Cleveland Cavaliers' Darius Garland, left, defends as Utah Jazz's Collin Sexton drives during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
CLEVELAND (AP) — Darius Garland scored 23 points and the NBA-best Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Utah Jazz 124-113 on Monday night for their 17th victory in 18 home games.
Evan Mobley had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Donovan Mitchell also scored 22 points, Sam Merrill scored a season-high 20 and Garland had eight assists for Cleveland. The Cavaliers (26-4) have won five straight by an average margin of 20 points.
Jordan Clarkson scored 27 points off the bench for the Jazz, while Lauri Markkanen had 26 and Collin Sexton had 24. Utah traded Mitchell to Cleveland in exchange for Markkanen, Sexton and multiple draft picks on Sept. 1, 2022.
The start of the game was delayed 35 minutes because of a broken rim that forced the replacement of one of the hoops and a stanchion.
Takeaways
Jazz: Center Walker Kessler dominated the glass with 16 rebounds, eight of them offensive, but went 1 of 6 on free throws in the final four minutes as Cleveland intentionally sent him to the line. Kessler is shooting 53.6% from the stripe.
Cavaliers: Merrill made his second start of the season at small forward, draining six 3-pointers in 11 attempts. The Utah State product scored 14 points in the first eight minutes of the third, giving Cleveland its initial double-digit lead.
Key moment
Georges Niang scored on a backdoor layup with 52 seconds left, then stripped the ball from Clarkson and fed Caris LeVert for a dunk on the other end to push Cleveland’s lead to 122-113.
Key stat
Sexton, who spent his first four seasons with Cleveland, has the fifth-highest scoring average in Cavaliers history at 20.0 points, behind LeBron James (27.2), Mitchell (26.7), World B. Free (23.0) and Kyrie Irving (21.6).
Up next
The Jazz wrap up their five-game trip Thursday at Portland. The Cavaliers play at Denver on Friday.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
By BRIAN DULIK
Associated Press
