Utah Jazz vs Dallas Mavericks Prediction: Defense-starved Jazz takes on Doncic-less Mavs

The NBA trade fever is going to go off the scales soon and although, the market may look slow as of now, when the midnight of trade deadline will arrive, a lot of notifications about trades will light up the devices. Sure, we will hear a lot from both Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski in their bid to break the trade news open first. Keeping that in cognizance, let us dive into the match between the Utah Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks.

The Jazz comes into the game after defeating the Trail Blazers 134:124 despite a 24 points performance by Lauri Markkanen. They have lost 10 of their last 17 games, which has reduced them to 26 losses and 25 wins. A five-game losing streak where they lost all the games by single or two possessions has derailed their campaign. They have the offensive chops, thanks to Lauri Markkanen’s career-high production. However, it is their defense that has let them down. The trade deadline is near and the team could be in play to bolster their Wing length. Or will they blow it up? Interesting times.

The Mavericks enter the match-up after defeating the Suns 99:95 as Spencer Dinwiddie banged 36 points. Luka Doncic was out after three minutes of play and Spencer picked up his game when Doncic has been gone. His work is cut out considering the Mavs' awful play this month and has lost five of the last seven games. Their defense has struggled, unlike last season. They have 26 wins and 24 losses which is a slim return considering that they had higher expectations placed upon them. The trade deadline can see them making some moves.

Doncic is not going to play for the Mavs and it means that once again Dinwiddie will have to lead the scoring effort. The Mavs can struggle here in terms of offense because the rest of the unit except for Wood is highly unreliable. The Jazz isn’t exactly expert at winning regularly but their loaded offense can exploit the Mavs’ shortcomings. I predict a scoreline of 119:107 in favor of Utah.