Utah Jazz @ Cleveland Cavaliers
Wednesday, December 20, 2023 at 7:00 PM ET
Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, OH | Game ID: 22300364
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
CLE 36 26 30 32 124UTA 27 29 37 23 116
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Sam Merrill scores career-high 27 as Cavaliers, without Donovan Mitchell, beat the Jazz 124-116
CLEVELAND -- — Sam Merrill set career highs with 27 points and eight 3-pointers off the bench, Caris LeVert scored 23 points, and the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Utah Jazz 124-116 on Wednesday night.
Merrill buried three 3-pointers during a 17-2 run to open the fourth quarter, giving Cleveland its largest lead at 109-95. He finished 9 of 16 from the field, including 8 of 14 beyond the arc, and 1 of 2 from the foul line in a career-best 30 minutes.
A fourth-year pro from Utah State, Merrill had set career highs of 19 points and five 3s in a 135-130 overtime win over Houston on Monday.
“I grew up as a Jazz fan in Utah, so to be able to have a game like this against them is even more special,” Merrill said. “To do that while we’re winning games, that’s what you dream about as a kid. You’ve got to enjoy these moments, for sure.”
Cavaliers shooting guard Donovan Mitchell sat out the game against his former team with an illness. The four-time All-Star, who is averaging 27.7 points, spent his first five seasons with Utah before being traded on Sept. 1, 2022.
Cleveland also was without power forward Evan Mobley (left knee surgery) and point guard Darius Garland (broken jaw), who are not expected to return until February.
“This isn’t going to be a ‘one person lifts us up’ situation, and I thought our guys have done a phenomenal job picking up the slack,” Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “It speaks to the character of these guys and their willingness to sacrifice.”
Max Strus scored 18 points on six 3-pointers and Jarrett Allen had 17 points and eight rebounds for Cleveland, which made 23 3-pointers on a franchise-record 51 attempts. The Cavaliers are 3-0 on a four-game homestand since losing Mobley and Garland.
Lauri Markkanen had 26 points and 10 rebounds, Collin Sexton scored 20 points, and Talen Horton-Tucker had 19 points and tied his career high with 11 assists for the Jazz. Utah is 2-13 on the road and will not return home until Dec. 30 against Miami.
Markkanen, Sexton and Ochai Agbaji were acquired by the Jazz in exchange for Mitchell, along with three first-round draft picks and multiple second-round selections.
“Me and Lauri wanted to win this game so bad,” said Sexton, who received a warm ovation in his first game back in Cleveland. “It definitely felt good how the fans reacted, knowing this is where I came from and how much the community means to me.”
Georges Niang scored 15 points and Tristan Thompson had 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals, helping Cleveland’s reserves outscore their counterparts 75-32.
Merrill buried five 3-pointers and had 17 points in the first half as Cleveland took a 62-56 lead into the break. Neither team was ahead by more than nine points until the final quarter.
“Every one of us really believed we could still make a run at the end,” Markkanen said. “They just shot the ball really well from three. Once a team makes a couple in a row, they start feeling good and it’s very hard to stop them.”
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
CLECL C. LeVert
CP C. Porter Jr.
DW D. Wade
GN G. Niang
IO I. Okoro
JA J. Allen
MS M. Strus
SM S. Merrill
TT T. Thompson
UTACS C. Sexton
JC J. Collins
KD K. Dunn
KO K. Olynyk
LM L. Markkanen
OA O. Agbaji
SF S. Fontecchio
TH T. Horton-Tucker
WK W. Kessler
CLE/UTA the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur