Utah’s Lauri Markkanen played 35 minutes against Cleveland and scored 26 points. Cleveland was stronger in the match 124–116.
Matti Lehtisaari,
STT Sports
Lauri Markkanen NBA club Utah Jazz’s losing streak of away games continued on Wednesday in Cleveland. Markkanen, Utah’s most effective player, scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against his former club.
The Cavaliers beat the Jazz 124–116. Cleveland handed Utah its 13th road loss of the season. Jazz has only two away wins.
Markkanen played his fourth match after a hamstring injury and got 35 minutes of playing time. Markkanen hit 8/18 times with his set shots. 3/9 of the three-point shots were successful, 7/8 of the free throws sank in.
– The opponent shot really well from behind the three-point arc. The team got into a good mood, and it was difficult to stop it after they had a few consecutive successes, Markkanen summarized the decisive moments of the match on the league’s website.
– In our team, everyone believed that we would be able to turn the game in our favor at the end, Markkanen said.
The Jazz’s second best scorer was Collin Sextonwho scored 20 points.
The match progressed evenly until the beginning of the final quarter, when the Cavaliers went on a run away. The main architect of Cleveland’s victory was Sam Merrillwho scored 27 points. Caris LeVert accompanied 23 points with his evening speech. Both started the match from the bench.
Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy felt that the failures in the last quarter again revealed the team’s inexperience.
– Especially in away games, there will be difficult moments that the players should recognize better. In those situations, the team should play more closely as a team and get more energy into the game, Hardy reflected on the solution of the game in his interview.
– I am most worried about the turnovers and our rebounding game.
Cleveland got 14 offensive rebounds in the match and scored 23 points.
Utah is 12th in the NBA’s Western Conference with 10 wins and 18 losses. The Jazz will play their next game on Friday morning and face Detroit away from home.