{"id":540956,"date":"2026-01-16T16:50:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/540956\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T16:50:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:50:51","slug":"klay-thompsons-historic-night-lifts-dallas-mavericks-past-utah-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/540956\/","title":{"rendered":"Klay Thompson\u2019s Historic Night Lifts Dallas Mavericks Past Utah Jazz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Klay Thompson<\/a>\u2019s shooting touch has always carried historical weight. On Thursday night, it also carried the Dallas Mavericks to their most emphatic win of the season.<\/p>\n

Klay Thompson matched his season high with six 3-pointers and scored a season-best 26 points as the Dallas Mavericks cruised past the Utah Jazz, 144-122, on Thursday night at American Airlines Center. The victory marked Dallas\u2019 largest margin of victory this season and snapped a brief skid following Wednesday\u2019s loss to Denver.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks entered the matchup significantly shorthanded, playing without Cooper Flagg<\/a>, Max Christie<\/a>, Anthony Davis<\/a>, Daniel Gafford<\/a>, Kyrie Irving<\/a>, Dereck Lively II<\/a>, P.J. Washington<\/a>, and Dant\u00e9 Exum. Despite the absences, Dallas leaned on depth, ball movement, and perimeter shooting to overwhelm a Utah team that has struggled defensively all season.<\/p>\n

Dallas set season highs with 144 points and 19 made 3-pointers, taking advantage of a Jazz defense that entered the night allowing the most points and 3-pointers per game in the NBA.<\/p>\n

Klay Thompson Climbs Another Rung in NBA History<\/p>\n

Thompson\u2019s night carried added significance beyond the final score. With his second made three of the game at the 1:18 mark of the first quarter, he passed Damian Lillard<\/a> for fourth place on the NBA\u2019s all-time 3-point field goals made list. He finished the night with 2,809 career 3-pointers, trailing only Stephen Curry<\/a>, James Harden<\/a>, and Ray Allen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the game, Thompson reflected on the milestone and the company it places him in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t spoke about it, but it\u2019s always cordial when we see each other,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cAnd pretty cool to be on such an elite list with a short list, with some of the greatest players to ever play. And I feel for Dame, I know what he is going through. It\u2019s never fun, but he\u2019ll come back, and he\u2019ll still bomb away like he always has.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson shot 10-for-18 from the field, added a season-high six assists, and finished with a steal and a block. It marked just the sixth game of his career with at least six assists and six made 3-pointers in the same contest.<\/p>\n

Asked what has sustained his shooting excellence across decades, Thompson pointed to something foundational.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust my love for the game,\u201d he said. \u201cI love shooting the basketball. \u2026 It was just always my source of joy and a form of escapism for me. The fact that it\u2019s amounted to this is incredible and inspires me to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Depth Fuels Dallas Mavericks\u2019 Breakout Night<\/p>\n

Dallas seized control early, scoring 35 points in the opening quarter and never letting Utah settle. The Mavericks scored at least 35 points in three different quarters \u2014 something they had not done in a game this season \u2014 and reached 30 points in all four quarters for just the second time in 2025\u201326.<\/p>\n

Naji Marshall<\/a> continued his recent surge with 22 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals, marking his third consecutive game with 20 or more points. He scored 18 points in the first half as Dallas built a commanding 70-50 lead at the break.<\/p>\n

The bench widened the margin throughout the second half. Dallas finished with a season-high 65 points from its reserves, receiving contributions across the rotation.<\/p>\n

Moussa Ciss\u00e9 recorded the first double-double of his career with 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, adding three blocks in 23 minutes. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl<\/a>, making his season debut for the Mavericks, contributed 12 points, seven rebounds, and two steals. Brandon Williams<\/a> scored 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting, while Caleb Martin<\/a> posted 14 points, five rebounds, six assists, and three steals in one of his most complete outings of the season.<\/p>\n

Jason Kidd Praises Leadership and Response<\/p>\n

Head coach Jason Kidd<\/a> credited Thompson\u2019s leadership and the team\u2019s collective response after Wednesday\u2019s loss for setting the tone.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat team win,\u201d Kidd said. \u201cGreat bounce back from last night, being able to make 19 threes. I thought we got off to a really good start. But I thought Klay was the leader of the group in the sense of the energy that the guys played off of getting him the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kidd also pointed to the number of individual milestones reached throughout the night, including Dwight Powell<\/a> moving into the top 10 on the franchise\u2019s all-time rebounds list and Ciss\u00e9 recording his first career double-double.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at DP and what he means to this franchise, the length that he\u2019s been here, he has seen it all,\u201d Kidd said. \u201cYou look at what Klay has done in his career and for him to move up on the three-point list is incredible. It\u2019s really cool to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Utah, which played without scoring leader Lauri Markkanen<\/a> for a second straight game due to illness, was led by Brice Sensabaugh<\/a>\u2019s 27 points off the bench. The loss dropped the Jazz to 14-27.<\/p>\n

The two teams will meet again Saturday in Dallas, giving the Jazz an immediate opportunity to respond and the Mavericks a chance to build on one of their most complete performances of the season.<\/p>\n

Latest Dallas Mavericks News & NBA Trade Rumors<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Klay Thompson\u2019s shooting touch has always carried historical weight. On Thursday night, it also carried the Dallas Mavericks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3785],"tags":[7,149,3716,423,498,74420,5989,6,3101,422,427,3972],"class_list":{"0":"post-540956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-jazz","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dallas-mavericks","10":"tag-jason-kidd","11":"tag-jazz","12":"tag-klay-thompson","13":"tag-mavericks-game-recap","14":"tag-naji-marshall","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nba-news","17":"tag-utah","18":"tag-utah-jazz","19":"tag-utahjazz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115905815063220339","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}