Some 'telekinesis' gives Utah Jazz first home win with 115-113 victory over Mavericks

SALT LAKE CITY — Jordan Clarkson pulled the Michael Jordan shrug.

Frankly, that was the only appropriate response after the 3-pointer he had just hit. Clarkson nearly committed a backcourt violation, then nearly committed a double dribble, then nearly ran out the shot clock. Instead, his off-balance running 3-pointer from the wing went in.

Shrug.

He could have done the same at the end, too.

Clarkson caught Dallas in a preswitch and zipped a pass to a wide-open John Collins under the rim. His uncontested two-handed slam with 6.4 seconds remaining ended up being the winning bucket in Utah's 115-113 victory over the Mavericks.

Luka Doncic was on Collins down low for that final possession. Dallas appeared to anticipate Collins running up to set a pick for Clarkson, so Quentin Grimes began cheating up the wing to meet him, and Doncic had his eyes on the corner.

The problem? Collins didn't go up, leading him all alone in the most dangerous place on the court.

"I'm just happy me and John had some, like, telekinesis action going on," Clarkson said. "I mean, he just read my eyes and knew what I was looking for."

"Me and JC were just like looking at each other: 'You gonna be open?'" Collins said with a smile. "You can see JC saying (with his eyes), 'No stay, Here you go.' And it was just like a great play that shows our chemistry. We always had a JC-to-JC connection. JC made a great read, finished the play, and we finally got a home win."

The last dunk finished off a 28-point night for Collins, who continued his strong recent form.

He scored Utah's final two buckets after it looked like the game was getting away from the home team. A strong third quarter — a rarity for the Jazz this season — had Utah up by 16 points early in the fourth quarter. Then Doncic led Dallas all the way back.

The Dallas star scored 37 points and had nine assists on the night. His assist to Derrick Lively with 1:33 remaining gave the Mavericks a 2-point lead.

By that point, Utah was without Lauri Markkanen, who missed the end of the game after getting hit in the eye (he tried to come back but when he got to the tunnel the game was blurry), and didn't seem to have an answer to a surging Mavericks team.

Clarkson and Collins provided one.

"JC and John were unbelievable down the stretch," Hardy said. "Their poise really stood out. JC, made big plays. John made big plays all night. His energy is infectious for us."

After falling down by a bucket, Clarkson finished a 3-point play on the other end. Then Collins rebounded a blocked Clarkson floater for a dunk to put Utah up by 3 with 36.7 seconds remaining.

Klay Thompson tied the game on a wing triple, but that only set up Clarkson and Collins' final play.

"They got confused on whether they were switching or not — sort of two guys went back out towards the corner and JC threw him a dart," Hardy said. "But that's JC and John understanding the moment together."

Clarkson finished with 20 points and four assists and Collin Sexton had 16 points and five rebounds. Lauri Markkanen added 14 points before he went out, and Kyle Filipowski scored 11 of his 14 points during a strong second quarter.

The Jazz had six players in double figures.

"Tonight's not about like the X's and O's piece, the tactical piece. It was about the mental and the physical toughness the team showed throughout and really stuck with it against a good team tonight. That's what we're looking for," Hardy said.

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