Cavaliers dispatch Jokic and the Nuggets 126-114

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - The Cleveland Cavaliers entered Thursday night’s matchup with the Denver Nuggets with a 19-3 record, the best record in the NBA. Despite the Cavs owning the best record in the NBA there are still doubters around the league and within the national media. Some say they had not played a tough schedule thus far this season through 22 games. The Cavs made another statement as they won their 20th game of the season with a 126-114 win over reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets.

The Nuggets jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with 11:11 left after Michael Porter, Jr was fouled by Isaac Okoro and hit both free throws. After the Nuggets took an 8-4 lead on a Jokic layup the Cavs pulled to within 8-7 when Darius Garland drained a three with 9:00 left. The Cavs eventually tied the game 10-10 with 8:27 left when Okoro hit Donovan Mitchell, and he drained a three. They then took the lead 34 seconds later when Evan Mobley hit a three giving Cleveland a 13-10 lead. The Cavs’ run continued when Okoro hit a three with 7:42 left extending the lead to 16-10. Denver head coach and former Cavs assistant Michael Malone took an immediate time out to gather his troops. Denver cut into the Cavs lead and trimmed it to 18-15 with 6:25 left in the opening quarter when journey man Russell Westbrook hit a layup. Denver then cut the lead to one point at 18-17 after Jokic hit a jumper in the paint. The Cavs lead was back at seven points when Caris LeVert hit a three with 4:30 left on the first period clock. With 2:24 left the Nuggets pulled to within 28-23 when Jokic deposited another layup. He now had 10 first quarter points. With :24.5 left in the opening quarter the Cavs lead grew to 12 at 37-25 when LeVert hit a three bringing his first quarter total to a game leading 14 points. The quarter ended with the Cavs leading 37-27. LeVert led all scorers when the quarter ended, Jokic was a close second with 12 first quarter points. The Nuggets led the battle of the boards 13-10 after one period. The Cavs shot 58% (14 of 24) from the field, while the Nuggets shot 43% (12 of 28). The Cavs also shot 60% (9 of 15) from behind the three-point line (LeVert was 4 of 4), while Denver was scoreless from long range.

With Just 1:13 off the second quarter Clock the Cavs took a 43-27 lead when Mitchell hit a three. The Nuggets responded by cutting the Cavs lead to 47-38 with 8:34 left when Mobley fouled Aaron Gordon and Gordon finished the three point play when he hit the free throw. The Nuggets continued to cut into the Cavs lead with 5:18 left. Jokic drew a foul from Okoro, it was Okoro’s third. Jokic converted the free throw, and the Cavs lead was 53-51. With 4:32 left and the Cavs up 56-53 Dean Wade drove the lane dropped in a layup and was fouled, he could not convert the free throw, and the Cavs lead was 58-53. The Cavs then played some stifling defense that Archie Bunker would be proud of forcing the Nuggets to commit a 24 second violation. They converted the turnover into two points taking a 60-53 lead with 3:55 left on a LeVert layup. The Nuggets once again responded by scoring the next five points, cutting the Cleveland lead to 60-58 with 2:54 remaining. Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson called an immediate timeout to thwart the Denver momentum. When the quarter ended the Cavs, lead was up to 66-62. One thing was made very clear in the first 24 minutes by the three game officials Mark Davis, Aaron Smith and Simone Jelks was that Mitchell could be hacked every time he touched the ball, and no fouls were going to be called. Jokic led all scorers with 17 first half points. LeVert wasn’t far behind, leading the Cavs with 16. The Cavs shot 52% (26 of 50) in the first half and the Nuggets shot 52% (27 of 53). Denver outrebounded Cleveland 27-23 in the first 24 minutes. Denver dominated the paint 48-22. Cleveland bench was running laps around Denver’s bench outscoring them 28-6.

The Cavs maintained their lead early in the third quarter which they had struggled with recently and left 81-74 with 8:17 left to play in the third. The lead grew to 83-74 with 6:35 left after Allen slammed home a thunderous dunk forcing a Denver timeout. With 4:43 left official Simone Jelke’s whistle didn’t work until after the shot Westbrook missed and then it worked and she called a foul on Niang, Westbrook hit 1 of 2 to pull the Nuggets to within 88-79. The Cavs got the lead back to double digits at 91-81 with 3:52 remaining when Garland drained a three. The Cleveland lead grew to 100-84 with 1:57 left when Merrill hit a three forcing a Denver timeout. The Cavs lead was briefly 18 points until Peyton Watson hit a three point basket cutting the lead to 102-87 with :59 left. The Cavs led 102-87 as the quarter ended.

The Cavs lead grew back to 18 points at 109-91 with 9:51 left when the Nuggets turned the ball over and Merrill scored at the other end. Weith 6:38 left in the game the Nuggets cut the lead to 112-96. With 4:26 left in regulation Mobley was fouled, he hit them both and the Cavs lead was 116-100. With 3:57 left the Cavs lead had shrunk to 116-104 and then to 116-107 with 3:37 left after Porter hit a three. LeVert came through once again with 2:43 left when he hit another three to give the Cavs a 119-107 lead. After the Nuggets responded with a basket at the other end, Mitchell gave them a 122-109 lead with a three with 2:00 left on the clock. Garland then put the Cavs up 124-111 with 1:47 left on a fast break layup. Denver called a timeout to regroup. With 1:38 left the officials were still doing their special brand of work, calling Mitchell for a loose ball foul when he did not touch anyone. Porter went to the line and hit 1 of 2 cutting the Cavs lead to 124-112. The Nuggets turned the ball over on their next possession and the Cavs ran the clock out and secured the 126-112 win.

Mitchell led all scorers with 28 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter. The Cavs had four players, Mitchell, Garland, LeVert and Mobley with 20+ points on the night. Jokic led the Nuggets in scoring in the losing effort and had a triple double, pulling down 20 rebounds and dishing out 11 assists.

Cleveland will now go on the road for back to back games in Charlotte and Miami for the 1988 Expansion series facing the Hornets and Heat. They will hit Charlotte first on Saturday and play a rare day game at 1 p.m. at the Spectrum Center. The Cavs lead the all-time series against the Hornets 76-51, but the Hornets have the advantage in Charlotte 35-28. This is the second meeting of the season between the two clubs. The Cavs won the first meeting 128-114 on November 14th at RMFH.