CLEVELAND – On Friday night, it was the Nuggets hitting the New York Knicks with a near knockout blow in the third quarter. On Saturday, the Cavaliers turned the tables on the Nuggets.
The defending champions used an 18-0 run to start the third quarter to distance themselves and eventually put the Nuggets away, 125-109 at Quicken Loans Arena.
“We didn’t have any energy during that whole 18-0 run,” Nuggets guard Will Barton said. “We had no energy, we were down about missing shots. That’s how I felt. And we weren’t getting back (on defense).”
Until then, the Nuggets had been successful at keeping things close. But the Cavaliers are champions for a reason. When they turn it up, there’s not many teams keeping up. In the blink of an eye – 4:48 of actual time – Cleveland hit 6-of-7 3-point shots, forced the Nuggets to go 0-for-7 and forced two Nuggets turnovers as well.
The basketball whipped from side to side while the Nuggets couldn’t keep up the chase. Other times it was LeBron James commanding the attention of the defense on the block or short corner and then firing a pass to a 3-point shooter on the weak side. The Nuggets, a team with defensive issues, were no match for the precision and speed of Cleveland.
By the time Gary Harris hit a 3-point shot to stop the bleeding, the Nuggets had seen a four-point halftime deficit grow to 22. By the end of the third, Cleveland had scored 33 points, 27 of them coming from their Big Three of James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.
The toll of it all – playing the Cavaliers on the second of a back-to-back and the third game in four nights – became too much. James started the fourth quarter to make certain his team kept the lead, but he did not need to finish it, because they did.
“It is a cumulative effect,” said Malone of the rapid-fire nature of the games the Nuggets have played since returning from London in mid-January. “And our guys are feeling it.”
It was the end of a bittersweet three-game road trip for the Nuggets, who won just once but also witnessed Nikola Jokic put 40 points on the board at Madison Square Garden in a win over the Knicks. Still, the wins are paramount to a Nuggets team trying to keep itself in the eighth playoff spot.
“Can’t say it’s a moral victory,” Nuggets guard Gary Harris said. “We still wanted to get these wins. But we played hard. We brought the effort. It just wasn’t our night tonight.”
On Saturday, Jokic was faced with one of the toughest matchups he’ll have all season long. Cleveland center Tristan Thompson is a tad undersized at the spot, but is tough and quick on his feet. The combination allowed him to fight with Jokic on the block and get out to guard him at the 3-point line. When Jokic didn’t have the ball, Thompson went so far as to play denial defense on the Nuggets’ big man all the way at the arc.
Jokic still put a major double-double on the board of 27 points and 13 rebounds, but he and his teammates were neutralized after putting up 33 points in the first quarter. The Nuggets didn’t score more than 23 in the second and third quarters.
BOXSCORE: Cavaliers 125, Nuggets 109
James finished with 27 points and 12 assists for the Cavaliers. Irving had 27 points. In addition to Jokic’s total, Gary Harris and Jamal Murray each added 16 points.
“The 18-0 run against the world champs is going to be a hard mountain to climb,” Malone said. “But the fact that we didn’t quit, that is going to pay off for us at some point.”
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