by Alma Bean
Feature Image:
The Utah Jazz (17-15) travels to take on former Jazz star Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers (20-11) for the first time this season.
What to Look For
After a poor performance from Utah on Saturday night, they are looking to return to their winning ways. This may be difficult as they face one of the top backcourts in the league Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. Between Garland’s ability to move the ball with eight assists per game and Mitchell making almost four perimeter shots per game, Utah better have their heads on a swivel. Both of these stats rank in the top five in the league. Along with their abilities, Jarrett Allen will be a pest in the post for Utah.
Keys for the Game
With Kelly Olynyk being out for this matchup, it will limit Utah’s ability to space the floor. For Utah to have a fight in this game where the three balls should dominate, they need to create a contact in the paint to force fouls. Cleveland is the number one team in the NBA in opponents PPG with 104.6 along with the least number of rebounds per game with 39.9. Having Talen Horton-Tucker in for tonight as a positionless player might be a tactic to catch Cleveland off guard potentially.
Injury Report
Cleveland- Ricky Rubio: Out (knee), Lamar Stevens: Out (knee), Dean Wade: Out (AC joint), Dylan Windler: Out (ankle)
Utah- Johnny Juzang: Out (wrist), Kelly Olynyk: Out (ankle), Collin Sexton: Out (hamstring)
Where to Watch?
Tip-off between Cleveland and Utah will be at 5:00 p.m. MT on AT&T SportsNet.
The Hive Sports 
Leave a Reply