Utah
3 Takeaways From Mavericks Shocking Loss to Utah Jazz
The Dallas Mavericks dropped an embarrassing game to the Utah Jazz on Thursday night, 115-113, making it their fourth straight loss, all in the clutch. They faced a deficit as large as 16 points but still took the lead late before falling apart once again in the final minute to lose.
It was a frustrating game that was all too familiar for Mavs fans. The same issues that plagued the team all season came back to bite them in this game. They need to figure out some issues quickly because the Western Conference is a bloodbath.
Here are three takeaways from Thursday night’s disappointment.
READ MORE: Mavericks Drop Embarrassing Game to Utah Jazz, 115-113
It’s getting a little repetitive saying what’s costing the Mavericks these games because it’s the exact same things: a lack of energy, bad fouls, getting killed by offensive rebounds, struggling in the clutch, and the three-point shooting being disappointing, specifically from Luka Doncic. It’s one thing to lose to good teams in the clutch, but this is the Utah Jazz, who hadn’t won a home game all year. Dallas allowed the Jazz to grab 18 offensive rebounds, while the Mavs shot just 30.9% from three and turned it over 17 times. Dallas is better than this.
All Dallas had to do to win this game was keep Dereck Lively II out of foul trouble. In his 17 minutes, he had a plus/minus of +11, while Daniel Gafford was -19. Lively picked up his fourth foul just 1:15 into the second half, but Jason Kidd left him out there for a few minutes, and he picked up his fifth a few minutes later. When he was re-inserted in the fourth quarter, he had an instant impact, and Dallas started to get back into the game. If he could’ve kept himself out of foul trouble, Dallas would have won this game, even with his massive mistake in the final seconds.
Jason Kidd was experimenting with lineups early in this game, including subbing in Dwight Powell at power forward. While he had three assists and two blocks, his refusal to shoot stalled the offense at times. If he’s going to play, he either has to shoot or he has to be playing center.
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SALT LAKE CITY — A California man in Utah, as part of his duties with the National Guard, is accused of trying to solicit sex from a young teenager.
Joshua Ruben Rodriguez, 29, of Fresno, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with attempted rape of a child, a first-degree felony, and enticement of a minor, a second-degree felony.
The investigation began when an agent with the Utah State Bureau of Investigation posed as a 13-year-old girl on a “popular social media site … in an attempt to locate and apprehend adults attempting to have sexual contact with children,” according to charging documents.
On April 16, Rodriguez sent the agent a message — believing he was talking to a teen girl — that stated, “I’ll be direct with you, I would like to get to know you and (have sex with) your mind into a daze to where you feel like a woman,” according to charging documents.
When the “girl” asked if he had a problem with her age, Rodriguez replied, “I don’t have a problem with your age,” the charges state.
The agent told Rodriguez to meet at an apartment complex in Salt Lake County where the girl lived, claiming her mother would be gone. When Rodriguez arrived, he was taken into custody, the charges state.
“(Rodriguez) does not have ties to Utah. He is a resident of Fresno, California. (He) was in town as part of his military service with the California National Guard,” prosecutors stated in charging documents while requesting he be held without bail pending trial.
ST. GEORGE, Utah (KUTV) — One person was hospitalized at the St. George Regional Hospital after a car rolled and caught fire just south of the Utah-Arizona border.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department in Arizona said its crews responded to the crash near the Black Rock Road exit – roughly two miles south of the state border – on Sunday night.
Upon arrival, crews put out the car fire and found the driver had left the scene. A single occupant, who was able to get out of the car on their own, was transported to the hospital by a Beaver Dam ambulance.
MORE | Crashes
Their condition has not been publicly released.
Details on what led to the crash and the condition of the driver were not immediately available.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department said law enforcement investigated the scene.
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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz missed out on the NBA Playoffs, but still scored a big win thanks to a coin flip.
In Monday’s tiebreaker coin flip to determine who had the fourth-worst record in the league last season, the Jazz came out winners over the Sacramento Kings, who had the same 22-60 record.
Had the Jazz lost the coin flip, they would have been fifth in NBA Draft Lottery odds. Only the worst four teams are guaranteed to remain within the top eight of the lottery.
If Utah had fallen to fifth, there would have been the chance they could have dropped out of the top 8 teams in the lottery, and owed the draft pick to Oklahoma City, which was top-8 protected in a previous trade.
The Jazz now have an 11.5 percent chance to win the first overall pick in the NBA Draft Lottery, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 10.
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