Cavaliers 105 - 113 Jazz
Final
  for this game

Jefferson leads Jazz over Cavs

Jan 11, 2012 - 5:52 AM Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - Al Jefferson had 30 points and 12 rebounds Tuesday night and the Utah Jazz improved to 5-0 at home with a 113-105 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Paul Millsap and Derrick Favors both fouled out, but scored 19 and 14 points respectively for the Jazz, who have won five in a row overall since a 1-3 start to the season.

Josh Howard added 17 points in the victory, which started a three-game stretch for Utah at EnergySolutions Arena.

Antawn Jamison scored 22 points to lead Cleveland and Kyrie Irving had 20, the fourth time the rookie guard has scored at least that many.

The Cavs are 1-3 on a seven-game road trip that continues in Phoenix on Thursday and Los Angeles on Friday against the Lakers.

Irving said the referees "made some questionable" calls, but "it was no big deal."

"This loss tonight was about us. We kind of beat up ourselves a little bit too much," he said.

The game was tight down the stretch -- Irving got the Cavs within five on a layup inside a minute -- despite Utah shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor.

"It was tough tonight. But we got the win and that's what matters," said Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin. "We have to get smarter in some situations and we have to get tougher, but we're working."

The Jazz led by as many as 11 twice earlier in the fourth quarter and C.J. Miles knocked down a three-pointer after Irving's layup to give them an eight- point lead.

Earlier, the Jazz had a 27-26 lead after the first quarter and a 52-43 edge at halftime. They shot better than 73 percent in the fourth quarter, but the Cavs shot over 63 percent and cut their deficit to five points, 85-80, entering the fourth.

"We scored (in the third quarter)," said Corbin, "but defensively we want to be able to shut people down, too."

The Jazz have won four games in a row against Cleveland. The Cavs were trying to get above .500 for the second time this season, but fell to 4-5 instead. They shot 44.9 percent.

Game Notes

Jefferson's 30 points were a season-high...Gordon Hayward had a career-high eight assists for Utah...Anderson Varejao had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavs.






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