Utah @ Dallas preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 25, 2020 ) Dallas 107, Utah 112

The Dallas Mavericks will once again go without All-Star guard Luka Doncic when they host the Utah Jazz on Monday. Doncic has been out with an ankle injury for each of the last six games, which was the original timetable given when he first suffered the injury against Phoenix on Jan. 28.

Coach Rick Carlisle indicated he would like Doncic to get into a game prior to the All-Star break, which leaves Wednesday's matchup with Sacramento at home as the last opportunity. The Mavericks have split the six games without their floor general and rode the hot hand of Seth Curry - who hit his first 10 shots en route to 26 points - to a 116-100 win at Charlotte on Saturday. The Jazz come in on a high after Bojan Bogdanovic nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer in a wild 114-113 win at Houston on Sunday. Jordan Clarkson scored 30 points for Utah, which has won two in a row - both in dramatic fashion - following a five-game slide.

TIME: 8:30 p.m. ET. TV: AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, FS Southwest, TSN1/3/4, RDS2

ABOUT THE JAZZ (34-18): Bogdanovic's dagger - a contested shot several feet beyond the arc - capped his lowest-scoring effort (eight points) of the season and was just his second made shot in seven tries. "I wasn't supposed to be on the court, the way I was playing," he told AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain postgame. "The coaching staff, they believed in me. They gave me an opportunity to shoot a game-winning shot and I stayed confident." All-Star Donovan Mitchell scored 24 points and fellow guard Mike Conley added 20 as Utah improved to 15-13 on the road.

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (32-21): Curry finished 6-of-8 from 3-point range and he is 15-for-24 from beyond the arc in three games this month, a stretch in which he is averaging 20.3 points in 25.7 minutes. "I mean, at halftime he was 7-for-7 with 18 points," Carlisle told reporters in Charlotte, which is Curry's hometown. "Some guys, when they come home special things happen. He was cooking. It was something to see." Kristaps Porzingis, who averaged 35 points in his first three games following Doncic's injury, sat out Saturday's win due to a sore knee but is expected back for this one.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Mavericks C Willie Cauley-Stein is 12-of-14 from the field over his last three games.

2. Conley is averaging 20.3 points in four games this month after posting just 8.8 in six games in January.

3. Three Utah players scored at least 22 points in a 112-107 win over Dallas at home last month in the first meeting.

PREDICTION: Mavericks 111, Jazz 108