Mavericks can’t handle career night by Jazz’s Gobert in overtime defeat

A towering presence, Rudy Gobert completely dominated Friday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.

The Utah center posted career highs in points (27) and rebounds (25) to lead the Jazz to a hard-fought 112-107 triumph in overtime against the Mavs before an American Airlines Center sellout crowd of 19,421.

The loss left the Mavs in a one-step-forward, two-steps backward situation.

After winning a season-high three straight games, the Mavs have lost two straight to drop to a 14-29 record going into Sunday afternoon’s home game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Gobert was right in the middle of things when the game was still up for grabs. The 7-foot-1 center missed two free throws with the Mavs nursing a 107-104 lead with under two minutes remaining in overtime.

But no one blocked out Gobert after his second miss, and he calmly scooped up the stray ball and passed it to Joe Johnson, who promptly banged in a 3-pointer to tie the score.

“We had chances,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “That free-throw rebound where Johnson hits the three, we’ve got to get that [rebound].

“That’s just an execution play that you’ve got to complete. That’s on us, that’s on us.”

Joe Ingles buried two free throws to complete a 5-0 run and put Utah ahead 109-107 with 1:35 left. Seth Curry misfired on a jumper that would have tied the score, and Deron Williams’ scoop layup attempt rolled off the rim with 24.2 seconds remaining.

From there, Gobert split two free throws, and Williams’ 3-pointer missed its mark with 11 seconds to go. Gobert closed out the scoring with a pair of free throws to pad Utah’s record to 28-16.

The loss was doubly troublesome for the Mavs, who lost guard J.J. Barea to a strained left calf — the same one that has bothered him all season.

“He’s unlucky,” Carlisle said. “It’s going to be awhile [that he’s out] — it’s going to be likely weeks and not days.

“That’s been a tough one all year. He really had it going there and we were rolling with him. We’ll have to really work to make sure he’s really right — I think he was this time — he’s just been unlucky.’’

Despite missing 11 consecutive shots at one point, the Mavs led 22-19 after the first quarter. But Gordon Hayward (26 points) kept the Jazz afloat, and Utah led 46-41 at the half.

The Mavs had seven players score at least 10 points, led by Harrison Barnes, who had 19 points. Williams finished with 16 points and eight assists, and Curry added 15 points.

Dirk Nowitzki, however, struggled and was just 1 of 13 from the field and scored only three points to go with his team-high 10 rebounds.

“In the second half it’s kind of a battle of attrition,” Carlisle said. “They physically wear you down with their style of play and [Gobert] just keeps going.

“The guy is 7-3 and he’s got a 7-8 wingspan and he’s a load in there. We blocked him out well quite a few times and he’s still got one of those Inspector Gadget arms on the bar — and a couple of times he just got it flat-footed and put it up.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Mavericks can’t handle career night by Jazz’s Gobert in overtime defeat."