Cavaliers win third straight stopping Nuggets 113-108
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - Friday night at Rocket Arena the Cleveland Cavaliers (19-16, 12-8 home) welcomed the ailing Denver Nuggets (23-10, 13-5 road). The Cavs were coming off an impressive win over the Phoenix Suns at Rocket Arena on New Years Eve 129-113.
The Nuggets came to town without their MVP center Nikola Jokic who was out with a knee injury that he sustained on Monday night. The Nuggets were also without key players Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun.
It was an ugly start to the contest as the two teams combined for just eight points in the first two minutes with the Nuggets up 6-2. The Cavs took a 7-6 lead with 8:45 left in the opening quarter when Darius Garland hit Jarret Allen in the paint for the dunk. The Cavs went up 11-8 with 7:36 left when Donovan Mitchell hit Evan Mobley in the paint and he slammed it home. The Cavs had a 15-10 lead, but the Nuggets responded and with 4:37 left Jamal Murray drained a three and tied the game at 15 apiece. The Cavs took the lead soon after and it grew to 26-19 1:04 remaining in the quarter when De’Andre (DJ) Hunter was fouled and hit both free throws. As time ran out in the quarter the Cavs led 28-24. Murray led all scorers with 16 points and Mobley led the Cavs with six points in the opening 12 minutes. The Cavs had eight different players score in the first quarter. The Cavs dominated the boards in the first quarter 17-6. The Cavs also shot 50% (11 of 22) in the quarter.
With 9:25 left in the half the Cavs took a 34-26 lead when Mitchell drove the lane and scored. With 8:47 left Lonzo Ball, who was missing in action the previous two game hit a three to give the Cavs a 37-28. The game remained within six to eight points for a lot of the quarter then with 4:17 left in the half Murray scored in the paint and cut the Cavs lead to 47-43. With 3:33 left Murray hit a three cutting Cleveland’s lead to 49-47. With 3:01 left after Mobley missed a pair of free throws the Nuggets tied the game 49-49 when Spencer Jones dunked at the other end. The Cavs quickly regained the lead when Hunter drained a three from in front of the Nuggets bench with 2:35 left. As time ran out in the opening half the Cavs held a three point edge 62-59. Murray led everyone in scoring in the opening half, scoring 28 points. Mitchell paced Cleveland with 14 points, Hunter had 12. Cleveland dominated the board in the opening half outrebounding the Nuggets 25-12. Cleveland shot 61% (25 of 41) while the Nuggets shot 46% (22 of 48) from the field. The Cavs did have their problems from the free throw line as they shot just 44% (4 of 9). The Cavs also owned the paint in the opening half outscoring Denver 32-20.
Just 28 seconds into the third quarter Murray hit a three and tied the game 62-62 then with 10:52 left the Nuggets took the lead 64-62. Seconds later Garland turned the ball over and the Nuggets lead was 66-62 with 10:06 on the third quarter clock. The Cavs looked like they took a nap at halftime like Francisco Lindor did during game seven of the 2016 World Series and were still sleeping. With 9:11 left on the Clock the Nuggets lead was 71-65 and a disgusted Kenny Atkinson took a timeout in an attempt to get his guys back on track. Immediately after the timeout the Nuggets committed a three second violation and Mitchell missed the free throw, then the Cavs turned the ball over for the third time in the quarter and the Nuggets took advantage taking a 76-65 lead with 8:19 left in the quarter. The Cavaliers finally woke up and went in a 13-3 run to cut the Nuggets lead to 79-78 with 5:13 left in the third quarter when Garland scored in the paint. Nuggets coach David Adelman called a timeout. Then with 3:41 left on the clock Craig Porter, Jr., hit Garland in front of the Cavs bench, Garland drained a three to tie the game 81-81. With 2:06 on the clock the Cavs regained the lead when Mitchell drained a three. The Nuggets came right back, hitting a three giving Denver an 87-86 lead with 1:47 remaining in the third. Then with 1:24 left Nae’Qwan Tomlin picked up a foul sending Zek Nnaji to the line he hit them both and the Nuggets led 89-86. The Nuggets extended their lead to 92-86 on a three by Tim Haradaway, Jr. As the quarter ended the Cavaliers trailed 97-88 as they were outscored 12-1 in the final 1:47 of the quarter. Murray still led everyone with 31 points, Mitchell wasn’t far behind with 27 leading the Cavs. The Cavs turned the ball over five times in the quarter resulting in eight Denver points. The Cavs were also 0 for 2 from the foul line in the quarter and were 4 for 11 through the third quarter. While Denver was 9 of 11 from the charity stripe.
