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The new look Jazz face former teammate Donovan Mitchell for the first time since his departure

The Utah Jazz and Cleveland Cavaliers enter this game better than they were before, who would have thought?

By James Hansen
/ new
New Orleans Pelicans v Utah Jazz Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images

Last summer this site was basically a rumor mill for everything Donovan Mitchell. Eventually, the move for Mitchell was made by the Cleveland Cavaliers and Utah’s tanking season could begin.

Except it didn’t.

The Utah Jazz have a winning record and have beaten a surprising amount of winning teams. Considering they’ve had one of the league’s most difficult schedules, being 17-15 at this point is pretty remarkable.

That said, the Jazz have a chance to make a statement against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Donovan Mitchell has had a spectacular season, and it will take everything the Jazz have to slow him down. For the season, Mitchell is averaging 29.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 4.6 assists. Oh and he’s doing on 50.3% FG, 42.4% 3PT, and 88.9% from the line on 5.3 attempts per game. Sheesh.

This is by far Mitchell’s best season of his career and the Cavaliers have to be happy with the investment they’ve made. Mitchell is sending a message this season and you can bet he’s going to come with fire against his former team.

Utah will come into this to send a message of their own. The shared system they run, minus Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, has been wildly successful and could be potent against the Cavs. The Jazz are currently the #4 offense in the NBA and they can really blitz teams on the offensive end. The problem all season has been on defense. The Jazz have the #25 defense in the league. Who has the #1 defense? You guessed it, the Cleveland Cavaliers. This doesn’t look like a game that has the Jazz winning, but the Jazz have surprised teams all season and there’s no reason to think they can’t do it again against the former Jazzman.

This is also a chance for Lauri Markkanen to shine. His former team was willing to trade him and he can come into this one and show what they’re missing out on. He is having a remarkable season and should be up for a monster night tomorrow. Buckle up, Jazz fans, this one is going to be fun!

Game Info

When: 5:00 PM MT

Where: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, Ohio

TV: ATTSN-RM

Radio: 97.5/1280 The Zone

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