Postgame: Cavs Fall to Jazz in Utah

Cleveland’s quest for a perfect season long six game road trip was thwarted with Tuesday night’s 100-92 loss in Salt Lake City, UT.  The Cavs have had many nightmares against the Jazz, especially on the road, and this game fit the bill. LeBron James lead all scorers with 29 points on 10-20 from the floor. Gordon Hayward was Utah’s leader with 28 points on 10-12 from the floor, including four of five from behind the arc. Utah did have five others score in double-figures, including Rodney Hood with 18 capped off by a dagger three with 2:08 remaining.

When the Cavs fail to shoot above 40% from the field it’s going to be extremely difficult for them to win, as it is with every NBA team. Tyronn Lue touched on that following the game, “We just haven’t been making shots lately. If we’re not making shots than we need to be better defensively.” Lue said. The Cavs did neither tonight. They allowed Utah to shoot 48% and were only able to muster a field goal percentage of 36% themselves. Games are extremely difficult to win with that type of discrepancy.

Some scribbles from Tuesday’s game.

• The ball has suddenly started to stick for the Cavs offensively. They tallied 15 assists tonight, well below the season average of 21.8 helpers per game. Cleveland has consistently been below that figure lately, and was a big reason why the Cavaliers were unable to score effectively enough against a defense that only allows 95 points per game in Utah. The Jazz held Cleveland to 36% from the floor, which was more than enough for them to pull out the win.
• It does seem as if the Cavs have experienced a bit of a regression to the mean from behind the arc lately. Notably of this, the ever streaky Iman Shumpert has been shooting roughly 20% from deep since Christmas Day. The one Cavalier who has not seemed to suffer from deep lately oddly enough is LeBron. He was three for six Tuesday night from long-range.
• LeBron James came out of halftime on a mission to get the Cavaliers back in the game. James willed the Cavs back from down 15 to taking a two point lead before Utah went on a 16-0 run to take the lead back with authority.
• It is going to take Kyle Korver some time to become acclimated to playing along side his new team, and understandably so. Korver didn’t look comfortable in his debut with the team, on either end. This was expected and will change as time goes on. Tonight was a small step back necessary for a large step forward with Korver in the lineup. He finished with two points on one of five shooting in 17 minutes played. “First, I need to learn where I need to be. I had a lot of old habits from the Hawks stuck in my head.” Korver said after the game. This is something that will continue to get corrected as time rolls along.
• Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving both struggled from the floor, combining for 9-32 from the floor and 4-14 from deep. Irving finished with 20 points, thanks in part to a perfect eight-of-eight from the charity stripe. Love finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. According to ESPN Stats & Info the combined 28.1% from the floor was the worst percentage Love and Irving have combined for since becoming teammates in 2014.
• As stated earlier, Salt Lake City has been a house of horrors for the Cavs, they have lost three in a row there, and seven of their last eight overall.
• The loss to Utah was the Cavs’ first with LeBron, Kyrie, and Love all in the lineup since losing to the Chicago Bulls in Chicago on December 2. They had won 13 in a row with all of them playing.
• The Cavaliers will be back in action Wednesday night in Portland at 10:30 EASTERN on ESPN.