Salt Lake City — Donovan Mitchell Scored 46 points in return to Utah, but Jazz rallied late Jordan Clarkson beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 116-114 on Tuesday night.
Clarkson scored 32 points, including five 3-pointers, adding nine in the straight for a decisive 13–0 run.
Lauri Markkanen He had 25 points and 16 rebounds against his former team. Malik Beasley, Mike Conley When Nickale Alexander-Walker They added 13 each as Utah won their second in nine games.
Jazz coach Will Hardy said, “I thought our men really dug in and stayed on course and kept their focus on the little things.
Mitchell also had six assists, five rebounds and three steals in his first five seasons with Utah. A three-time All-Star, he was traded to Cleveland in September in exchange for his blockbuster package, which included Markkanen.
Utah State honored Mitchell with a video tribute before tip-off, and jazz fans gave him a big round of applause during the video and player introductions.
“I was really comfortable,” Mitchell said. “It wasn’t crazy. I played like I’ve played here for the last five years. The welcome has been phenomenal. Thank you.”
Mitchell surpassed 40 points for the second time in five games. He set a Cleveland record with 71 points on January 2 as the Cavaliers rallied to beat the Chicago Bulls in overtime.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Mitchell is just the seventh player in NBA history to score 40 or more points in his first road game against his former team. Of these his seven players, he is his second losing. Another was Nick Van Exel in his first game back in Los Angeles against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Tuesday was Mitchell’s fifth 40-point game of the season and already a career-high.
Darius Garland Added 21 points and 6 assists for Cleveland. Evan Mobley When Caris Levert Deduct 12 points each.
Cavaliers Center Jarrett Allen All played just seven minutes in the first quarter before being sent off due to illness.cleveland forward Isaac Okoro It was limited to 17 minutes for the same reason. Both players felt nauseous during the game.
This left Mitchell with a huge responsibility to play big for 48 minutes.
“He was Donovan,” Cavaliers coach JB Bickerstaff said. “He was trying to get us through it.”
Cleveland trailed by 13 points in the second half, but they chipped away at the deficit and eventually closed it midway through the fourth quarter. Mitchell scored his three straight baskets to interrupt his 11-0 run and give Cleveland his 101-94 lead. Utah missed 13 of their first 14 shots in the fourth inning, opening the door for the Cavaliers to move forward.
But after Clarkson scored nine straight points on three possessions, the Jazz took a 115-107 lead with 23.1 seconds remaining. His outburst helped Utah overcome a quarter where Cleveland blocked five of his shots and the Jazz blocked only five baskets in total.
“In that moment, I was just aggressive,” Clarkson said. “Throughout the game, I watched what they were doing defensively and in the fourth they started to get aggressive.”
Mitchell maintained the Cavaliers’ offense in the first half while his teammates struggled to find shots. He had scored or assisted on his 10 of his 19 goals for Cleveland by halftime.
As Mitchell cooled off in the third quarter, Utah scored on seven consecutive possessions to take a double-digit lead. Clarkson made his three baskets in a row and assisted another as he produced a 13-2 spurt that put the Jazz up 78-65.
“There’s that look in his eyes and I was like, damn it, it was going to be one of those back-and-forth nights,” Mitchell said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
