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The Utah Jazz played hard, smart, tough and well on Tuesday, staying step-for-step with the Cleveland Cavaliers well into the fourth quarter. Eventually, though, Quin Snyder's club ran into the grim reality that's faced so many teams over the last 13 seasons: "hard, smart, tough and well" sometimes just isn't enough when the other guys have LeBron James.
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James scored 17 of his game- and season-high 31 points in 10 fourth-quarter minutes, sparking a 21-5 final-frame run that brought Cleveland back from a nine-point deficit to earn a 118-114 victory at Quicken Loans Arena. The four-time NBA Most Valuable Player also chipped in four of his seven rebounds, three of his eight assists and one of his two steals in the last stanza, carrying Cleveland past a game Jazz squad that gave the Cavs everything they could handle, but that wound up becoming just the latest team without an answer for how to stop No. 23.
The two teams entered the fourth quarter tied at 80 apiece, but the visiting Jazz — owners of the league's stingiest defense entering Monday's play, allowing just 90.3 points per 100 possessions in a continuation of the lockdown form they found late last season following the elevation of Rudy Gobert into the starting lineup — opened the frame with an 11-3 run fueled by the reserve backcourt of Alec Burks and Trey Burke. A Gobert slam off a feed from Burke made it 95-86 Utah with 7:22 remaining ... and from there, it was LeBron's show.
He drove into the paint, sloughing off Jazz wing Rodney Hood and drawing the attention of both Gobert and power forward Derrick Favors before hitting Favors' man, Kevin Love, for a corner 3-pointer that cut the deficit to six. He faced up on Hood from the right elbow, dragged him into the paint, bumped him off and hit a short jumper that got it down to four. He knifed into the passing lane on an inbounds play to catch both the passer (Favors) and the intended target (Hood) napping, forcing Hood to have to try to foul him to prevent a fast-break bucket. Hood didn't foul him hard enough:
... and the three-point play got Cleveland within one, just 67 seconds after Gobert's dunk.
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Despite the LeBron-led charge, though, the Jazz didn't buckle, with Gordon Hayward finding Hood for a momentum-curbing triple. With just over five minutes remaining in regulation, though, Gobert went down in a heap along the baseline after missing a layup, leaving Utah defending Cleveland four-on-five (which would result in a foul that sent Tristan Thompson to the free-throw line) as he grabbed his ankle in pain.
He'd try to walk it off and stay in the contest, but he'd have to head back to the locker room for treatment, leaving Utah in the unenviable position of trying to hold onto a one-point fourth-quarter lead without its top interior defender. Cleveland capitalized by redoubling its efforts to attack the basket, extending plays with offensive rebounds, getting to the foul line and driving to the basket over the ensuing two minutes, ripping off six straight points to take a 103-98 lead before Gobert could re-enter the game ... following a stoppage in play prompted by LeBron taking a charge against Hood, much to the delight of the Ohio faithful.
Utah continued to fight in the closing minutes, but just couldn't get that stop-and-a-bucket to get back over the hump. They fell to 4-3 despite the best efforts of Burks and Burke, who combined for 40 points on 13-for-24 shooting off the bench — Burks, in particular, shined late with seven points in the final 27 seconds as the Jazz scratched and clawed — and balanced contributions from Hayward (17 points, four assists, three rebounds, two steals), Favors (17 points on 7-for-12 shooting, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals), Gobert (15 points, seven rebounds, five assists) and Hood (16 points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals).
Cleveland won its seventh straight game thanks in part to the hot shooting of Mo Williams, who made his first eight shots, including all four of his 3-point tries, and went 9-for-10 at the charity stripe en route to 29 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals as he continues his strong work on the ball in place of injured All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving. Love added 22 points on 6-for-16 shooting (4-for-10 from deep) to go with eight rebounds, three assists and two steals, and David Blatt also found solid-enough contributions from the reserve corps of Thompson (eight points, seven rebounds, three blocks), Matthew Dellavedova (nine points, three assists, two steals) and veteran Richard Jefferson (seven points, two rebounds, some big fourth-quarter minutes on the wing).
