The Utah Jazz this Sunday they stopped the Cleveland Cavaliers (108-109), who had four wins in a row, by prevailing in an exciting and epic match in which those of Ricky Rubio they cherished victory at the last moment.
Darius garland, which with 31 points was the lighthouse of the Cavs, had a triple final to win the match but his shot did not enter and neither Jarrett Allen nor Evan Mobley got their slaps right.
The Cavs stood up to the end of one of the most greasy offensive machines in the NBA and despite losing by 15 points in the fourth quarter, they almost realized the dream of the comeback.
Rubio was crucial in the Cavs’ recovery in the fourth quarter and he shone with 15 points (6 of 11 shooting), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block in 31 minutes off the bench.
In the very solid and deadly Jazz, Donovan Mitchell was a nightmare for the Cavs (35 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists) and Rudy Gobert planted his flag in the paint with 6 points, 20 rebounds and 5 blocks.
The Cavs lacked defensive aggressiveness until the fourth quarter, when they did manage to stop the Jazz, but a good example of how they were guilty of innocence was that they did not commit any foul in the first 17 minutes of the game.
The duel served as a reunion for Rubio with the team he played with from 2017 to 2019, and was played at noon as part of the NBA Sundays, an initiative of the league so that you can see meetings in Europe without staying up late.
Give and take in attack
Jarrett allen had a major challenge in the face of intimidation from Rudy Gobert (a three-time winner of the NBA Defender of the Year award), but the young Cavs center came out to bite.
Allen achieved 4 points very early taking advantage of the defensive changes of the Jazz, attacked the offensive rebound and put a big plug to Royce O’Neale (10-7 with 9.13 on the clock).
No trace of defenses in either set, the match turned into a fabulous give and take offensive between Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell.
Garland made the first 4 triples he tried while Donovan Mitchell responded explosively with 15 points in the first of the quarter. (6 of 7 shooting) to give the Jazz the advantage (29-33).
The visitors were getting oil out of the Cavs’ woes and benefiting from reinforcements from the bench like Rudy Gay.
The Cavs continued to make waters in defense but they found some peace in the triples of Kevin Love and Cedi Osman (42-44 with 6.38 remaining for half-time).
However, 3-pointers from silent Jazz killers like Bogdanovic and O’Neale they continued to do a lot of damage to Cleveland (50-55 with 2.17).
Ricky Rubio failed to gain control of the game, but a tray of his in the last seconds left the meeting completely open after the first half (55-60).
Resistance to the end
The Jazz left the locker room wanting to blow up the duel as soon as possible and forced the Cavs to time out after an extraordinary movement of the ball that Mitchell culminated with a triple (58-70 with 9.18 to be disputed).
Garland supported some Cavs who, by letting themselves be carried away by the rhythm of their rivals, they ran the risk of drowning in the offensive maelstrom of the Jazz.
Gay once again frightened a local team from the triple in which Rubio took a step forward so as not to throw the game away overboard (82-91).
The last quarter started with terrible news for the Cavaliersas two straight triples by Jordan Clarkson and Mike Conley gave the Jazz their biggest lead of the day (82-97).
But at the worst moment, the Cavs brought out their best basketball.
A splendid reaction from the Cleveland team got them fully into the game captained by a very inspired and effective Blond and a Cedi Osman that bit in defense.
Rubio and Osman had found the antidote for the Jazz – defense and running – and they didn’t stop until tie the score after a great 15-0 run (97-97 with 8.42 to go).
Mitchell reappeared to calm the nerves of a faltering Jazz, but Garland was also claiming his share of the limelight.
With a playoff scent, the meeting entered a very intense and exciting phase with alternatives on both sides and the Cavaliers fans turned upside down with their team.
Gobert made a huge dunk on Allen after offensive rebound to put a +3 for the Jazz that could have been definitive, but between Garland and Mobley the Cavaliers earned the right to fantasize about a comeback that narrowly didn’t come true.