Cavaliers completely embarrassed by Jazz 123-112 loss

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - Monday night at Rocket Arena the Cleveland Cavaliers welcomed the Utah Jazz. The Cavs were coming off a convincing 146-134 win over Minnesota on Saturday. The meeting with Utah was the first of the season. Last year the Cavs won both meetings.

The Cavs entered the game, winning five of their last seven contests looking more like the team everyone expected to when the season began. Tonight, they looked like a team that was disinterested and not prepared for a team that was less talented and the Jazz took advantage embarrassing the Cavs 123-112.

The Jazz got out to an early 12-2 lead with 7:38 left. Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson had seen enough and called a timeout. In the first 4:24 of the game the Cavs were 1 of 9 from the field and 0 of 4 from three-point range. Utah also outrebounded the Cavs 9-2 in this span. In the first half of the opening quarter the Cavs were getting torched by the Jazz. With 5:19 left on the clock Utah’s lead had grown to 21-4 as the Cavs shooting was dreadful at 15% (2 of 13) and 0 of 6 from three-point range. While the Jazz were absolutely dominating the boards 14-3. Atkinson used another timeout. After the timeout Cleveland cut the Utah lead to 12 with 3:43 left when Darius Garland hit a three, the Cavs first of the game. Then they trimmed their deficit to nine points at 23-14 when Jaylon Tyson scored in the paint and converted the free throw with 3:14 left in the opening quarter. Utah responded and with :42 left in the corner former Cavs great Kevin Love hit a three for the Jazz and the Utah lead was 34-20. When time ran out in the opening quarter the Cavs trailed 34-22. Another former Cav Lauri Markkanen led all scorers with six points. Craig Porter, Jr., and Donovan Mitchell paced the Cavs with five points apiece. The Jazz shot 46% (10 of 22), while the Cavs shot 36% (9 of 25) from the field. The Cavs ended the quarter with the Cavs shooting better from three-point range as the finished shooting 27% (3 of 11) while Utah shot 50% (6 of 12) from long range. The Jazz outrebounded Cleveland 18-7.

With ten minutes left in the quarter, the Cavs cut the Utah lead to seven points, but Utah responded and built the lead back 12 points. Then with 7:25 left in the opening half Nae’Qwan Tomlin drained a three courtesy of a pass from Garland. With 4:19 left Sam Merrill hit Tyson in the corner and cut the Jazz lead to 52-48 with a three. Then with 3:46 left Utah’s Cody Williams committed an offensive foul when he ran over Merrill. At the other Evan Mobley hit Merrill and the Utah native drained a three and the Cavs trailed 52-51. Utah then committed and illegal defense. Mitchell tied the game with the technical free throw and then took the lead 54-52 on the next possession when Jarrett Allen hit Garland in the paint with 2:53 left in the first half. As time ran out in the half Garland drained a three and the Cavs took a 62-54 lead into the locker room outscoring the Jazz 40-20 in the second quarter and a 17-2 run to close the first half. Markkanen led all scorers at the break with 16 points. Mitchell paced Cleveland with 14, Garland had 12. The Cavs were ice cold to start the game but finished the half going 20 of 32 from the field and ending the half shooting 49% (22 of 45) while the Jazz who started off hot cooled down and finished the half shooting 44% (18 of 41). The Cavs who were also colder than ice from long range to start the contest finished the half shooting 46% (10 of 22). The Jazz were also shooting well from behind the three-point line as they shot 42% (7 of 17). The Jazz outrebounded the Cavs 24-16 in the opening half, but the Cavs did have the advantage in the second quarter 9-5. The Jazz turned the ball over 14 times in the first half resulting in 20 Cavs points. While the Cavs made 10 miscues resulting in only 11 Jazz tallies.

The Jazz outscored the Cavs 16-8 in the first three minutes of the third quarter and tied the game 70-70. Atkinson did not like what he was watching and called a timeout. With 5:48 left the Jazz regained the lead 78-76 and then extended their lead to 80-76 after rookie Keyonte George was fouled, and he made both free throws with 5:34 left in the quarter. The Cavs tied the game when Tomlin emphatically dunked at the other end after a Jazz turnover with 5:01 left. The Jazz regained the lead 83-80 when George drained a three with 4:31 on the clock. As time ran out on the quarter the Jazz led 90-86. Once again, the Cavs came out of the locker cold on offense and weak on defense as they were outscored by the Jazz 36-24 in the quarter. Markkanen and George were leading the game in scoring 23 apiece. Mitchell led the Cavs with 16, scoring only two points in the third quarter. Garland also had only two third quarter points. The Jazz shot 63% (12 of 19) in the third quarter while the Cavs shot only 44% (10 of 23). Utah also outrebounded the Cavs 11-7.

After Utah took a 98-89 lead Mitchell hit a three with 10:26 remaining in the final quarter. The Cavs were not able to cut into the Jazz lead as every time the Cavs scored the Cavs porous defense allowed Utah to score. With 5:26 remaining the Jazz led 110-102 and Atkinson asked for a timeout. The Cavs were never able to recover from the defenseless third quarter and when time ran out the Jazz secured the win 123-112.

Markkanen not only dominated the paint, leading everyone in scoring in the game, outscoring Mitchell 28-21 and pulling down 12 boards on his way to embarrassing the Cavs front office.

The only team stat that needs to be mentioned after this game is that the Jazz outrebounded the Cavs 50-30, enough said.

The Cavs will now head to Philadelphia for a two-game series with the 76ers beginning on Wednesday night at 7 pm and finishing up on Friday at 7 pm both games are at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The two teams met one other time this season. The contest was in Cleveland on November 5 and the Cavs won 132-121. The Cavs have won three of the last four contests against Philly.