Little things make a big difference, both in life and in basketball. I can think of countless examples in my personal life where clawing an inch has made a positive difference, and I’m sure you can too.

I recently had a conversation with someone who has basketball skills that I greatly respect – my brother Rob Harris. He tuned in to the Pod Maverick podcast on Saturday night, where I had the honor of seeing Kirk Henderson and David Trink. Coming out of that episode, my brother suggested the idea that in Mavs Moneyball we cover some of the little things that can get lost over the course of watching a game, but that still have a big impact on the swings in momentum and ultimately the outcome have. With that idea in mind, we welcome you to the first part of Turning Points after the Mavericks beat the Jazz 110-102 on Monday night.

Turning point: Kyrie Irving’s 3-pointer late in the first quarter

At the 59-second mark in the first quarter, Kyrie Irving missed a jumper, which led to a Collin Sexton three-pointer for the Jazz nine seconds later. When the Mavs’ lead was cut to two, Kyrie came back on the other side and made a three-pointer. After forcing a Jazz three-pointer, Kyrie made another three-pointer with one second left. In less than a minute the lead increased from two to eight points. This is an illustrative example of why we keep hearing about quarter closures.

Turning point: Klay Thompson’s 3 late in the first half

With 33 seconds left in the half, Luka Doncic was at the free throw line. He made his first attempt to give the Mavericks a five-point lead, but missed his second freebie. Dereck Lively cleared the offensive board, turned and fired a pass to Klay Thompson, who, unsurprisingly, was in the perfect spot at the top of the three-point arc. Thompson calmly converted a three-pointer and extended the lead to eight with four points of possession.

Turning point: Technical foul by Luka Doncic in the third quarter

In the third quarter, Doncic got on the bad side of the referees and earned a technical foul. The technical came at 7:26, with the Mavericks leading by 13. At the 6:16 mark, the Jazz had reeled off eight straight points to cut the lead to five and were still hanging on. Techs are like a mistake in baseball in that they so often destroy the attacking team’s momentum, which can too easily lead to a positive burst for the opponent.

Turning point: Luka Doncic’s three-pointer near the end of the fourth quarter

For our final turning point of the evening, we have something of a two-for-one duel. After Klay Thompson extended the Mavs’ lead to 11 within five minutes, Dallas was ready to capitalize on that goal and run out the clock. Jazz had other ideas. Jordan Clarkson hit a three-pointer, Collin Sexton got two more points off a goalie from Daniel Gafford and Kyrie Irving had an uncharacteristic turnover, making it a six-point game that was more interesting than Mavs fans wanted.

Then Luka Doncic came into the game, hitting his first three-pointer of the night and extending the lead to nine. From there, Kyrie connected with two free throws and Luka added a layup on some key stops. In the last few minutes the Stars stepped up their game and took the win.

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