even though it was not an efficient shooting quarter, the Mavs used their toughness to get to the line and add to their total, which allowed them to enter halftime up 16, 52-36.

Doncic was dangerous out of halftime, starting the quarter with a 6-2 run and the Mavs were able to grow their lead to 20. Then as the game approached the halfway mark of the third, Luka went on a tear. He began by hitting two threes and after a successful trip to the charity stripe, he blocked Jordan Clarkson’s three point attempt and headed down the floor. On the other end, Doncic received a pass from Spencer Dinwiddie, and nonchalantly sank a 30-foot three-pointer that staked the Mavs to a 79-46 lead All told, Doncic went 6-of-9 from the field in the third and finished the quarter with 19 points, to give Dallas a comfortable 81-55 lead entering the fourth.

Though Doncic has eclipsed 30 points in both games he’s played, he has shown a little rust from his layoff due to the calf injury, as evidenced by his 0-for-5 performance from three in the first half. But Coach Kidd hopes his outburst in the third quarter on Monday helped his star put the rust behind him.

“He had some great looks there in the first half,” Jason said. “We never expect him to have a 0 by his stat line but he got great looks, and then he got going there in the third.”

Though Utah continued to battle in the early staged, the Mavs kept answering every bucket. Halfway through the quarter, Dallas went on another run, following a three-pointer from Bullock, Doncic hit a couple of free throws and Brunson drove inside for a quick deuce.

A drive to the bucket by Doncic and a hard foul by Hassan Whiteside with under six minutes to go led to a brief skirmish that saw Coach Kidd and his staff rush out to the court to protect their players from crossing a line that might jeopardize their availability for Game 6 and beyond. Though tempers flared, resulting in a slew of technical fouls and the ejection of Reggie Bullock and Hassan Whiteside, who were assessed two each during the incident, ultimately cooler heads prevailed. Shortly thereafter, both teams emptied their benches as the Mavericks cruised to the victory.

All told, Dallas was able to hit 12 threes and force 13 turnovers, a great team game played with great effort on both ends for Coach Kidd’s squad.

The victory leaves the Mavs one win away from advancing to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since winning the NBA Championship 11 years ago, when Jason was still the team’s starting point guard. But after the game, Coach Kidd kept his message clear to his team about staying focused on the next game, because, despite the blowout nature of Game 5, the series is far from over with the Jazz getting a chance to even it back at home on Thursday.

“We did our part, we didn’t do anything special. We protected home. Now we have to go back on the road and see if we can find a way to win,” he said. “Now [the Jazz] are thinking, “Hey we just have to protect home.” So we have to find a way to apply that pressure.”

The Mavericks hope to wrap up the series on Thursday night in Utah for Game 6. Top-off from Vivint Arena is set for 9 p.m. CT.