Donovan Mitchell’s 46 wasted as Cleveland Cavaliers fall short against Utah Jazz

Cavs let Donovan Mitchell down in return to Utah

It was a bittersweet return to Salt Lake City for  Donovan Mitchell as the Cleveland Cavaliers fall short of completing a comeback against the Utah Jazz to lose, 116-114. The newly-minted Eastern Conference Player of the Week scored 46 points to lead all scorers in the game but saw his efforts go for naught.

Cleveland, who mounted a double-digit comeback attempt in the final period, still led by five with just over three minutes remaining in the game but the home team had their own 13-0 rally owing no small part to many ticky-tacky fouls that cost the Cavs dearly in the endgame.

Several calls that could have gone either way allowed Utah’s super scorer Jordan Clarkson to tally nine-straight points in that stretch that all but shut the door on the Cavs with time running out. Clarkson finished with a team-high 32 points off 5-for-11 shooting from deep, while another former Cavalier Lauri Markkanen added 25 in the Jazz victory.

On the other hand, Darius Garland supplemented Mitchell and the Cavaliers with 21 points and six assists, while Evan Mobley held his own in the paint on both ends in the absence of Jarrett Allen who exited the game early with an illness.

The Cleveland Cavaliers still struggle to find consistency

Cleveland losing defensive anchor Allen was huge. Even though his Tower City frontcourt partner Mobley stepped up to man the paint with 12 markers and four blocked shots, Utah still massively outrebounded the Cavs in a closely-contested contest that was decided simply by one or two possessions.

With their 16th loss against 26 victories, the Cavaliers slide down to fifth place in a suffocatingly tight Eastern Conference playoff race, though still only 3.5 games behind the league-leading Boston Celtics and also the same amount of games away from skidding further into the play-in territory.

Apart from Donovan Mitchell’s offensive brilliance night in and night out, there have been varying levels of production from the Cavs’ core group. While bench guys have been taking turns stepping up in various contests, more should be expected from higher-profile guys like Caris LeVert.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will look to find some consistency playing on the road, and perhaps spark another proper winning streak when they visit a dangerous Portland Trailblazers team in the Pacific Northwest on January 12th.