Kyrie Irving could have made his first-half shooting problem worse by throwing possessions away. Instead, he finished Friday without a turnover. That small piece of restraint deserves a place beside the more conspicuous recovery: after scoring two points before halftime, he scored 12 after it.
Dallas beat Utah 112-100 at American Airlines Center despite Irving finishing 7-for-20 from the field and missing all four three-point attempts. His first half yielded one make in eleven tries. The Mavericks needed his second-half baskets at particular moments, and needed the poor shooting to remain a shooting problem rather than become a series of giveaways.
At 7:01 of the third quarter, Kyrie Irving took a pass from Morez Johnson Jr. and knocked down a 14-foot pull-up jumper. Dallas moved ahead 72-70, and Irving had finally supplied a basket during a stretch when the Mavericks needed one.
Earlier, Utah had taken a 60-59 lead with 10:19 left in the third after Lauri Markkanen’s three-pointer. Cooper Flagg answered with a three at 10:02, with Irving credited for the assist. Irving followed at 8:56 with a layup that pushed Dallas ahead 66-62.
The Jazz did not disappear. Ace Bailey’s dunk put Utah in front 70-68 with 7:44 remaining. Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound at 7:34, then another at 7:06. Irving’s jumper came on the next Dallas scoring play, and the sequence captured why his points mattered: Dallas was creating extra chances, and Irving converted when the lead was still unsettled.
He added a driving floating jumper at 5:28 and an 18-foot pull-up at 4:32. By the time the third-quarter surge reached 81-70 with 3:33 left, Irving had scored 8 of his second-half points. Flagg supplied 13 during that Dallas run, while P.J. Washington added a free throw. Josh Green ended Utah’s scoring drought with a three at 2:48, but the Mavericks had already taken command.
The margin grew early in the fourth. At 11:12, Irving assisted Walter Clayton Jr. on a driving layup for a 94-76 Dallas lead. Irving followed with a 19-foot jumper at 10:47, then hit a 15-footer at 8:49 after a Naji Marshall assist. That basket made it 98-84 and kept Utah from turning the opening minutes of the period into a fresh contest.
Washington carried the perimeter burden. He scored a season-high 26 points, made 6 of 10 threes and went 6-for-7 at the line. His 22 first-half points gave Dallas a scoring source while Irving struggled to find one. Washington’s three at 5:21 of the fourth, assisted by Flagg, made the score 105-91. At 4:07, Washington assisted Marshall’s running dunk for a 109-94 lead.
There was also a less glamorous reason Dallas could afford Irving’s misses: the Mavericks kept recovering the ball. They outrebounded Utah 55-41, won the offensive-rebounding battle 21-8 and scored 20 second-chance points to the Jazz’s five. Johnson finished with 17 boards, ten of them at the attacking end.
His work did not turn every missed shot into a score, but it repeatedly gave Dallas another possession, including the sequence that preceded Irving’s 7:01 jumper.
