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Jalen Brunson and Maxi Kleber lead Mavericks to record-setting Game 2 Victory

The Dallas Mavericks have evened their best of seven series with the Utah Jazz after their 110-104 Game 2 victory, marking their first postseason win at American Airlines Center since 2015. 

Superstar Luka Dončić was sidelined for a second consecutive game due to his calf strain, but that did not stop the Mavericks from putting up a historic performance. 

Dallas shot 22/47 (46.8%) from beyond the arc and set a new franchise record for threes made in a playoff game. They also set a franchise record for the fewest team turnovers committed in a game with three, just the eighth instance in NBA history. 

Jalen Brunson led the Mavericks scoring a career-high 41 points on 15/25 shooting with eight rebounds and five assists. He became the first Maverick to record a 40-point game with 0 turnovers in a playoff game. 

“Everything was kind of fluid,” said Brunson after the game. “Obviously, the ball was going in for me, but I wouldn’t have been able to do that without my teammates. They gave me a lot of confidence and that’s a credit to them and the coaching staff personally. As a team, we just kept fighting, we stuck together, whenever they made runs, we stayed calm, and we just kept the focus.”

NBA: Mavericks' Luka Doncic out for Game 2 vs. Jazz    Photo Retrieved via Yahoo Sports (sports.yahoo.com)

Maxi Kleber shined as well, finishing with 25 points on 8/11 shooting from three and playing a crucial role in Dallas’ comeback effort. It was the second-highest scoring performance of his career and he joined Jason Terry as the only other Maverick to hit eight threes in a postseason game. 

“Every time I was open, I just shot the ball,” said Kleber. “We analyzed how they play defense and where the looks were coming from. You have to be ready to shoot and just let it fly. I didn’t really think much about it.”

Additional late-game contributions from Spencer Dinwiddie, Reggie Bullock, and Dorian Finney-Smith helped the Mavericks round out their 18th victory of the year when trailing by 10+ points or more, the most by any team in the league. 

Looking ahead in the series, head coach Jason Kidd stressed the importance of his team remaining calm and composed. 

“As we get healthy here, hopefully, that gives us the edge,” he said. “[The Jazz] are a great team, they’re well-coached. But if we can continue to attack the paint and make them play defense, we truly believe we’re going to get an open shot if we’re patient. Tonight, we got all of the open shots we wanted and we made them.”

Dončić is marked as day-to-day on Dallas’ injury report, but optimism remains for an eventual series debut, per Shams Charania of the Atheltic.

The Mavericks will not practice today ahead of Game 3 in Utah on Thursday night.

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