Cavaliers silence the Jazz 124-113
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - On Monday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse the 25-4 (best record in the NBA) Cleveland Cavaliers welcomed the 7-20 Utah Jazz to the banks of the Cuyahoga River. It was the first meeting between the two teams this season. Entering the game the Jazz led the all-time series (New Orleans & Utah) 62-52. The Cavs however hold the edge at home (Richfield Coliseum, RMFH) 35-22. Throw the records out it was the kind of game the Jazz and Cavs have always played since the Jazz came into the NBA in 1974, close and back and forth but the Cavs pulled out a 124-113 win to gain their 26th win.
The game was delayed 34 minutes as the shot clock at the end of the court by the Cavs bench was not functioning and the entire basket, stanchion and all had to be replaced before the game could begin. The game itself had many stories as three former Cavs came back to RMFH in Jordan Clarkson, Laurie Markkanen and Colin Sexton. The Jazz also had former Mentor basketball star Micah Potter. The game was very close early as the Cavs donning their “The Land” uniforms trailed the Jazz 20-19 with 2:32 left in the first quarter after a dunk by Walker Kessler. The Cavs regained the lead 21-20 with 2:32 left when Darius Garland hit a jumper giving the Cavs a 22-21 lead. The Jazz took an immediate timeout. The Jazz took the lead once again when Potter hit a three with 2:14 left on the first quarter clock. Utah’s lead grew to five with 1:50 left when Clarkson scored. But as the buzzer sounded at the end of the first quarter Donovan Mitchell drained a three to give the Cavs a 29-27 lead. Markkanen led the Jazz with eight first quarter points as did Mitchell & Garland who each had eight points. The Jazz outrebounded the Cavs 19-12 in the first quarter.
As the second quarter started the game remained close. Cavs rookie Jaylon Tyson entered the game to start the second quarter and tied the game 33-33 with 10:36 left after Evan Mobley stole the ball. The game went back and forth for the first half of the quarter. The Cavs took the lead for several minutes in the middle of the quarter and then the Jazz responded and took a 52-49 lead with 2:42 remaining in the half on a Sexton three. Mitchell missed several minutes of the second quarter but returned with 2:42 left after a Cavs timeout. After the timeout the Cavs immediately turned the ball over. After a Utah turnover the Cavs tied the game 52-52 when Garland hit a three courtesy of an assist by Mitchell with 2:05 remaining. With the game tied at 54-54 Mobley drained a three with :58 left courtesy of another assist by Mitchell giving Cleveland a 57-54 lead. Then with :01.7 left the Cavs took a 60-56 lead into the locker room as Garland drained a three from the top of the arc. Garland led all scorers in the first 24 minutes with 17 points. Markkanen led the Jazz with 13. The Jazz continued to dominate the boards outrebounding the Cavs 33-21. What helped the Cavs was the nine Utah turnovers that resulted in 11 Cavs points. The Cavs only made five mistakes resulting in five Jazz points.
The two teams came out shooting threes in the second half with 9:20 left on the third quarter clock the Cavs took a 74-66 lead on a three by Garland. It was the Cavs fourth three in less than three minutes of the second half. Sam Merrill gave the Cavs a 79-68 lead with 7:40 left in the quarter. With 5:45 left Merrill drained another three on an assist from Allen to give the Cavs an 86-69 lead. The Jazz then outscored the Cavs 11-2 to close the gap to 86-80 with 3:42 left. The Cavs responded by hitting a couple more three’s and taking a 94-82 lead with 2:59 left when Niang joined the three-point parade, the Cavs eighth of the quarter after having nine in the first half. With 1:33 left in the quarter Mitchell hit the Cavs ninth three giving Cleveland a 97-87 lead. After a missed shot by Utah and a Cavs fastbreak Mitchell drove the lane giving the Cavs a 99-87 lead with :42 left. The quarter ended with the Cavs holding a 99-88 lead. Markkanen led all scorers with 22 points through three quarters. The Cavs were paced by Garland who had 21. The Cavs had four players in double figures. Cleveland was still being outrebounded by the Jazz 41-29, the Cavs did equal Utah in the third quarter on the boards 8-8.
