Mile High struggles: 1 stud and 1 dud for Cavs in loss to Denver

It was one of those nights for the Cleveland Cavaliers as they lost to the Denver Nuggets 121-108 in the first game of their Western road trip. The Cavs had come into the game winners of three in a row, granted that all three games were very close.

Cleveland has had its share of close games this season. In many of these games the Cavs have had to work to get back into games in the second half and they’ve been fortunate enough to pull off a few of them because they have several outstanding players, including their new star, Donovan Mitchell.

Mitchell in this game was on the bench resting and should be back in the lineup when they play the Phoenix Suns Sunday evening. Mitchell had quite the week in which he scored 71 points in the Cavs’ comeback win against the Chicago Bulls on Monday. Only seven players in NBA history have scored 70-plus points in a game, so his talents were certainly missed in this game against the Nuggets.

The Nuggets are quickly becoming one of the best teams in the NBA this season. They are winners of 12 of their last 15 games and now sit with a record of 26-13. The Cavs are now 25-15 and sitting in the four spot in the Eastern Conference Standings.

This is one of those games again where the Cavs play decently in the first half, actually had a lead 28-26 at the end of the first quarter, but then lost the lead late in the second quarter. They then played catch-up the rest of the game but could not make up the difference.

Darius Garland, the Cavs All-Star guard, did what he could with Mitchell being absent. However, he struggled from the three-point line going 1-of-6, but, he did score 21 points on the night. Other players came off the bench like forward Cedi Osman, who had a nice game with 15 points, and Lamar Stevens, who only played 14 minutes, but contributed six points and was outstanding defensively.

Let’s take a look at another stud on the night for the Cavs, and realistically, their standout.