Game Night Observations: Practicing Adversity, Sam Merrill's Springboard, and Who Broke the Basket?

The Cleveland Cavaliers moved to 26-4 on the season with their win over the Utah Jazz.

The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Utah Jazz 124-113 on Monday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in a game that was closer than the score would indicate.

The Cavs led by as many as 17 points during the second half, but Utah cut the lead to 109-108 with 4:39 left in regulation on a pair of made free throws by Lauri Markkanen. That’s when Cleveland found itself in a position it hadn’t been in for the previous two weeks: clutch time.

Technically, the Cavs played 22 seconds of clutch time against the Wizards on Dec. 13, but that wasn’t all that real.

Despite the lead shrinking to just one, this outcome of this game never truly felt in jeopardy, partially because of the inevitability the Cavaliers seem to possess. They’re always just going to find a way, it feels like. This situation did, however, give the team valuable practice in executing during the closing minutes of a close game. Entering Monday night, the Cavs had won eight of the nine games played in December, with those eight victories coming by an average margin of 18.2 points per game.

How the Cavs responded to playing in the clutch was the important thing to come from this game.