The Cavs lead was 13 points at 104-91 just :41 into the fourth quarter when Mobley hit the Cavs 19th three of the game. Utah responded over the next 5 minutes outscoring the Cavs 13-5 to trim the Cleveland lead to 109-104. With 5:44 left Cavs bench boss Kenny Atkinson took a timeout to gather his troops. Immediately after the timeout Max Strus fouled Markkanen behind the three-point line. Markkanen made two of three to pull the Jazz to within three points at 109-106 with 5:43 left on the clock. After the Cavs failed to score on two consecutive possessions, they pulled to within one point at 109-108 when Garland was called for a foul on Markkanen, he made both free throws with 4:39 left. Mitchell hit a jumper in the paint with 4:23 left to put the Cavs up 111-108. Mitchell then was called for a personal foul on Kessler, he missed both. Then with 3:11 left after the Cavs got the ball on a rebound by Georges Niang and a foul by Utah Garland drove the lane and made a move that nearly had the Jazz defender come out of his shoes and Garland hit the soft jumper giving Cleveland a 113-108. With 3:03 left Mobley fouled Kessler who once again missed both free throws, but Utah got the rebound. LeVert then fouled Clarkson with 2:51 left. Clarkson hit both free throws to cut the Cleveland lead to 113-110. Mitchell extended the Cavs lead to 115-110 with 2:26 left when he drove the lane. Mobley then picked up his second foul in a minute and of the game when he fouled the brick layer Kessler, he actually hit one of two pulling Utah to within four points of the Cavs with 2:17 remaining. Mobley was then fouled by Clarkson with 1:59 left. The Cavs big man made 1 of 2 to give the Cavs a 116-11 lead. Sexton then drove the lane and scored to cut the Cavs lead to 116-113 with 1:49 remaining. Sexton then fouled Mitchell, the man he was traded for. Mitchell was behind the three-point line, so he got three free throws, he converted two of three to give the Cavs a 118-113 lead with 1:35 left in the contest. Then with :52.7 left Niang on a nice pass from dropped in a layup and then with :39.2 left Niang stole the ball on the other end hitting LeVert on the other and LeVert slammed it home giving the Cavs a 122-113 lead sealing their 26th win of the season. Colin Sexton was called for an offensive foul at the other end with :33.2 left. Jazz coach Will Hardy had nothing to lose and challenged the call, which was unsuccessful, the Cavs got possession. Then with :26.8 left Markkanen fouled LeVert, he hit them both to give the Cavs a 124-113 lead which turned out to be the final score.
Clarkson led all scorers with 27 in a losing effort for the Jazz. Garland led the Cavs with 23 points. The Cavs had four players, Garland, Mitchell (22), Mobley (22) and Merrill (20) with 20 points or more and five guys in double figures in points including LeVert’s 11 point performance. Mobley also had 10 rebounds to get his 13th double double of the season.
As a team the Cavs outshot the Jazz 47% (43 of 91) to 41% (38 of 92) from the field and just slightly from three-point range 43.5% (20 of 46) to 43.2% (19 of 44). The Cavs also shot 78% (18 of 23) from the free throw line while the Jazz shot just 68% (18 of 26). Utah did outrebound the Cavs 52 to 40. Turnovers played a big role in the game also as the Cavs won that battle as the Jazz turned it over 17 times resulting in 17 Cavs points, while the Cavs turned the ball over only nine times resulting in nine Utah points.
The Cavaliers will now head out on the road for a four game west coast swing starting in Denver against the Nuggets on Friday night at 9 p.m. at Ball Arena. The Cavs defeated the Nuggets 126-114 on December 5th at RMFH. The Nuggets lead the all-time series 54-45 and are 30-19 in Denver against Cleveland. The other three opponents on the trip will be Golden State (12/30), Los Angles Lakers (12/31) and Dallas Mavericks (01/03).
POSTED 12/23/2024 22:29
Lake County Sentinel
Cavaliers Darius Garland drives the lane to score two of his 23 points in the Cavs 124-113 win over the Utah Jazz Monday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Photo by Tommy Shirer