With 8:50 left on the clock in the final quarter Porter cut the Nuggets lead to 101-97 with a three. Then Mitchell stole the ball and took it all the way and slammed it home to get the Cavs to within two points at 101-99 with 8:26 left. Adelman took a timeout. With 7:25 left, Garland was fouled, he hit both free throws and the Cavs tied the game, but the Nuggets took the lead right back 103-101. After a couple of minutes of sloppy play by both teams the Nuggets scored, and the lead was 105-101 with 4:43 left in regulation. With 3:43 left on the clock Jones picked up his third foul sending Jaylon Tyson to the line. Tyson kept the Cavs theme of terrible free throw shooting going as he hit 1 of 2 to pull the Cavs to within one point of the Nuggets. On the previous Nuggets possession Allen pulled down his 11th defensive rebound of the night passing Larry Nance on the Cavs All-Time defensive rebound list. After a Cavs missed shot and a scrum for the ball a jump ball was called, and Atkinson called a timeout with 2:34 remaining. With 2:14 left, the Cavs took a 107-105 lead on a Garland three on a nice pass from Mitchell. After a missed three by Mitchell, the much maligned Allen who has been criticized by both the Cleveland fan base and media unfairly for being soft fought two Nuggets players for the rebound dishing it to Mitchell who scored in the paint giving the Cavs a 109-105 lead with :42.1 left. After some matador defense by the Cavs where the Nuggets missed a three and Mobley pulled down the rebound Hunter was then fouled. He hit both free throws and the Cavs led 111-105 with just :13.7 left on the clock. With :05.3 left Murray drained a three even with Hunter draped all over him cutting the Cavs lead to 111-108. Garland was fouled with :03.5 left, he made both free throws to seal the Cavs 113-108 win.
Murray led all scorers in the loss with 34 points, only scoring 3 points in the fourth quarter. Mitchell led the Cavs with 33 points. Both Allen and Mobley scored just eight points each but came up big on the boards as Allen pulled down 12 boards all on the defensive end and Mobley pulled 11, 6 were in the defensive category.
As a team the Cavs destroyed the Nuggets on the boards 55-32 which has been a theme in the Cavs three game win streak.
The Cavs shot 50% (43 of 86) from the field while the Nuggets shot 43% (40 of 94). Cleveland also out shot Denver from long range 41% (16 of 39) to 36% (17 of 47). The Cavs did struggle from the free throw line as they were out shot by Denver 85% (11 of 13) to 56% (10 of 18). The Cavs outscored the Nuggets in the paint 50-34 and in second chance points 23-14.
Next the Cavs will take on the Pistons Sunday at 2 pm at Rocket Arena
The Pistons are 25-9, 12-6 first in the Eastern Conference and first in the Central Division
The Cavs defeated the Pistons 116-95 on October 27th in Detroit. The Cavs forced 26 turnovers in the game and Mitchell scored 35. Allen also scored 20. The Cavs were without Darius Garland in the first meeting. The Pistons were basically healthy.
The Pistons got off to a 15-2 start and are 10-7 in their last 17 game. They had a 13-game winning streak which began the next game after they lost to Cleveland. They have lost 3 of their last 4 games, two of the losses were to struggling teams, the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers.
POSTED 01/02/2026 22:23
Lake County Sentinel
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Cavs superstar Donovan Mitchell shoots a three pointer in the Cavs 113-108 win over the visiting Denver Nuggets Friday night at Rocket Arena. Photo by Tommy Shirer
