Live Thread: Cavs @ Nuggets
2015-12-29
After the Cavs shooting troubles on Christmas Day against the Warriors, followed by them leaving their hearts in San Francisco the following night against the Blazers, the squad was in need of a slump buster, and they got it last night against directionless Suns in a 101-97 victory. Tonight’s matchup against the rebuilding Nuggets figures to be the second leg of new winning stanza to carry us into a hopeful new year.
As painfully as the Cavs’ two-game losing streak crashed our sugar infused holiday high, the franchise is lightyears from where they were 365 days ago. Don’t listen to that idiot at your workplace who thinks it’s time to panic because he watches four hours of regurgitated hot take gruel from the afternoon argument show block—this is the most worry free New Year we’ll experience as Cavs fans since 2008.
https://twitter.com/tompestak/status/680551353660370945
Perhaps I’m nuts, but I’ve felt bonded with fans of other franchises who have had their stars leave for bigger stages because they can relate to what we went through in 2010. I rooted hard for the Nuggets hard after Carmelo Anthony forced his way to the Big Apple, and they obliged. The team rebounded better than anyone in recent memory after trading away a franchise player, posting an impressive 57-wins in 2012-13, a higher total than the Nuggets ever tallied with Anthony. The following season George Karl and Masai Ujiri both severed ties with the franchise at the right time, and in retrospect the success of 2013 appears to have been fools gold. A rash of injuries, failed trades, and alcoholism were key contributors to their fall from grace.  The squad has been stuck in lottery land since, but this reboot looks promising with high-ceiling potential building blocks in Emmanuel Mudiay and Jusuf Nurkic, along with a bounty of tradable players in their prime, and the biggest war chest of draft picks in the West.
When #Cavs G Kyrie Irving sits Tuesday in Denver, he says it will be the final back-to-back set he misses https://t.co/6zHGlQMTya
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) December 28, 2015
Kyrie will be sitting this tilt out for maintenance after his 22 point in 24 minute performance against the Suns, but the Cavs should be able to gain ground on their 35-45 all-time series deficit to Denver, as the Nuggets figure to be without Danilo Gallinari, and Mudiay. Tip off is at 9:00p.m. on Fox Sports Ohio, and can listened to on WTAM 1100, 100.7 MMS.
Great pass from Mo to Love.
GREAT no look from Mo to KLove!
Liking this lineup and how we’re pushing the pace
The Nuggets have Cartman yelling on the PA. Well done.
Great shot by Iman, he’s 4-6 and great pass by Delly for that nifty fastbreak point for KLOVE
Delly to Love flying ahead of the pack!
Really nice dish by Delly, reward the big man for running the floor
Great look by Delly to Love and great basket by Love.
Shump with the finish
Nice to see him finish after all the issues he had last year…
Totally agree, I am genuinely shocked everytime he finishes in the paint, as you said especially after the playoffs last year
Lebron feeling he self with 2 jumpers back to back, I just knew lebron woulda done a heat check and miss
Hahaha with a foot on the line too..
Time for a heat check! 8 points in a row by LeBron!
Bron having a much better night tonight…
The Nuggets have to team with most allowed points per game.
BIG DUNK by Lebron, he still got it
Oh baby, Lebron with the sick move and two handed jam!!
That was horrible defense against LeBron.
Bron needs to do more of that…
SHUMP!
I hate the way that Lebron treats Moz. I just hate it.
Maybe he should do his job then…
He treats him a lot better than Jordan or Kobe would…
Please, Moz’s defensive lapses and dropped passes are the last of the Cavs’ problems. So over blown.
Dude… are you kidding? Moz is one of the biggest problems they have… What team have you been watching?
Yea, I’ve been following this narrative and I disagree. I think he will return to form, and I don’t think he has affected the team as negatively as it’s portrayed.
The leaders of the team with their pissy attitudes and the lack of ball movement when the starters are on the floor are much greater concerns.
