Recap: Jazz 109, Cavs 108 (or, Gallant Failure)

The Utah Jazz did not come into this game radiating quite the invincibility of the Golden State Warriors, but Quin Synder’s squad were going to represent a tough matchup for J.B. Bickerstaff’s Cavaliers no matter what. The Jazz remain a perennial contender in the upper tier of the Western Conference, with substantial and fearsome continuity from last season. They arrived in Cleveland on a recent three-game win streak, an upswing linked to Donovan Mitchell’s renewed offensive dominance after the former Louisville guard had a brief spell of bad games against bad teams, including a last-second loss to the New Orleans Pelicans at home. While the Jazz had blown out the Cavs in every one of their past matches dating back to January 2019, it seems to have been firmly established that in the Mobley-Garland era, none of that backstory particularly matters. The Jazz might have been primed for a strong showing, but the visitors from the West were going to have to dig deep to get a win against a hot Cleveland team establishing a reputation for stingy defense.

After a splash-happy first half played at Utah’s frenetic pace, the Cavs got some stops and this game came down to the final possession. But for a bounce or a slip here or there, the Cavs put themselves in a position to upset the Jazz. Ultimately they emerged with a gallant loss which demonstrated again the abundant talents of Darius Garland, Cleveland’s vaunted “scrap,” some spectacular defensive play from both teams, and a vital spark of energy off the bench from Cedi Osman.

The Bigs

It must be difficult to be a Cavs fan in France tonight.  How else to explain the mixture of emotions evoked when Cleveland tries to scale the wall that is Rudy Gobert, the center from Saint-Quentin (which is in northeast France, and not to be confused with California’s oldest prison)? Gobert is an extraordinary figure in the paint, three-time Defensive Player of the Year, a worthy challenge if ever there was for Cleveland’s Allen-Mobley tandem. It has probably been a while since anyone ripped down 20 rebounds in a single game in Cleveland, as Gobert did today, but in spite of that, the Cavs fought Utah precisely even in the rebounding battle (both teams ended with 46).  At the same time, easy lobs for Jarrett Allen were few, and the offensive takes of the former Brooklyn center accounted for three of Gobert’s five blocked shots. Mobley was able to get a couple of shots in over Gobert, but got crowded out on his tip-in attempt at the final horn.

In terms of the frontcourt amid the coaching chess match, the Jazz were without Hassan Whiteside in this game. Whiteside has been playing better than expected for Utah, filling in the slot left behind by Derrick Favors and, prior to him, our own Ed Davis. In Whiteside’s absence, it might have been expected that Snyder would go with Eric Paschall to bang with Cleveland’s bigs, but Paschall got a DNP and the Jazz went with Rudy Gay instead. Gay had a strong showing on 5-10 shooting (3-7 from three) for 15 points, eight big boards, a steal and a block.

Gay put an imprint on the game that was lacking from Cavs starter Lauri Markkanen, who J.B. rode all the way through the fourth quarter. Likewise Kevin Love, who had a subdued game with just one three-point make (1-6 overall shooting) and two rebounds on the afternoon. Markkanen did as well as might be considered on the glass and on defense, with five rebounds and some adept perimeter harassment at times, but the Jazz jostled him out of an emerging rhythm from three.

The Evan Mobley-oriented performance scientists at the Cavs training facility in Independence, Ohio, will have plenty of possessions to break down and to ponder as they meander along Canal Road or drift through the I-77 / I-480 interchange. His block of an Donovan Mitchell shot with 24 seconds to play in regulation was in itself a work of art:

EVAN MOBLEY WITH THE BLOCK ON DONOVAN MITCHELL pic.twitter.com/lWF9RDTxFK

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 5, 2021

Mobley picked up but one solitary personal foul in this game, and Jarrett Allen two — it was a disciplined and sound performance. By the same token, with Gobert negating much of the Garland-Allen pick and roll extravaganza, this might have been a game for Allen to uncork a mid-range or possibly even a long-range jumper; Jarrett has been canning such shots easily as play stopped in the past few games and his epic bail-out three in Toronto was surely not a pure fluke. If Lamar Stevens has a green light from distance it seems that extending Allen’s range further is not beyond the longer-term priorities for the Cavs development team. By the same token, if Gobert needs to be pulled out of the paint, this is a function fulfilled by Kevin Love. As Chris Francis noted in the live thread, even when Love isn’t shooting well, his gravity does serve that purpose, and the Cavs veteran helped to extend Gobert during Cleveland’s big run in the early fourth quarter.

