Wrap-Up – After a drama-filled four-game West Coast road trip – from the huge Christmas Day matchup in Oakland to the blowout loss in Portland to Monday night’s thriller in Phoenix, the Cavaliers needed a nice, one-sided win over a struggling club. Tuesday night’s virtually wire-to-wire win over a shorthanded Nuggets squad was just the remedy, with Cleveland taking the 93-87 victory to even the road trip heading home for a pair.
The Cavaliers weren’t especially sharp on Tuesday night – and after four games in five nights out West that stands to reason. But the Nuggets were without their leading scorer, Danilo Gallinari, and their prized rookie guard, Emmanuel Mudiay. Instead, Mike Malone was forced to rely on a few inexperienced players with multiple consonants in their names – and the East’s top squad kept the Nuggets at arm’s length for most of the night.
After struggling from the floor through the first three games of the trip – shooting a combined 18-for-49, including 1-for-13 from long-distance – LeBron was on his game against Denver, leading everyone with 34 points on 13-for-24 shooting, adding six boards and a pair of assists.
Iman Shumpert also found his range on Tuesday night, coming off the bench to follow up with 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting.
Kevin Love – who jammed his right thumb in Monday night’s victory in Phoenix – went scoreless in the second half of Tuesday’s win, but he did lead both squads with 14 boards.
Turning Point – After a ho-hum first quarter by both squads, LeBron James decided to start celebrating his 31st birthday a little early midway through the second quarter – and the Cavs never looked back.
Will Barton’s three-pointer with 6:52 to play in the period got Denver to within five at 35-30. But LeBron took over from there, scoring six straight points – the last four on a pair of emphatic dunks, to extend Cleveland’s lead to 11.
The Cavs extended their edge to 15 points in the period before the Nuggets cut it to nine points right before half. But with just over four seconds to play before intermission, Iman Shumpert went the length of the floor to score on a layup – pushing the lead back to 11, where it hovered for the remainder of the night.
By the Numbers – 89.3 … points the Cavaliers are allowing over their last eight games – allowing squads to shoot just .405 from the field over that span. At 95.3 ppg, the Cavaliers are giving up the second-lowest scoring average in the NBA.
Up Next – Following Tuesday night’s win against the Nuggets, the Wine and Gold head home for a short respite before getting right back on the road for an extended trip. On Saturday night, they welcome a Magic team that they’ve beaten on 12 straight occasions – including a 35-point drubbing earlier this month in Orlando – to Quicken Loans Arena. On Monday night, the Toronto Raptors make their first visit to Cleveland as the Cavs look to even that season series. Then it’s back on the road for an extended stretch – with stops in Washington, Minnesota and Philadelphia to start and ending with a Texas twister, taking on the Mavericks, Spurs and Rockets in a four-night span.
