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Key: All That Jazz
Tuesday night’s matchup pits one team just starting a four-game road trip against another wrapping up a four-gamer at home.
The Jazz begin their tough trip with a stop at The Q, where they’ve dropped three straight and nine of the last 11. The Cavaliers, who’ve topped 15 of the last 16 Western Conference foes they’ve faced dating back to last season, including eight straight at The Q. The Jazz, who’ve already played four of their first six games on the road, have won four of five after dropping the season opener in Detroit.
Last year, the two clubs split their season series, with Gordon Hayward sinking the Wine and Gold on a buzzer-beater in Salt Lake City just over one year ago before the Wine and Gold handed them a two-touchdown loss late last January. The Cavaliers will look to make it seven straight before embarking on a three-game trip of their own, but it won’t be easy against a Jazz team that leads the league in defense.
Key: Head-to-Head Matchup
Last year, Hayward made some headlines when he playfully called out LeBron James – then proceeded to drill the game-winner in Utah.
This year, the former Butler star leads Utah in scoring at 15.5 ppg and last year, he averaged 17.5 ppg against the Cavaliers. Since 2010-11, he’s averaging an even 20.0 against Cleveland at The Q – his highest road scoring average against any team and he’s one of three players in league history to raise his scoring average by at least two points per season in four straight years – joining Gary Payton and Kobe Bryant.
Hayward will have to go against the game’s best on Tuesday night – with LeBron James coming into the contest averaging 30.0 ppg over his last two, dropping 29 points on the Pacers after dropping 31 on Philly (despite taking a knee to the quad) two nights earlier. James, who passed Jerry West for 19th place on the NBA’s all-time field goals made list, averaged 28.5 ppg in two games against the Jazz last year and has dropped at least 30 points on Utah in nine of his last 13 meetings.
Key: Point Break
Even without Kyrie Irving in the lineup – still nursing offseason knee surgery – the Cavaliers have been strong at the point guard position.
Over the last four games, Mo Williams – who was originally drafted by the Jazz in 2003 – is averaging 17.3 points on 50 percent shooting (28-56) to go with 5.8 assists and 3.5 boards. Williams’ backup, Matthew Dellavedova, handed out a game-high nine assists in Sunday’s win over Indiana and is averaging 6.1 helpers this season, good for 4th among all reserves. Delly has also tallied double-figure scoring in three of Cleveland’s previous five contests.
The Jazz start Brazilian rookie, Raul Neto, but Delly will have his work cut out for him on Tuesday night when he goes up against Utah’s Trey Burke – who’s averaged 15.6 points over the last five games, including a 24-point outburst with a career-high six 3-pointers in a home win over Memphis on Saturday.
Key: Moving Forward
Tuesday’s match features two of the best rebounding combos in the NBA – Cleveland’s Kevin Love (12.6 rpg) and Tristan Thompson (10.0) and Utah’s Derrick Favors (9.0) and Rudy Gobert (12.7).
Love is coming off his best rebounding game of the year, snagging 19 boards to go with 22 points in Sunday’s victory over the Pacers – doubling up for the third straight game (and fifth time this season) after going 8-of-12 from the floor in the second stanza. Love is two three-pointers away from 600 and would become just the second player in NBA history to tally 600 treys and average over 10.0 rebounds for a career, joining the legendary Larry Bird. The three-time All-Star is also just two double-doubles away from 300 for his career – becoming just the 11th active player to do so – and has tallied more double-doubles (12) against the Jazz than anyone else in the league since 2010-11.
Thompson finished with a season-high 16 points on Sunday, grabbing eight boards to go with a pair of steals. Thompson, the top rebounding reserve in the NBA, has grabbed at least eight rebounds in every game this season.
Key: From the Top
The Cavaliers have been excellent at The Q when they top the century mark, rattling off 26 straight wins in which they’ve scored over 100 points. Cleveland is averaging 102.1 points per contest – good for 4th in the Eastern Conference, topping triple-figures in five of their last six contests and currently ranking 3rd in the NBA in assists.
But they’ll be going against the league’s top defense on Tuesday night – one that’s holding opponents to a league-low 85.0 points per game on 39.4 percent shooting. Utah also leads the league in opponents’ points in the paint at just 33.3 ppg – largely due to Gobert, who’s established himself as one of the best shot-blockers in the Association. The French big man is leading the NBA, averaging 4.0 swats per contest this season, and has posted 26 games of 3+ blocks since last year’s All-Star Game, tops in the league over that span.
The Jazz were one of the top defenses in the league last season – and this year they’ve shaved 9.9 points off their average from a year ago.