1 stud, 1 dud for Cavs in last night’s demolition of Utah

Last night was a game that a lot of Cleveland Cavaliers fans were looking forward to since the Donovan Mitchell trade in the beginning of September. To be fair, the game didn’t have the fireworks that most anticipated simply because Collin Sexton missed the game due to a hamstring injury.

In any fashion, the Cavaliers dominated this game from the opening tip, and pretty much cruised to a 23-point victory at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Monday.

The Cleveland Cavaliers demolished the Utah Jazz in their highly-anticipated matchup on Monday night.

Interestingly enough, former Cavalier Lauri Markkanen led all scorers with 24 points, on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. Outside of Markkanen, another former Cavalier Jordan Clarkson also had 23 points, including going 3-of-6 from the three-point line. Rookie center Walker Kessler was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and finished with 11 points, but overall it wasn’t enough to overcome a lackluster shooting night from the Jazz (40% FG) and a streaking Cavaliers offense.

On the Cavaliers’ side of things, they were scalding from the field last night, particularly the three-point line where they were a simmering 15-for-26. Potential All-Star Starter Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland in scoring with 23, on 8-of-12 shooting including 4-of-5 from three. Jarrett Allen notched another double-double (20 points, 12 rebounds) and even had three blocks.

However, it was the bench that really provided the spark for the Cavaliers, with one player, in particular, doing the heavy lifting.