Bojan Bogdanovic scored 16 of his 28 points in the first half to help the visiting Utah Jazz to a 126-113 victory over the injury-riddled Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night.
Bogdanovic highlighted his performance with five 3-pointers for the Jazz, who shot 56.6 percent from the field and 48.8 percent from beyond the arc.
Rudy Gobert collected 20 points and nine rebounds for Utah, Donovan Mitchell added 19 points and Jordan Clarkson had 13 off the bench in his first game against his former team since being traded from the Cavaliers in late December.
Collin Sexton scored a career-high 32 points and Kevin Love added 22 points and nine rebounds for the short-handed Cavaliers, who have lost three in a row overall and nine straight against Western Conference teams.
Cleveland played without Tristan Thompson (knee injury) for the second consecutive game and fellow center Andre Drummond (calf), who scored a team-high 27 points during Saturday's 113-104 loss to Indiana. Rookie Darius Garland (groin), fellow guard Dante Exum (ankle) and forward Alfonzo McKinnie (plantar fasciitis) also were ruled out.
Love connected on his fourth 3-pointer to give Cleveland a 47-41 edge midway into the second quarter, but Utah answered with an 18-4 edge to secure an eight-point lead at halftime. Mike Conley capped the surge by hitting a 3-pointer just before the buzzer for the Jazz.
Mitchell hit a pair of jumpers to highlight Utah's quick 6-0 spurt to begin the third quarter, and Bogdanovic made a 3-pointer to extend the team's lead to 73-58.
Love answered with back-to-back 3-pointers, but Conley later countered with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to stake the Jazz to a 94-82 lead entering the fourth.
Clarkson and Georges Niang each made a 3-pointer as Utah scored eight of the first 10 points in the fourth quarter. Bogdanovic sank a pair of 3-pointers with less than five minues left to effectively put the game away.
--Field Level media
Utah | Cleveland | |
Bojan Bogdanovic 28 | Scoring | Collin Sexton 32 |
Joe Ingles 8 | Assists | Matthew Dellavedova 9 |
Rudy Gobert 9 | Rebounds | Kevin Love 9 |
Rudy Gobert 4 | Free Throws Made | Collin Sexton 6 |
Rudy Gobert 2 | Steals | Collin Sexton 3 |
Rudy Gobert 5 | Blocks | Kevin Porter Jr. 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Utah | 126 | 56.6 | 20-41 | 12-14 | 30 | 47 | 7 | 3 | 15 |
Cleveland | 113 | 46.2 | 17-41 | 12-18 | 28 | 36 | 1 | 10 | 7 |