Cavaliers hang on against Utah 118-114, for seventh straight win
BY STONE LEXINGTON
CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER
LeBron James is a really good basketball player.
The previous understatement doesn’t give the performance James put forth in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 118-114 victory over the Utah Jazz Tuesday night justice. Trailing Utah in the fourth quarter, James took the game over and led Cleveland (7-1) to its seventh straight victory.
“The win — That’s the only thing that’s important to me,” James said. “We had some struggles. We had some good points. We had some bad points tonight, but we stuck with it.
“We were able to face the adversity, being down nine at one point late in the fourth. We just stuck with it, stuck with the process and were able to bring home a very, very good win.”
James’ performance was spectacular as he finished the game against Utah with 31 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. It was his fourth quarter performance, however, that pushed Cleveland over the top in Quicken Loans Arena.
When Utah point guard Trey Burke sank a three-pointer with 9:26 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Jazz captured a 91-83 lead, their largest of the night. That’s when James entered best-player-in-the-world-mode.
During a 2:26 stretch immediately after Burke’s shot from beyond the arc, James received credit for a goaltended layup, he converted a free throw and assisted Kevin Love on a three-pointer that brought Cleveland within a 95-89 deficit. On Cleveland’s next two possessions, James drained a running floater followed by a layup plus the foul. After James converted the free throw, Cleveland trailed 95-94 with 6:05 to play.
For the comeback to happen, the Cavs needed and got essential stops on the defensive end of the floor.
“That’s the only way you win ball games,” James said. “Defense is contagious.”
Leading by a point with a little more than four minutes remaining, James assisted Richard Jefferson for a reverse layup that gave Cleveland a 101-98 lead. When James converted another layup on Cleveland’s next possession, The Q was as loud as it had been all night and the Cavs had a 103-98 lead. Yet, the scrappy Jazz continues to push Cleveland to the limit.
Utah sliced the Cavs lead to a 107-105 margin when Jazz power forward Derrick Favors sank a layup. James though, wouldn’t let Utah get any closer. On Cleveland’s next possession, James sank a five-foot hook shot that gave Cleveland a four point lead and followed the shot with a free throw that put the Cavs up 110-105 with 29 seconds left on the clock. Utah came within 111-109, but James assisted Tristan Thompson for a layup plus the foul with 15 seconds to play. Thompson converted the free throw and Cleveland escaped with the win.
In the fourth quarter alone, James totaled 17 points, four rebounds, three assists, a steal and drew a crucial charging foul on Jazz forward Rodney Hood with 3:06 left to play.
“I just felt like the team needed it,” James said. “That’s a very good team, I believe so. They gave us everything they had, even pushing us to the brink, being down nine with six or seven minutes to go.
“We just tried to make a push and see if we could change the momentum, and we were able to do that.”
With the victory over Utah, Cleveland moved to 5-0 at The Q this season and hold a 25-1 mark at home since Jan. 19 of last season. Over that 25-game stretch at home, the Cavs are outscoring opponents by nearly 12.0 points per game. Cleveland also moved to 16-1 in its last 17 games versus Western Conference opponents.
Mo Williams has filled in admirably as Kyrie Irving continues to recover from a fractured kneecap. Entering the matchup with Utah, Williams averaged 17.3 points on 50 percent shooting, 5.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds in the previous four games. Against Utah, Williams totaled 29 points, six rebounds and six assists. He was perfect from the field until he finally missed a 14-foot jumpshot with 1:37 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“I knew I missed a shot,” Williams said. “But I still wasn’t playing that way just to not miss a shot. (I was) just kind of playing the game. The shots I shot, I made.”
Love sank four three-pointers against Utah and became just the second player in NBA history (Larry Bird - 10.0 rpg and 649 made three-pointers) to average at least 10.0 rebounds and make 600 three-pointers. Love finished with 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists against the Jazz.
“That’s good company,” Love said with a smile referring to Bird. “I just think that’s the way the game has gone. I grew up watching guys at the four position and five position shoot the ball from outside, so it’s not something I’m going to stop doing. It’s definitely good company.”
Cavs shooting guard J.R. Smith returned to Cleveland’s starting lineup after a three-game absence due to a right knee contusion and quadriceps tendinitis. Smith totaled seven points and three assists in 22 minutes.
Cleveland moved to 6-0 this season when scoring at least 100 points. Reaching the century mark has been a recipe for success for the Cavs as Cleveland has won 34 of its last 35 regular season games when scoring 100 points, which includes a perfect 27-0 record at The Q.
Entering Tuesday, the Jazz had allowed by far the fewest points per game in the NBA this season (85.0). The next closest team was the Miami Heat, which had allowed just 90.4 points per game entering Tuesday. Utah’s opponents points per game average will certainly go up after the matchup with Cleveland.
The Cavs hadn’t been outrebounded or out-assisted by an opponent this season. That was until Utah outrebounded Cleveland 37-35 and out-assisted the Cavs 30-24. Despite the statistics, James was too much for the Jazz.
“He was aggressive in the fourth quarter and we expected that,” Burke said on James. “We expected it from him all game. He made some plays at the end that kind of broke us down a little bit, but the good thing is we stayed together.”
Jazz shooting guard Alec Burks led Utah with a team-high 24 points, three rebounds and three assists. Favors and Gordon Hayward each chipped-in 17 points apiece.
With the victory over Utah, Cleveland wrapped up its four-game homestand with a perfect 4-0 record. The Cavs meet the Knicks in New York on Friday and hope they won’t need another Herculean effort from James.
“Playing with him long enough, you kind of wait for that moment,” Williams said. “When we went down, he turned it to another level. That’s the type of things that we expect from him — He did a good job of that. Guys just follow his lead.”
POSTED 11/11/2015 00:09
Lake County Sentinel
