Cavaliers at Jazz
The Cleveland Cavaliers looked like a team not used to playing with each other in a 19-point loss at Portland on Tuesday. LeBron James and the Cavaliers will try to quickly turn the page when they visit the Utah Jazz on Wednesday. Cleveland hit its first 10 field-goal attempts against the Trail Blazers before going 21-of-75 the rest of the way and getting run off the court in falling to 1-2.
The Jazz have dropped three of their first four and are enduring a brutal schedule to begin the campaign with five of the first six games against teams with winning records from last year – the James-less Cavaliers of 2013-14 being the lone exception. “Some of these games, you’ve got to see them as opportunities to improve,” Utah coach Quin Snyder told reporters. “Every time we come out against one of these teams that people are picking in the NBA Finals, it’s a good chance to help us measure ourselves in where we are.” The Cavaliers did not look much like title contenders against Portland, and James has looked out-of-sync in two of the first three games.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Cleveland), ROOT (Utah)
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (1-2): James went scoreless on 0-of-4 shooting in the second half of Tuesday’s 101-82 setback while Kyrie Irving finished 3-of-17 from the field. James turned the ball over eight times and was held to 17 points in a season-opening loss to New York but appeared to have some of those problems solved with a 36-point outburst at Chicago before joining most of his teammates in going cold over the final three quarters in Portland. An exception was forward Tristan Thompson, who provided 22 solid minutes off the bench and followed up his 13-rebound performance in Chicago with eight more boards.
ABOUT THE JAZZ (1-3): Derrick Favors has been one of the bright spots for Utah and is shooting 58.3 percent from the floor despite being held to six points in a 107-101 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday. “He’s been outstanding,” Snyder told reporters of Favors. “The leadership position that he’s been in anchoring the defense and really finding his offense within the system; he’s getting post-up touches but it’s not like we’re calling a bunch of plays and just going to him.” Fellow building block Gordon Hayward has increased his scoring total in each of the four games, up to 27 on Monday.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Cleveland F Kevin Love has recorded a double-double in each of the first three games and is 9-of-20 from 3-point range.
2. Utah PG Trey Burke is 4-of-17 over the last two games, including 0-of-7 from 3-point range.
3. Irving averaged 23 points and 10 assists in two wins over Utah last season.