But while Williams carried the Cavs early and the Jazz dictated the terms of engagement through the middle of the fourth quarter, it was, once again, James' world late. Whether Cleveland needed a bucket, an assist, a rebound or a defensive play, James provided, and that proved to be the difference. From Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune:
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James scored 17 of his game- and season-high 31 points in 10 fourth-quarter minutes, sparking a 21-5 final-frame run that brought Cleveland back from a nine-point deficit to earn a 118-114 victory at Quicken Loans Arena. The four-time NBA Most Valuable Player also chipped in four of his seven rebounds, three of his eight assists and one of his two steals in the last stanza, carrying Cleveland past a game Jazz squad that gave the Cavs everything they could handle, but that wound up becoming just the latest team without an answer for how to stop No. 23.
The two teams entered the fourth quarter tied at 80 apiece, but the visiting Jazz — owners of the league's stingiest defense entering Monday's play, allowing just 90.3 points per 100 possessions in a continuation of the lockdown form they found late last season following the elevation of Rudy Gobert into the starting lineup — opened the frame with an 11-3 run fueled by the reserve backcourt of Alec Burks and Trey Burke. A Gobert slam off a feed from Burke made it 95-86 Utah with 7:22 remaining ... and from there, it was LeBron's show.
He drove into the paint, sloughing off Jazz wing Rodney Hood and drawing the attention of both Gobert and power forward Derrick Favors before hitting Favors' man, Kevin Love, for a corner 3-pointer that cut the deficit to six. He faced up on Hood from the right elbow, dragged him into the paint, bumped him off and hit a short jumper that got it down to four. He knifed into the passing lane on an inbounds play to catch both the passer (Favors) and the intended target (Hood) napping, forcing Hood to have to try to foul him to prevent a fast-break bucket. Hood didn't foul him hard enough:
... and the three-point play got Cleveland within one, just 67 seconds after Gobert's dunk.
[Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]
Despite the LeBron-led charge, though, the Jazz didn't buckle, with Gordon Hayward finding Hood for a momentum-curbing triple. With just over five minutes remaining in regulation, though, Gobert went down in a heap along the baseline after missing a layup, leaving Utah defending Cleveland four-on-five (which would result in a foul that sent Tristan Thompson to the free-throw line) as he grabbed his ankle in pain.
He'd try to walk it off and stay in the contest, but he'd have to head back to the locker room for treatment, leaving Utah in the unenviable position of trying to hold onto a one-point fourth-quarter lead without its top interior defender. Cleveland capitalized by redoubling its efforts to attack the basket, extending plays with offensive rebounds, getting to the foul line and driving to the basket over the ensuing two minutes, ripping off six straight points to take a 103-98 lead before Gobert could re-enter the game ... following a stoppage in play prompted by LeBron taking a charge against Hood, much to the delight of the Ohio faithful.
Utah continued to fight in the closing minutes, but just couldn't get that stop-and-a-bucket to get back over the hump. They fell to 4-3 despite the best efforts of Burks and Burke, who combined for 40 points on 13-for-24 shooting off the bench — Burks, in particular, shined late with seven points in the final 27 seconds as the Jazz scratched and clawed — and balanced contributions from Hayward (17 points, four assists, three rebounds, two steals), Favors (17 points on 7-for-12 shooting, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals), Gobert (15 points, seven rebounds, five assists) and Hood (16 points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals).
Cleveland won its seventh straight game thanks in part to the hot shooting of Mo Williams, who made his first eight shots, including all four of his 3-point tries, and went 9-for-10 at the charity stripe en route to 29 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals as he continues his strong work on the ball in place of injured All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving. Love added 22 points on 6-for-16 shooting (4-for-10 from deep) to go with eight rebounds, three assists and two steals, and David Blatt also found solid-enough contributions from the reserve corps of Thompson (eight points, seven rebounds, three blocks), Matthew Dellavedova (nine points, three assists, two steals) and veteran Richard Jefferson (seven points, two rebounds, some big fourth-quarter minutes on the wing).
But while Williams carried the Cavs early and the Jazz dictated the terms of engagement through the middle of the fourth quarter, it was, once again, James' world late. Whether Cleveland needed a bucket, an assist, a rebound or a defensive play, James provided, and that proved to be the difference. From Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune:
"He's the best player in the world for a reason," Utah forward Gordon Hayward said. "This is definitely one we can learn from. It was a great experience." [...]
"He is the greatest player in the game," Cleveland coach David Blatt said. "I don't think there's anyone with a higher basketball IQ or a better understanding of the moment. He took over the game and lifted the rest of the guys with him. He did the things that a great, great player like only him could do."
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!Follow @YourManDevine
Stay connected with Ball Don't Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL, "Like" BDL on Facebook and follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more.