Mitchell spoils James’ birthday in Utah’s win over Cavs

SALT LAKE CITY — Rookie Donovan Mitchell scored 29 points to help the Utah Jazz close out December with a 104-101 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.

Derrick Favors added 19 points while Ricky Rubio totaled 16 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Jazz. Utah (16-21) beat Cleveland at home for the fourth straight time.

LeBron James scored 29 points and added eight rebounds and six assists on his 33rd birthday for the Cavaliers. James also eclipsed 8,000 career rebounds

Jeff Green added 22 points and Kevin Love chipped in 20 points and 10 rebounds for Cleveland (24-12), which lost for the fourth time in five games.

After trailing for almost the entire first half, Utah came out strong in the third quarter. The Jazz outscored the Cavaliers 23-3 through the first 7 1/2 minutes to go ahead 71-56. Favors got things going with back-to-back baskets and, later, Utah took its first double-digit lead on back-to-back baskets from Joe Ingles.

Cleveland shot 4 of 19 from the field in the third quarter.

The Cavaliers missed 13 of their first 14 shots before Dwyane Wade hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut it to 73-67.

Rodney Hood hit a pair of 3-pointers to get Utah’s lead back to double digits at 79-69. Cleveland kept chipping away at it through the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers cut the deficit to a point three times, the final time on a 3-pointer from Love that made it 98-97.

Wade missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer on the ensuing Cleveland possession.

Mitchell drove the lane and hit a layup with 35.4 seconds left to keep the Cavaliers from overtaking Utah.

Cleveland opened a 31-17 lead late in the first quarter behind an 18-5 run.

James played a major role in fueling that run by making a layup and a fadeaway jumper on back-to-back possessions. Then, James bookended the spurt with his only 3-pointer.

The Jazz chipped away at Cleveland’s lead through much of the second quarter. They cut it to 41-38 on back-to-back baskets from Thabo Sefolosha and Favors that finished off a 9-0 run.

The Jazz got within a point when Rubio made back-to-back baskets to trim the deficit to 47-46. James kept Utah from overtaking Cleveland before halftime with his own back-to-back baskets and a buzzer-beating jumper to put the Cavaliers up 53-48.

NOTES: Cleveland F LeBron James played in an NBA game for the seventh time on his birthday. James averaged 33.5 points on 56 percent shooting, 7.5 rebounds and 6.7 assists in his previous six birthday games. … Jazz C Rudy Gobert’s injured knee was re-evaluated by the team Saturday. Gobert is making progress, but will miss at least two more weeks with a PCL sprain and bone bruise. … Utah and Cleveland combined for 26 turnovers. … The Cavaliers finished with a 16-2 edge on second-chance points.