{"id":533263,"date":"2026-01-13T05:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T05:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/533263\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T05:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T05:22:15","slug":"player-grades-cavs-vs-jazz-naeqwan-tomlin-is-everywhere-in-upsetting-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/533263\/","title":{"rendered":"Player Grades: Cavs vs Jazz – Nae\u2019Qwan Tomlin is everywhere in upsetting loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> shouldn\u2019t be happy about this one. Nae\u2019Qwan Tomlin might be the only player who deserves to feel good.<\/p>\n

All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player.<\/p>\n

21 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds<\/p>\n

Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said before the game that he could think of at least five games off the top of his head this season that Donovan Mitchell carried them to the finish line. They could have used another one of those performances tonight.<\/p>\n

When he and the team are this undisciplined on defense, it takes an otherworldly offensive performance to make up for it. He didn\u2019t have it tonight.<\/p>\n

23 points, 8 assists, 2 rebounds<\/p>\n

Garland had 12 points and 6 assists at halftime. This was shaping up to be an explosive game from DG. But, similar to Mitchell, the defensive deficiencies were far too much for just an above-average offensive night from Garland.<\/p>\n

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We\u2019ve partnered with Homage to help provide Cavs fans with the best gear. Anything bought from the links below helps support Fear the Sword while also allowing you to rep the Cavs. You can also shop all Homage Cavs gear HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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15 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 blocks<\/p>\n

Mobley was aggressive in finding his shot in Cleveland\u2019s previous game against Minnesota. The Jazz made sure it wouldn\u2019t be as easy for him tonight. Mobley began the game 0-3 and didn\u2019t score his first bucket until the second half.<\/p>\n

While Mobley wasn\u2019t scoring, he was still punishing Utah with his passing. He had 5 assists in the first half and finished with 8 assists. That\u2019s nice and all, but the Cavs really need him to find counters when opponents take away the deep paint.<\/p>\n

14 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists<\/p>\n

Utah did a great job of limiting Merrill on the three-point line. He didn\u2019t see much daylight with a contest ready and in his face every time he caught the ball. He also had a hard time defensively due to Utah\u2019s size on the wing.<\/p>\n

5 points, 1 assist, 3 rebounds<\/p>\n

Porter wasn\u2019t super effective tonight. It\u2019s one of the few games this season where he didn\u2019t feel like a positive contributor on either end of the floor.<\/p>\n

2 points, 0 rebounds, 3 assists<\/p>\n

I\u2019m done grading De\u2019Andre Hunter. Instead, I\u2019m going to try pleading. Please, De\u2019Andre. You are better than this.<\/p>\n

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8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists<\/p>\n

This was a lackluster game from Allen. After responding well to Minnesota\u2019s physicality in his previous two games, he folded to Utah\u2019s bruising frontcourt.<\/p>\n

11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists<\/p>\n

Tyson gave the Cavs a boost in the first half with his shot-making making but started to fade as the game went on. He wasn\u2019t particularly good on defense, and the Cavs had a hard time generating offense with him on the floor in the second half. That might not have been entirely his fault, but playing in lineups featuring multiple non-shooters doesn\u2019t bode well for Tyson.<\/p>\n

13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks<\/p>\n

This was the best game Tomlin has played all season. He impacted every facet of the game, turning in an all-around performance that\u2019s worthy of a standard contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Cavaliers shouldn\u2019t be happy about this one. Nae\u2019Qwan Tomlin might be the only player who deserves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3785],"tags":[7,1236,7814,423,6,422,427,3972],"class_list":{"0":"post-533263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-jazz","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavs-analysis","10":"tag-cavs-player-grades","11":"tag-jazz","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-utah","14":"tag-utah-jazz","15":"tag-utahjazz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115886119051116002","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}