Utah Jazz Looking To Take Down Short-Handed Dallas Mavericks

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Utah Jazz hope to get back to their winning ways on Monday afternoon when they face the Dallas Mavericks.

Dallas announced that they would not be playing their top two players Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis. The Mavericks are 2-3 in the NBA bubble and are coming off of a 136-132 overtime win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Jazz are coming off of a double-overtime thrilling loss to the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, 134-132. Utah is 2-4 in the reseeding games and have lost their last two games.

Injury Report

The Jazz released their updated injury report on Sunday. Donovan Mitchell is questionable with a left lower leg peroneal strain. Juwan Morgan is probable with right knee soreness. He injured his knee against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.

Nigel Williams-Goss is out with a left ankle sprain.

Looks like the @utahjazz at least plan to start the regulars tomorrow.

Utah Jazz Injury Report (as of 8/9):

Donovan Mitchell – QUESTIONABLE (left lower leg peroneal strain)

Juwan Morgan – PROBABLE (right knee soreness)

Nigel Williams-Goss – OUT (left ankle sprain)

— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) August 9, 2020

Short-Handed Mavericks

Dallas announced that they will be resting Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis and Dorian Finney-Smith. They listed them as “injury recovery.”

Mavericks will rest Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis and Dorian Finney-Smith tomorrow vs. Jazz. Finney-Smith has been dealing with a hip strain. Doncic and Porzingis are listed as “injury recovery” for previous ailments.

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) August 9, 2020

Doncic is having a breakout season for Dallas, averaging 29.1 points, 9.5 rebounds and 8.9 assists per game. Porzingis is the second leading scorer, posting 20.1 points, 9.5 boards and 2 blocks per contest.

Finney-Smith is recording 9.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.

The highest scoring leader below Doncic and Porzingis is Tim Hardaway Jr. with 15.6 points per game. Former Jazzman Trey Burke is averaging 12.6 per game in five contests played. Seth Curry is scoring 12.3 points per game.

Season Series

The Jazz lead the season series 2-0 over the Mavericks. The first meeting took place on January 25 at home with the Jazz getting the 112-107 win. Donovan Mitchell scored 25 points to lead Utah.

The second meeting was in Dallas on February 10. Jordan Clarkson scored 25 points to lead the Jazz to a 123-119 victory.

Playoff Standings

Utah is 43-27 on the season and are currently in sixth place in the Western Conference standings. They are a half of a game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are in fifth and are one and a half games behind the fourth place Houston Rockets. The Jazz are also three games behind Denver for the third spot.

Dallas is 42-30 on the season and are in seventh place in the West. They are two games behind Utah for the sixth seed and eight and a half games ahead of Memphis who is in eighth place. It looks like the Mavericks will be the seventh seed in the postseason.

Tip-off between the Jazz and Mavericks will be at 1:00 p.m. MT and will be televised on NBA TV and AT&T SportsNet.