The Utah Jazz find themselves in an unusual position as they head to Cleveland on Monday to take on Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers.
For the first time this season, the Jazz are coming off of multiple victories in a row.
Though the odds are against them picking up a road win over their former superstar and the red-hot Cavs, it would mark their first actual winning streak since they won six straight during the middle of the 2023-24 season.
While it certainly doesn’t do the Jazz any favors as far as their positioning in the next draft lottery goes, the rebuilding team likes that it’s eked out a couple of wins away from home during a five-game road stretch.
Utah followed up a 126-119 win in Detroit on Thursday by defeating the Brooklyn Nets 105-94 on Saturday. It was only the second time this season the Jazz held an opponent to under 100 points scoring.
“That’s two games in a row that we’ve won ugly,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “It hasn’t been because of just pretty offense the whole game.”
Indeed. The Jazz only scored 19 points in the first quarter, shot 47.7 percent overall and hit just 14 of 41 3-point attempts.
“For us to win these two games on the road and fight through some tough offense, makes me proud as a coach,” Hardy said. “The team is competing at a high level. They’re flying around, defensively and executing.”
Brooklyn, which is also clearly in rebuild mode after trading away Dennis Schroder to Golden State last week, had 19 turnovers to Utah’s 18.
“We didn’t make any shots in the first half,” said Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, who’s averaged 24 points and 10.5 rebounds in the consecutive wins. “But we stayed in the game with our physicality and defense.”
Two wins in a row is nothing for these Cavaliers, who have won 25 of 29 games and have an NBA-best 16-1 record at home.
Cleveland is on its second four-game winning streak and won two straight another time — not to forget, of course, the splendid 15-0 start.
Mitchell, who played the first five seasons of his career in Utah, is having another solid season even if his scoring average is down a bit to 23.3 points per game. Mitchell scored all 19 of his points in the first half of the 126-99 rout of the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday.
Former Jazz player Georges Niang, who scored 13 in the Cavs’ most recent win over Philadelphia, is a mainstay contributor off of Cleveland’s bench.
The Cavaliers welcomed back sharpshooter Max Strus on Friday, but he rested against Philadelphia after scoring nine points vs. the Milwaukee Bucks. He’d missed the first 27 games with an ankle injury.
His status hasn’t been announced yet for Monday’s contest.
“It was just fun to play. Obviously, great we get the win but fun to be out there and be a part of this,” Strus said. “It’s going to take some time, but I felt pretty good, pretty comfortable. Just take each game, one game at a time, and try to get better each one.”
The Cavs are looking forward to adding Strus to a potent offense, which already tops the NBA in shooting (50.5 percent on field-goal attempts) and is second in scoring (121.7 ppg).
“He brings something that we’ve been missing,” Mitchell said. “And I think to say that while having the best record in the league is special.”
–Field Level Media
