SALT LAKE CITY — Rodney Hood scored 28 points and Shelvin Mack added 17 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds to lead the Utah Jazz to a 94-85 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night.
Derrick Favors chipped in 19 points and Trey Lyles added 12 points for the Jazz. Utah (32-35) won its third straight game to keep pace with Dallas and Houston in the battle for the 8th seed in the Western Conference.
LeBron James scored 23 points, while Kyrie Irving chipped in 15 points and Kevin Love added 12 points to lead the Cavaliers. Cleveland (47-19) had won three straight and six of seven before falling to the Jazz.
Utah shot 44 percent (12-of-27) from the perimeter to overcome the absence of leading scorer Gordon Hayward, who missed the game with plantar faciitis.
Cleveland appeared primed to run away from the Jazz early in the first quarter — racing out to an 11-4 lead on an alley-oop dunk from James. Utah quickly fought back. Mack drilled a 3-pointer and Rudy Gobert followed with a 3-point play to spark a 13-2 run. Favors and Hood capped the run with another pair of back-to-back baskets to put the Jazz up 19-15.
Utah eventually built up a five-point lead in the quarter after Raul Neto drilled a 3-pointer to make it 26-21. The Cavs rallied early in the second quarter and briefly went ahead 35-34 when Irving drove for a layup. Hood countered with a pair of jumpers to help put the Jazz back up 40-35.
He was just getting warmed up. Hood tacked on a 3-pointer and fed Mack in the corner for another 3-pointer to give Utah a 48-42 lead with 29.9 seconds left before halftime. His third 3-pointer pushed the Jazz ahead of Cleveland 53-44 early in the third quarter.
Utah led 61-52 after Hood’s fourth 3-pointer when the Cavaliers finally mounted a comeback. Cleveland used a 14-3 run — capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Channing Frye and James — to jump back out in front 66-64 late in the third quarter.
It didn’t last long. Lyles took over in the fourth quarter. He drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to put Utah ahead again. It sparked a 16-2 run that helped the Jazz pull away from the Cavs. Joe Ingles capped the run with another 3-pointer, giving Utah an 86-73 lead with 4:41 left.
Lyles scored 10 points in the quarter before being ejected for committing a flagrant foul against Frye with 3:57 remaining. Frye was also tossed after being assessed his second technical.
NOTES: Cavs F LeBron James is the NBA only player this season to shoot over 50 percent from the field while averaging at least 20.0 points, 6.0 assists and 7.0 rebounds per game. James averages an Eastern Conference-best 24.9 points on 50.5 percent shooting, 7.3 rebounds and 6.6 assists. … Before Monday, Jazz F Derrick Favors and Jazz C Rudy Gobert had combined to block 83 shots in their last 21 games dating back to Jan. 29. That is the second highest combined total for NBA teammates in that span. … The Cavs are averaging a franchise-best 10.3 made 3-pointers per game (fifth in NBA). They are shooting 36 percent from distance (seventh in NBA). … Gobert is averaging 13.8 rebounds over his last nine games before Monday. He grabbed 18 or more rebounds in three games during that span.