Considering the contrasting outcomes in the previous two encounters between the Jazz and the Mavericks this season, the upcoming clash on Thursday when Utah heads to Dallas remains unpredictable.

The two teams engaged in vastly different battles against each other. The Mavericks dominated Utah with a 147-97 victory at home on Dec. 6. However, on New Year’s Day, the Jazz orchestrated a remarkable comeback, defeating the Mavericks 127-90 in Salt Lake City.

Following the matchup in Dallas on Thursday, the teams will meet again on Monday in Utah.

Observing recent performances, the momentum could favor Dallas. The Mavericks (40-29) have triumphed in six of their last seven games, while the Jazz (29-40) have struggled, losing three consecutive matches and 14 out of the last 17.

Utah’s decline persisted on Wednesday evening in Oklahoma City with a 119-107 defeat against the Thunder. The Jazz, missing Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson, trailed by two points after three quarters but faltered with an 18-6 deficit at the start of the final period.

“I thought we played like 42 good minutes tonight,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “I was really proud of our team’s effort and competitiveness tonight. The first half was probably as good of a half as we’ve played in a while, which shows some growth and maturity.”

Utah led 54-53 at halftime.

Collin Sexton led Utah with 25 points and seven assists, joined by John Collins with 16 points and Taylor Hendricks contributing 12 points on the scoreboard.

“Tonight was a really good example of progress from the team,” Clark said. “We didn’t shoot the ball very well, but there are far more positives from tonight’s game than negatives. We just had a stretch of the game that got away from us.”

Despite a challenging shooting night for one of their main players, the Mavericks secured a victory. Luka Doncic achieved a triple-double of 18 points, 16 assists, and 10 rebounds but struggled with only 6 successful field-goal attempts out of 27 in a 113-107 win against the San Antonio Spurs on the road on Tuesday.

“Yes, it does count as a ‘W,'” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “Not all wins are pretty.”

Kyrie Irving led Dallas with 28 points as they hit the 40-win milestone and stayed in the race for a top-six position in the Western Conference standings.

“For us not to shoot the ball well, we relied on our defense to help us get this win,” Kidd said. “San Antonio is a team that puts a lot of pressure on your defense. I thought the guys did a really good job on Victor (Wembanyama) and (Devin) Vassell.”

Clarkson, absent from Utah’s game on Wednesday due to a groin injury, achieved the Jazz’s first triple-double in 15 years during the clash with Dallas on Jan. 1. He accumulated 20 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds from the bench, marking his inaugural career triple-double.

This marked the first occurrence of a Jazz player reaching this milestone in the regular season since Carlos Boozer achieved it on Feb. 13, 2008, spanning 1,256 games.

At the inception of 2024, the Jazz depicted a different performance, winning 12 out of 14 games.

“Eighty-seven point swing is kind of wild,” Markkanen said that night. “It feels good to start the year off right.”