JOHN Collins scored 28 points and made a game-winning dunk with 6.4 seconds remaining to lift the Utah Jazz to a 115-113 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night (Friday night) in Salt Lake City.
The Mavericks had a final chance to tie or take the lead, but Naji Marshall missed a corner 3-pointer at the buzzer. Dallas dropped its fourth consecutive game, with the losses coming by a combined eight points.
Jordan Clarkson added 20 points for the Jazz, and his bullet pass set up Collins’ game-winner.
Utah picked up its first home win in six games this season. The Jazz were off to their worst home start since the franchise’s inaugural 1974-75 season in New Orleans. Utah has won three of five after starting the season 0-6.
Luka Doncic led all scorers with 37 points to go with nine assists and seven rebounds, but Dallas came up painfully short again. The Mavericks played without Kyrie Irving (strained right shoulder).
Collins gave the Jazz a 113-110 lead with 36.7 seconds remaining after pulling Clarkson’s missed shot mid-air and softly dunking it.
Klay Thompson then tied the game with one of his five 3-pointers. He finished with 17 points.
Collin Sexton added 16 points for the Jazz, rookie Kyle Filipowski contributed 14 points and seven rebounds, Keyonte George had 14 points and six assists, and Lauri Markkanen chipped in 13 points.
Collins hit 10 of 20 shots, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out three assists and had two steals. He scored 13 points in the third quarter when Utah outscored Dallas 38-21 en route to a 14-point lead.
Quentin Grimes contributed 15 points for Dallas, and Daniel Gafford netted 10.
Both teams shot 50.6 percent from the field (43 of 85). Utah hit one more 3-pointer than Dallas (13 to 12) and outrebounded the visitors 40-30.