The Dallas Mavericks fall short against Utah Jazz in the opening game of the 2024 Summer League.

The Dallas Mavericks fall short against Utah Jazz in the opening game of the 2024 Summer League.

On Saturday night, the Dallas Mavericks kicked off the 2024 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. They faced the Utah

Jazz, a squad full of players selected in the first round of the draft and future starters for the current campaign.

While this was Dallas’ first game in the Salt Lake City Summer League, the Jazz had some prior experience.

Utah jumped off to an early lead, but by the end of the first quarter, the Mavs had pulled even. Despite Brandon

Williams’ nine points in the first quarter, the Jazz went into the second quarter with a narrow 19–18 advantage.

There were nine lead changes and a few ties in the second quarter, which was back and forth. Dallas led 40–39 at the

half after starting to see some production from A.J. Lawson and Jaz Gortman. Early on, Utah’s primary offensive

weapon was Kyle Filipowski, who kept the Jazz in the game with a fade-away midrange shot as they had trouble with

long-range shooting.

Following the break, Dallas dominated the third quarter, taking an 11-point lead at one point. After overcoming a

slow start, 2024 second-round pick Melvin Ajinca scored 9 points in the first quarter, which he combined with

Emanuel Miller’s 6 points to lead by 6 points heading into the last quarter.

The well dried up for the Mavs early in the 4th quarter, allowing Utah to go on a 14-0 run to open the quarter and take a 78-70 lead. The Mavs would fight back to tie it up 80-80 following two free throws by A.J. Lawson. A quick 6-0 by Utah gave them the control once again, but Dallas wasn’t quite out of it yet.

Brandon Williams hit two free throws to bring it within a point with 32 seconds remaining. Isaiah Collier missed a

three-pointer as the shot clock was expiring on the next possession and a loose-ball foul by Kenneth Lofton Jr. put

Lawson and the Mavs on the free-throw line with 8 seconds remaining. Lawson missed the first shot and hit the

second to tie the game.

Lofton would draw a foul with two seconds remaining, which Mavs coach Jared Dudley would challenge, using his

last timeout. The challenge was unsuccessful, Lofton hit the first free throw to go up 90-89 and intentionally missed

the second to eat some time off the clock, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper’s full-court heave at the buzzer was no good

and the Mavs would lose their opening game in the 2024 Summer League.

Brandon Williams led the Mavs with 21 points, followed by A.J. Lawson with 16 points and 8 rebounds. 2023 first-

round pick Olivier-Maxence Prosper had a rough game, shooting just 2/11 to finish with 11 points, 7 of them coming

from the free-throw line. 2024 second-round pick and possible draft-and-stash candidate Melvin Ajinca rebounded

from early struggles to finish with 13 points on 5/13 shooting. Undrafted rookie Jamarion Sharp swatted 4 shots but

was taken advantage of in the pick-and-roll late in the game.

The Mavs wouldn’t have had a chance in this game if not for their free-throw shooting. They shot 32 free throws to

Utah’s 11 and still couldn’t come away with a win.

For Utah, 2024 lottery pick Cody Williams also finished with 21 points, getting help from Isaiah Collier’s 12 points

and Kyle Filipowski’s 10 points.