When Luka Doncic missed the first three games of the 2022 playoffs, there were real concerns the Dallas Mavericks were going to lose to the Utah Jazz. Thanks to Jalen Brunson, though, the Mavs went 2-1 before the Slovenian wonderboy returned in Game 4 of the series.

Even though Donovan Mitchell and the Jazz posed real threat, Brunson admitted that he knew they were going to “break” at some point. The former Mavs star saw all the signs of a collapse waiting to happen, which he discussed during a recent appearance on JJ Redick's “The Old Man & The Three” podcast.

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“We knew that if we just stuck together, they're gonna break at some point and you saw videos of them yelling at each other and things like that during Game 3 or 4 or whatever. And like even when they tied it back 2-2, we're like good, we're good. We're losing because of the simple little things that we know that we can fix and then we fix them in Games 5 and 6. We just have the utmost confidence in each other, we knew we can do it, and obviously, once Luka came back, then it was all said and done.”

The Jazz did win Game 4 when Luka Doncic returned to tie the series at 2-2. However, the Mavs proved to be too much and closed things out in Games 5 and 6 to advance to the second round.

As Jalen Brunson mentioned, they knew what exactly they needed to do to win the series. While they were not perfect, they were able to still get the job done and add further playoff heartbreak to the Jazz.

Brunson's comments are interesting, though, as there is a real possibility he ends up being teammates with Donovan Mitchell on the New York Knicks. The ‘Bockers have been linked with a Mitchell trade for some time now, so a Brunson-Mitchell backcourt isn't too far-fetched now.