Utah shot to win it falls short; Doncic, Brunson lift Mavericks past Jazz into second round

The Utah Jazz had their chances.

In Game 6. In this series. In the Donovan Mitchell/Rudy Gobert era. The Jazz had their chances.

The game, the series and maybe the era are over after Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks hung on to beat the Jazz 98-96 in Game 6 Thursday, taking the series 4-2 and advancing to the second round for the first time in the Doncic era (it was the first Dallas playoff series win since the 2011 title season).

Dallas advances to take on Phoenix — who looked vulnerable knocking off the Pelicans — in a series that starts Monday in the Valley of the Sun.

Utah played its best defensive game of the series — Royce O’Neal in particular stepped up, something the Jazz needed more of earlier in the playoffs — and got 23 points and nine assists from Donovan Mitchell.

In the end, the Jazz had two chances to take the lead in the final 10 seconds. On the first, with the Jazz down one, Mike Conley drove across the lane but was called for traveling when he stopped up and appeared to drag his feet with five seconds left (that was not a call that can be reviewed). Utah quickly fouled Jalen Brunson on the inbound, he hit one of two free throws, leaving the Jazz down two with 4.3 seconds and a chance. Quin Snyder drew up a brilliant play that sprung Bojan Bogdanovic — Utah’s hottest hand in this series — for an open look 3-pointer, but it fell short.

MAVS HOLD OFF THE JAZZ AND ADVANCE.

Bogdanović was wide open