SALT LAKE CITY — As the final minutes of the Mavericks’ Saturday night game against the Utah Jazz unfolded, Luka Doncic sat at the end of the bench with his arms crossed.
Then hands on his knees.
Then leaning back, staring up at the scoreboard.
A sober reaction to the Mavericks’ daunting reality with their 23-year-old superstar on the sideline.
Dallas lost, 108-100, to the Jazz in Vivint Arena as Doncic (left ankle sprain) missed his first game to injury this season.
Spencer Dinwiddie (35 points, eight assists and four rebounds in 41 minutes) shined for a second consecutive 35-plus-point performance, this one even more lucrative than his victory-leading burst Thursday night in Phoenix after Doncic exited with injury less than four minutes into the game.
But the Mavericks’ official record sans-Doncic fell to 0-6 this season, a sign of their roster lapses and inconsistent depth as the NBA’s Feb. 9 trade deadline approaches amid their weeks-long skid.
The Mavericks have lost three of their last four games, six of their last eight, eight of their last 11 and nine of their last 13 since their seven-game winning streak through a soft portion of their schedule to close the 2022 calendar year.
The highlight of the Mavericks’ night might’ve come about an hour before tipoff Saturday.
That’s when Doncic — dressed in sweats, a team-issued quarter zip and the teal and gold Luka 1s he debuted on Christmas — took the Vivint Arena court during his usual warm-up slot and walked through a watered-down version of his pregame shooting routine.
He started with midrange jumpers, making five apiece in five spots around the floor.
Then five makes from the foul line and the same five-by-five sets from three.
He repeated the sequence around the arc twice more with assistant coach Greg St. Jean jumping with his hand up for defense.
Doncic appeared to have tape bracing his left ankle under his sock, and he didn’t shoot or rotate with the same intensity he does when preparing to play. He didn’t pivot in the post, go into his stepback or land with impact.
But he moved without a noticeable limp throughout the 20-minute session and sank a trick shot while sitting on the bench, forcing St. Jean to drop down and do five push-ups on his knuckles for doubting him.
He remains “day to day,” Kidd said, as the Mavericks return home for two games against the Detroit Pistons (Monday) and New Orleans Pelicans (Thursday).
“Just to get some work done and see how his ankle feels,” Kidd said of Doncic’s pregame activity. “Hopefully it responds in a positive way.”
The Mavericks, however, didn’t, while Doncic watched from the end of the bench in black sweats and a navy blue puffer vest.
Dallas trailed the Jazz by double-digits about nine minutes into the game and by 18 points (66-48) at halftime after Jazz guard Malik Beasley drained a three with 0.9 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
In the first half, the eight Mavericks besides Dinwiddie (15 points on 6-of-11 shooting in the first half) combined to shoot 13 of 32 from the floor (40.6%), and Dallas committed nine turnovers, three fewer than the team’s full-game average this season.
Disjointed offensive possessions kept the Mavericks from establishing a rhythm without Doncic as their helio-centric scorer, creator and distributor. The Jazz capitalized on the giveaways with transition scoring opportunities and established a pace quicker than what Dallas typically employs with Doncic.
While the Mavericks rallied with a 28-18 third-quarter advantage, powered by Dinwiddie’s 4-of-4 mark from three, their size disadvantage against All-Star candidate Lauri Markkanen and standout rookie Walker Kessler became glaring.
Dallas scored 20 fewer points in the paint (48 to the Jazz’s 28) and allowed Utah to grab 13 offensive rebounds for 20 second-chance points.
Quite a different vibe than the last meaningful game the Mavericks played on this floor, when they prevailed in Game 6 of the first round of the playoffs to clinch the franchise’s first second-round berth since the 2011 championship run.
Not all gloomy, though.
Dinwiddie enjoyed a lucrative night beyond the stat sheet.
By playing in his 50th game of this regular season, the 29-year-old earned a $1.5 million bonus and fully guaranteed his 2023-24 salary of $18.9 million.
When Dinwiddie signed the deal with the Washington Wizards in the 2021 offseason, he was about six months removed from left ACL surgery, and the playing-time conditions protected the team from potential issues in his recovery and durability.
No concern about that now, but worry abound about the Mavericks’ prospects without Doncic as their January slide persisted.
