The Cleveland Cavaliers edged out the up-and-down Denver Nuggets late at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Thursday night, improving to a 20-3 record. The 3-point attack carried the offense, and the defense prevented the guests from paying them back from long range.
In the first quarter, the Cavaliers forced three turnovers, permitted zero of three 3-pointers and contained the Nuggets to 13 percentage points below the league average at the restricted area. Still, reigning MVP Nikola Jokić got loose on post ups, a face-up and a putback, supplying 12 points, nine rebounds and three assists for his club.
Offensively, six Cavaliers connected on nine 3-pointers, the most in any quarter this season for the team. Additionally, the Wine and Gold’s attack made five of seven shots in the paint.
Then, Evan Mobley absorbed the defense for a kick-out three to Sam Merrill, forcing a Nuggets stoppage 13 seconds into the second quarter. Mobley also broke into the paint on a face-up move for a mean dunk, scored from the outside and secured two offensive rebounds. The rest of the Cavaliers were not as sharp, contributing nine of 23 shots.
Yet, the protections were unfastened, and the players got killed in transition and in the half-court because of their slow attention to detail and inability to stop the ball. In total, the hosts were punished for 15 of 25 baskets.
Despite being outscored in the paint by 26 digits, by two in the second-chance department and six on the break by halftime, the Cavaliers led 66-62 on the scoreboard.
Subsequently, Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell uncorked the second-half offense, making four of the team’s early shots. Mobley also sprinkled in a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer and picked up another offensive rebound.
After Jarrett Allen punched in a dunk, Nuggets coach Michael Malone called for another stoppage as the Cavaliers were up nine points. Yet, the Cavaliers kept causing damage on the dribble and on deep shots, including a heave by Caris LeVert from logo distance to end the period.
Next, the Cavaliers took their foot off the gas, allowing the Nuggets to cut a 18-point advantage to nine, briefly. But cutting a large difference is tiring work, and the visitors ran out of gas as Mitchell and LeVert added late 3-pointers.
The Cavaliers won 126-114. The team had 40 paint points, 12 on the break and 14 via second chances.
After the game, coach Kenny Atkinson praised the work Allen did covering Jokić. “We made him work, got his efficiency down.”
Regarding the 76 paint points the Nuggets scored, Atkinson said, “They are an excellent 3-point shooting team… You got to pick your poison with that team. We were telling our guys, ‘stay home.’”
Takeaways from Cavaliers win
1. On the attack, Mitchell destroyed coverage mostly with his outside jumper coming off a screen and shooting on the catch. His finest move of the evening was quickly posting up the 6-foot-8 Peyton Watson then spinning past him for a layup.
Mobley devoured mismatches, poured in a few triples and hunted his team’s misses, securing four offensive rebounds.
Despite Garland only making three of 10 3-pointers, he was successful going at the Nuggets on screen-rolls.
2. The Cavaliers bench outclassed its Denver counterparts, outscoring them by 27. LeVert had 21 of those points and was the high Cavalier early, hitting three of his four early treys in transition. The rest of the Cavalier bench provided buckets from close and long range. The variety of weapons used in the win demoralized the Nuggets and had their coach visibly pissed off on the sideline.
3. Jarrett Allen guarded Jokić for a large part of the game and forced four misses at close range and two outside the lane. His work on defense was as good as anyone in the league guarding the best player in the world. Jokić finished with 27 points on 50 percent shooting, with 20 rebounds, 11 assists and three turnovers.
Furthermore on defense, Mobley was a pest, intercepting two passes and poking the ball loose from Jokić. He was very impactful as a helper and one-on-one.
4. Aaron Gordon was a problem for the Cavaliers in the second quarter and was the catalyst in the visitors’ early comeback. He scored and set up the open-court attack, plus he played bully ball against multiple Cavaliers up close.