In this season of craziness, could a Cleveland Cavaliers team missing eight rotation guys possibly pull off monumental upset Tuesday night against the visiting Utah Jazz?
Nah.
All of the Jazz-related craziness occurred pregame, when a half-hour before tipoff, it was announced that Wednesday’s road trip finale in Washington had been postponed by the Wizards’ COVID-19 contact-tracing issues.
As for Tuesday’s game vs. the Cavs … well, their 117-87 victory was about what you’d expect against a team missing eight key players.
Here are some early thoughts and observations from the game:
Jordan Clarkson dos some heavy lifting
Donovan Mitchell eventually took over in the third quarter and led the way with 27 points. And Bojan Bogdanovic battled through his lingering wrist injury to post an efficient 20.
But it was Jordan Clarkson who was carrying the team’s offense in the first half.
He scored 14 of his 21 points before the break, carrying the Jazz through what otherwise was a fairly lackluster offensive showing. With both Mitchell and backcourt-mate Mike Conley off to slow starts, Clarkson took it upon himself to fire at will — and he went 5 of 10 overall and 4 of 7 from deep.
Mitchell has an efficient night
Much has deservedly made of Mitchell’s inefficient first few weeks, but he was pretty much the opposite on Tuesday.
In spite of that aforementioned slow start, he really got cooking in the third quarter, when he drilled 5 of 7 shots, including all three of his treys.
In the end, he finished with 27 points on 9-for-15 shooting, including 5 of 7 from deep. He also went 4 of 4 from the line, and added four assists and three rebounds.
Doing what they do
Cleveland came into the game boasting the league’s best defensive rating, though with so many key players out, no one was expecting much from the Cavs — who indeed failed to reach 100 points for a ninth consecutive game.
Still, coach J.B. Bickerstaff wanted to see the defensive effort continue, and he said the keys against Utah were limiting transition opportunities and denying open 3-point attempts. So, how’d the Jazz do in combatting Cleveland’s efforts?
Their 12 fast-break points were, in fact, pretty pedestrian. They more than made up for it from deep, though — going 24 of 45 from the 3-point line (53.3%).
JAZZ 117, CAVALIERS 87
Key moment • If Cleveland had any hopes of turning the game around coming out of halftime down just 13, the Jazz’s opening 8-1 salvo to make it a 20-point game disabused them of that notion.
Big number: 8 • Cleveland came into the game missing eight rotation guys — including the likes of Kevin Love, Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, and Andre Drummond.
Up next • With Wednesday’s game at Washington postponed by the Wizards’ COVID-19 situation, the Jazz’s next game is now Friday against Atlanta at Vivint Arena.
