Watching the Market: Cavs at Jazz

Sam Merrill and Caris LeVert impressed in a much needed win in Utah.

The Cleveland Cavaliers took care of one of the few bad teams on their current Western Conference road trip with a stress-free 129-113 victory over the Utah Jazz.

STOCK UP

Sam Merrill’s homecoming went to plan. He drained six threes in his first NBA game back in Utah. He finished with 18 points and five assists

Merrill grew up a big Jazz fan and has even followed them off and on at times during his professional career. Going against them seems to give him extra motivation. We saw this in December when he notched a career-high 27 points in a win. While Tuesday wasn’t as impressive, it was still a night to remember for Merrill and his friends and family in attendance.

Playing with a sense of urgency has been missing over the past several weeks. Donovan Mitchell called this out after their recent loss to the Denver Nuggets. The sense of purpose they played with in the middle of the season returned for at least one night.

The Cavs jumped on a struggling team that was looking for a reason to give up. They gave them one by hanging 40 points in the initial frame.

You can’t expect things to go this well every night. But you hope that they come out with this level of intensity considering how much there’s still to play for this season.

Playoff seeding is a big deal for the Cavs given how much of this season is riding on the playoffs. This win puts a game and a half between them and the fourth and fifth seeds. The second seed is theoretically still in play as they’re just a game and a half behind the Milwaukee Bucks and own the tiebreaker with them.

As bad as March was, they haven’t fallen down the standings as much as they deserved to have. At least not yet.

Getting out in transition hasn’t been something this team has been able to do easily without Mitchell. That changed in Utah. The Cavs didn’t do a good job of converting in the open court, but they did get out there often as 18.2% of their possessions came in transition (76th percentile).

Utah’s inability to protect the ball had a lot to do with this. They committed 19 turnovers that led to 26 points. However, the Cavs also did a good job of pushing off defensive rebounds as 34.4% of their boards led to transition opportunities (70th percentile).

The Cavs need to generate easy offense without Mitchell. This and second-chance points are two ways they can supplement a half-court offense that has struggled since the All-Star break.

Caris LeVert had one of his most complete games of the season as he compiled 26 points on 9-13 shooting with six rebounds, five assists, and a steal.

The Cavs needed a perimeter-scoring punch in the starting lineup with Mitchell out and Garland not exactly hunting for his shot. LeVert provided that as he did a great job of getting into the paint as both a scorer and a passer. That’s a skill this team sorely lacks when Mitchell isn’t out there or at 100%.

STOCK DOWN

Darius Garland’s aggressiveness continues to be confounding. This wasn’t a bad game from Garland by any stretch. He contributed eight assists with just two turnovers and did an excellent job of setting up Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen who each provided 21 points a piece. That said, you would ideally like your former All-Star guard to take more than six shots when Mitchell is out of the game.

Garland had just eight points in 32 minutes. Four of his six attempts came from beyond the arc while none came in the restricted area.

This hasn’t been the season Garland expected and there are legitimate reasons for that. But it’s tough to justify so few attempts for a team that is desperate for juice on the perimeter.