CLEVELAND — Three thoughts on the Jazz's 91-83 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer, Andy Larsen.

1. LeBron takes over late against exhausted Jazz

After largely coasting in the first three quarters, LeBron James had to take over in the fourth. So he did. James scored 17 in the fourth quarter to singlehandedly push the Cavs to an 91-83 win, after the Jazz ran out of gas after playing Wednesday in Detroit.

Was it good that the Jazz allowed James to score so easily? Not especially. Early in the quarter, James found success by getting switched onto George Hill when the Cavs ran screen plays designed just for that. The Jazz adjusted for that, but James still went to work, either in the post or on the perimeter on difficult drives.

The Cavs also did another clever thing: they had Gobert's man (usually Channing Frye) way out on the perimeter, getting him out of the paint so LeBron could easily finish at the rim. You can't just leave Frye out there: he's a 42 percent 3-point shooter.

The Jazz's individual defenders probably should be better on the perimeter, but honestly, it's LeBron James. His first step is elite, his strength is elite, and his finishing is elite. Asking for much more isn't really that fair. And once James blew by the first defender, "We didn't support in iso situations enough," Snyder said.

The biggest issue late was actually the offense. Too frequently, the Jazz settled for bad shots late. Snyder explained why he thought that was the case. "We were reluctant. When you're not shooting well, you need to be aggressive," Snyder said. "We were reticent to really attack the rim."

Gordon Hayward and George Hill never really looked into the game. They missed a bunch of jump shots early (shots they've been making recently), and never found a way to score in other ways. Hayward finished with just 13 points on 4-14 shooting, Hill with 11 on 3-10 shooting. With Rodney Hood injured, that meant a lot of Joe Johnson late, and Johnson doesn't really attack pick-and-roll hard enough to get good shots for the offense. He's a much better play finisher than a play starter.

Truthfully, I'm not that worried about the performance. When you have exactly zero perimeter players shooting the ball well, it makes it really hard to score. It takes a ton of energy to cut hard, drive all the way to the rim, and get fouled. The Jazz didn't really have that energy tonight, and given the rotation, injuries, and back-to-back, it's understandable.

2. Rudy Gobert dominates for a stretch

Rudy Gobert was absolutely dominant on both ends of the floor for long stretches of the game, especially in the third quarter. He finished with 20 points, 19 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

Wednesday, we talked about how worried the Pistons were about Gobert rolls, to disastrous results for their defense. The Cavs weren't as concerned about it, and Gobert made them pay over and over again. His 10-13 shooting is wildly efficient. Time and time again, Gobert received the ball in space and made a difficult finish, occassionally around or over defenders. He even knocked down two floaters!

Rudy Gobert - 20 points (9/11 fg), 15 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals. #UTAatCLEpic.twitter.com/UC4JIZspeu — Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 17, 2017

He also got six of his points on offensive rebound tip-ins and putbacks. Some of those were just incredible plays, though the Jazz can get an advantage when teams decide to defend Gobert screens by switching. That way, even when a player misses a shot, Gobert has a chance to get an offensive rebound against a smaller defender.

You guys already know about Gobert defensively. So I'll confirm it for you: yeah, he's the best defender in the league. Not only does he block shots, not only does he scare players from shooting, he scares guys from even going in his area, which is a very important area because it's anywhere near the rim. This dish is usually a good idea, for example, but with Gobert, it doesn't even come close:

That recovery tho...#DPOY 🖐#UTAatCLEpic.twitter.com/2ZId8P6SF4 — Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) March 16, 2017

If you haven't already, go read Tim MacMahon's [great profile piece](http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/presents170316b/how-utah-jazz-turned-rudy-gobert-next-bill-russell) on ESPN that he released today. He's been working on it for months, and it shows that work.

In particular, the story of Gobert's development as a player is such an unusual one because it has come in ways that most skill development programs don't even think of. I think a lot of teams would have sought to make Gobert a skilled post player, or a skilled shooter, or made him bulkier to deal with bigger centers. The Jazz didn't.

Instead, they realized Gobert was a great player if he could just be more balanced. They worked on his core, his hips, his movement. They made him stronger at the joints, in order to try to prevent injury. And it's really all paid off.

Gobert is 24 years old. That's actually closer to a player's prime than most think, but he's still got a little bit of improvement left even if he takes just a typical development curve. And with Gobert, nothing is typical.

3. Jazz getting a lot of love

One complaint I hear a lot from Jazz fans is that the local team doesn't get enough national recognition. A small-market team without a traditional superstar has no chance to get as much coverage as another team would in the four seed in the Western Conference, the thinking goes.

I don't know about that. So much great coverage has come out about the Jazz in recent weeks, and if you're paying attention, the Jazz are starting to be the talk of the nation.

MacMahon's great article is just one example, but ESPN also just released a podcast that featured 20 minutes of Jazz talk. The Jump had a segment on Jazz vs. Clippers. Marc Spears at The Undefeated wrote a feature on how black players fit in here in SLC. Scott Van Pelt's SportsCenter had a whole segment talking about how good the Jazz are:

HoopsHype's Alex Kennedy had this video feature on the Jazz as a dark-horse team in the playoffs. 10 days ago, The Ringer had a feature on Hayward that begins "Gordon Hayward is a superstar in the making, hiding in plain sight."

And then LeBron James said this postgame:

So yeah, the Jazz's games aren't on national TV yet. They create that schedule during the offseason, and the team didn't even make the playoffs last year. But by any reasonable standard, the Jazz are the toast of the NBA watching world, and it's been fun to see.

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