SALT LAKE CITY — The Vivint Arena crowd fell into a hush.
Bojan Bogdanovic’s last 3-point attempt clanged off the rim.
Luka Doncic flexed.
So ended the Dallas Mavericks’ closeout 98-96 win over the Utah Jazz in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series to clinch a 4-2 series victory and advance to the second round of the postseason for the first time in 11 years.
Since training camp, first-year coach Jason Kidd and his players have talked openly and frequently about their top priority this season: winning the franchise’s first playoff series since the 2011 NBA Finals.
Mission accomplished.
Utah tied the game at 88 with 4:04 remaining, but the Mavericks answered with steady, methodical possessions, including several that ended in swishing 3-pointers, to stave off the Jazz’s final push.
Dorian Finney-Smith hit one with 3:59 remaining to answer Rudy Gobert’s tying dunk.
Doncic added another on from the wing the next time down.
Jalen Brunson joined in with 2:03 remaining to restore a 3-point lead (97-94) and then hit one of two free throws after Jazz guard Mike Conley was called for a travel in the paint with five seconds remaining.
With 4.3 seconds left, the Jazz found Bogdanovic wide open in the corner closest to the Mavericks’ bench on their final in-bound play, but his final look ricocheted to Finney-Smith for the rebound with 1.9 seconds remaining.
The buzzer and Dallas elation followed.
Doncic finished with 24 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists in 42 minutes, including the entire second half, to log his 12th 20-point, five-rebound, five-assist playoff game, the most in Mavericks history.
Brunson added 24 points on 9 of 17 shooting, while Spencer Dinwiddie (19 points) and Finney-Smith (18) provided crucial second-half production to help Dallas overcome a sluggish, stagnant first half that left the team down 12 points at halftime.
The Mavericks visit the Phoenix Suns to start their series at 9 p.m. CT Monday. Game 2 is at 9 p.m. Wednesday, and Game 3 -- in Dallas -- is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. May 6. Tip time for Game 4 on May 8 is TBD.
The Mavericks’ start looked little like their Game 5 flow and dominance that ended in a pivotal 25-point win.
They missed their first 10 three-point attempts, scored just 15 points in the first quarter and allowed the Jazz to finish the period on a 7-0 run after Doncic subbed out with 2:21 remaining. When Donic returned to start the second, Utah’s offense targeted him in pick-and-roll sets to pick on his defense and drain his energy in Salt Lake City’s high altitude. It was just his third game back from missing three games over two weeks with a left calf strain.
The dribble-drive approach worked.
Late in the third quarter, Utah scored layups on four of five consecutive possessions to spark a 18-5 run to close the half.
The penetration kept the Mavericks’ defense from settling in to generate stops after long possessions, a hallmark of their schemes that they say helps translate to offensive success, but the most puzzling aspect of Dallas’ first-half closing lineups was off the court:
Where was Doncic? Doncic checked out with 3:33 remaining in the second quarter as the only Maverick with a positive net rating (plus-1) after 18 first-half minutes.
He remained on the bench until the Mavericks entered halftime down 53-41, the first time this season he hadn’t closed a half when healthy.
Doncic returned to start the third quarter -- in a familiar position.
The Mavericks also trailed by 12 at half in Game 4 last Saturday in Vivint Arena before out-scoring Utah by 11 in the second half to come one blown call and two Dwight Powell free throw misses from taking a 3-1 series lead.
Deja vu Thursday night?
Dallas started the third quarter on a 12-4 run to cut Utah’s lead to four. Thank Kidd for an early switch to the three-point guard lineup with Doncic, Brunson and Dinwiddie to counter Utah’s defense with a pesky small-ball lineup.
In the third quarter the Mavericks:
Shot 8 of 12 from three.
Outscored the Jazz 36-19.
Closed on a 13-2 run to take a 77-72 lead into the final quarter.
With speculation swirling about the Jazz’s potential roster break-up this offseason, the Mavericks provided them with one last double-digit-comeback gut punch.
The Mavericks have won an NBA-best 19 games this season after trailing by at least 10 points, including Game 2 last week in American Airlines Center. Utah, meanwhile, lost 16 times in the regular season after opening a 10-point lead, developing a notorious reputation for folding in big-time moments.
Perhaps Dallas’ closeout comeback represented one of the few swings in this series some might’ve predicted.
Who expected a 2-1 lead in Luka Doncic’s calf strain absence — despite a massive rebounding disparity without their 23-year-old All-Star’s size and assertiveness on the boards?
Or a 25-point Game 5 win after the Jazz tied the series at 2 in one of Dallas’ few clutch-time lapses in months?
Or a complete defensive showcase in which Dallas held Utah’s No. 1-rated offense to below 37.9% 3-point shooting in all six games, including 25.7% Thursday?
A few pre-game decisions from the Jazz might’ve foreshadowed the success.
Gobert showed up to shootaround Thursday morning with swelling around his left eye and nose, the product of a bee sting he suffered from the hive he maintains at home.
The Mavericks, meanwhile, held their morning walk through among thousands of black “embrace the noise” T-shirts laid on each seat in the arena.
Kidd said Wednesday before the flight to Salt Lake City that he and the team had no plans to wear black outfits to the potential clinching Game 6 like he and the Mavericks did for closeout “funeral” games en route to the 2011 championship.
All Jazz fans in their pre-planned blackout garb took care of that for him.
