Jazz deliver upset win over Cavaliers as 13 point underdog

Keyonte George (YouTube)

It hs been a challenging season for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association. They are currently at 14 wins and 26 losses and have a winning percentage of .350. That is the third worst record in the Western Conference. The only two teams worse are the Sacramento Kings at 11 wins and 30 losses and the New Orleans Pelicans at 10 wins and 33 losses.

However, on Monday, the Jazz came through with an impressive 123-112 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The win was notable because the Jazz were 13 point underdogs and ended up winning the game by 11 points.

Five Jazz players reached double digits in scoring. Point guard Keyonte George of Lewisville, Texas had 32 points, and power forward Lauri Markkanen of Vantaa, Finland had 28 points. Meanwhile three players had 11 points. They were center Jusuf Nurkic of Tuzia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, power forward Kevin Love of Santa Monica, California, and small forward Svi Mykailiuk of Cherkasy, Ukraine. Markkanen and Nurkic each had double-doubles. Nurkic had 17 rebounds, and Markkanen had 12 rebounds.

The Jazz won the game despite the fact the Cavaliers outscored the Jazz 40-20 in the second quarter. In the other three quarters, the Jazz outscored the Cavaliers 103-72.

This was Utah’s third win since the beginning of December as a double digit underdog. They defeated the Houston Rockets 133-125 as an 11.5 point underdog on December 1, and the San Antonio Spurs 127-114 on December 27 as a 13 point underdog. 

It was completely a different Jazz team on Wednesday in a 128-126 loss to the Chicago Bulls. Markkanen missed the game due to illness, and the Jazz leading scorer was small forward Brice Sensabaugh of Orlando, Florida, who had 43 points off the bench. Sensabaugh had 21 first quarter points, an exceptional feat for a player who was not in the starting lineup.