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Utah Jazz at Cleveland Cavaliers: Keys to stealing a huge win

CLEVELAND, OH - NOVEMBER 28: Kevin Love #0 of the Cleveland Cavaliers celebrates a second half basket with LeBron James #23 behind Goran Dragic #7 of the Miami Heat at Quicken Loans Arena on November 28, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland won the game 108-97. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - NOVEMBER 28: Kevin Love #0 of the Cleveland Cavaliers celebrates a second half basket with LeBron James #23 behind Goran Dragic #7 of the Miami Heat at Quicken Loans Arena on November 28, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland won the game 108-97. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
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BOSTON, MA – DECEMBER 15: Ricky Rubio #3 of the Utah Jazz handles the ball against the Boston Celtics on December 15, 2017 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA – DECEMBER 15: Ricky Rubio #3 of the Utah Jazz handles the ball against the Boston Celtics on December 15, 2017 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)

Key #1 – Bring in some magic from Boston

There’s no doubt about it, the Utah Jazz played stunning basketball in last night’s victory over the Boston Celtics. They shot exceptionally well – 48.2 percent from the field and 52 percent from deep against a staunch Boston defense – and played incredible defense as they held Boston in check time after time during critical stretches.

Not only that, but the Jazz thoroughly dominated the Celtics on the boards, outrebounding them by a count of 55-31. This was just one example of how greatly Utah outhustled the Celtics and fought with more determination to seal the win.

And that was a result of several guys stepping up and having quite magical nights. Ricky Rubio was electrifying as he finished with a team-high 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field which included an incredible third quarter. Rubio has taken on a significant amount of criticism of late (from myself included) so it was nice to see him have a bounce-back game of sorts that hopefully sticks moving forward.

Jonas Jerebko, Rodney Hood and Ekpe Udoh all had impressive nights as well while Donovan Mitchell, despite an off night shooting overall, went off in the fourth quarter to clinch the victory for the Jazz and finish the game with 17 points. For those guys to step up as they did and overcome in light of the loss of Favors and Gobert was truly nothing less than magical.

And for Utah to have any hope to defeat an even more daunting Cavaliers team tonight, they’ll need to ride that high and bring in some of that magic that they showed in Boston. It sounds overly simple, but when Utah is shooting the ball well, they’re extremely tough to stop. It results in them playing more energetic defense on the other end of the court and helps them to overwhelm opponents as they did last night and several times during their recent six-game winning streak.

Carrying that momentum against a tough Cleveland team won’t be easy, but Utah has shown their resiliency and effective teamwork before, so it’s not beyond reason that they do it again tonight.

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