Guards and Sixth Men

Darius Garland had a brilliant game and went toe-to-toe with the supernova Donovan Mitchell in just about every metric, trading dank threes and herky-jerky twos during several thrilling stretches in this game. Mitchell played a Jazz-high 39 minutes on the night, going 12-21 (4-8 from three, 7-8 from the line) for 35 points, with 3 rebounds, 6 assists, and 7 turnovers; Garland matched him on a more efficient 11-19 (5-8 from three, 4-4 at the line) for 31 points, with 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 turnovers, and a blocked shot.

Isaac Okoro in a sense was the X-factor in this game — he played solid defense, had a spectacular contest for a jump ball in the paint on Mitchell, two steals and three assists, and his fundamentals certainly helped Cleveland’s bigs on the glass. Same with Lamar Stevens in his five minutes of run in the first half, which is all he got. But Okoro’s shooting is still subpar, going 2-7 from three, a statistic which doesn’t do justice to the fact that something like three of those misses were not simply uncontested but, for the Jazz, intentionally uncontested. Maybe Ice needs to watch more Ja Morant clips and default to kamikaze line-drive-to-the-hoop dunk attempts when the outside shot is not falling? Realistically, the offensive production doesn’t need to be spectacular, just a little more Mike Conley-like (the former Ohio State Buckeye shot a respectable 4-9 for 11 points, 3-5 from three, and brought fierce defensive intensity on the perimeter). But this is a lot to ask from a second-year player whose shooting percentages have sagged from last year; Okoro is now shooting 22% on the season from three.

Cedi Osman keyed a Cavs comeback with another explosive performance, bringing the crowd and the team alive with a series of hustle plays, steals, dunks, threes and assists. Again according to Chris Francis, Cedi’s time on the floor with Love, Rubio, Okoro, and Markkanen on the floor was +98.6 in 4 minutes and led the comeback. J.B. chose to sit him down the stretch, but it was all love from the Cavs small forward.

We missed you too, @cediosman https://t.co/bTyza2tG0Q

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 5, 2021

Rubio had his now-standard cluster of creative plays, steals, and orchestrations in this game, but missed a couple of threes in the last two minutes of play, including an uncontested look with 40 seconds left in the game. As ever, Rubio was part of the reason the Cavs were competitive in the first place, and surely deserves credit for his energy and scoring which helped the Cavs tie the game from 15 down early in the fourth quarter, probably one of of the more memorable stretches of Cavs basketball this year thus far.

Final Thoughts

So many possessions in this game deserve a deep dive. They might show how the Mobley-Allen frontcourt continues to battle, the nimble moves of Darius, or how the Cavs were able to cool off the multiple threats of the Jazz from three in the second half. There is more to winning basketball than the “scrap,” but the Cleveland hustle and persistence helped to make this game one of the most sustained and competitive contests of the year thus far.

This possession reflects the competitiveness of the Jazz-Cavs game. Look at the defensive disruption of Rudy Gobert: he deflects Evan Mobley on the short roll, contests Mobley at the rim, blocks Darius Garland, and saves the ball. Garland ultimately hits the midrange jumper. pic.twitter.com/Cu2zxqdTrF

— Positive Residual (@presidual) December 5, 2021

Looking forward, Milwaukee and Chicago are looming — bona fide rivals and, for all the excitement, still lording over the Cavs in the Central Division standings. We will see if Cleveland’s strong showing against Utah served to drain away motivation and attention to detail or has sharpened it. Gallant and entertaining losses are more than good enough for the fan base as this team continues to rise, but nothing says fun quite like winning.

The Cavs and the Jazz next meet again in about five weeks’ time, on January 13 in Salt Lake City. Go Cavs!