I have as well, and in fact said I believe he will return to form on the last podcast… Did you watch the game last night? He got eaten alive by Chandler on the offensive glass… He has been a huge problem, and it’s noticeable since his stellar D last season is what powered the Cavs on the rim protection front during their terrific second half…
Lebron has been on his ears constantly and Moz still ain’t playing like himself except for maybe 5 games this year. Maybe Lebron should try the other way and be more positive on encouraging him. Lebron said himself that there are different types of handling different people. Why not try to change it up a bit..
What’s up with Mudiay? Why isn’t he playing?
Nice steal by Love!
I really don’t understand what Moz is doing on defense…
Good ball movement that time to get Moz the mid-range…
Not sure how the Nuggets don’t have the scouting report on Mo regarding his mid-range game…
Moz is still a step slow… either physically or mentally…
Nuggets are horrible defensively lol
Love the camera shot of Boozer next to the Cavs bench — Fred: Carlos is currently unemployed…
Tooo funny Fred throwing shade :p
Fred: “His numbers last season were pedestrian at best”
Not a horrible first quarter…
Shumpert’s shot is no where to be found as well….
Dude just came back… and was never a prolific shooter anyway…
We’ve got 16 points in the paint out of our 26 points , pretty good. Bad side, Nuggets have 18 out of their 21 points in the paint. Lets make them shoot !!
Timo… nothin’ but air…
Jokic was a steal.
Yeah, I picked him up in fantasy since Blake is out for a while…
Moz you got to hammer that dude to prevent the and one…
What happened to Mo’s headband?
Like this bench group.
Nelson is one guard that Mo can probably hang with defensively…
Im shocked Shumpert finished that drive!
Didn’t Dorrell Arthur get ejected last year when he knocked Dion while in the air?
Midrange Mo gets the sweet roll.
Iman with a sneaky up and under
Nelson football carried that last drive… smh…
I forgot that JR played for the Nuggets.
Denver is terrible. No plan or energy on D. Going through motions on both sides of ball.
Basically the Cavs the last two games..
Did Mo look at the rim ? I think not, lets go Cavs
Klove strugglin’
Mo Gotti with the sneaky drive!
Just shoot that, MO.
Love the post game by Love and TT.
Wow. That’s the second hip surgery for Wilson Chandler.
The TT/Moz switch looks good tonight…
Remember when people thought Faried was an all-star?
Baffling how bad of a defender he is.
Remember when people said it’s good to trade TT for him?
TT being a beast on the inside so far!
Has Gallinari been injured for the a few years?
Form.looked.decent.
LeBron with some good looking form on that 3… Maybe is he feeling 50 tonight ;)
Looks like LeBron shot is falling tonight!
Or not…
HEY! LBJ triple!
It looks too warm for a skating rink in the Ford commercial.
Does anyone see Cols in the crowd? Look for the LeBron jersey, and fathead, and bobble, and…
Cols didn’t go… no babysitter…
He needs a babysitter to take him to the game?
LOL
Lol good one sir.
Kill a mime, it’s Miller Time, for the Nuggets!
Nice callback Arch…
Nice Kobe assist to love from LeBron.
KLove on the boards… that jump hook is money…
Cavs consciously slowing the pace. Smart.
Yep, and Blatt needs to make sure he uses all of his TO’s.
JR SWISH!!
Also this is where me and Evil are happy we live on the west coast. Late game for those Clevelanders!!
JoeyB also…
What do you guys think of these jerseys?
Is anyone else amazed that if we win this game we’ll be 8-2 in our last 10. Maybe it’s just because that Portland loss feels like 5 losses.
Interesting point. Gives a different perspective.
That humiliating loss against Portland still stings me. They need to get a dominating win streak for me to see if they’re back on track.. Last night against Phoenix there’s still times that their intensity is so-so..
They played horribly in Phoenix. I can’t see why people are applauding their effort against the Suns. The Suns are one of the worst teams in the league, and they deserved to win that game.
Yeah. I’m being generous to what I said but you nailed it. We could’ve sweep this road trip if they just played 75% on what they’re capable of. No Lillard, no Bledsoe and now no Gallo. And Curry was hurting on Xmas. Imagine that.
They didn’t play horribly in Phoenix… they played well enough to win…
Coming from an embarrassing loss, yeah they did play horrible. There should be no argument about that.
Agree to disagree… I mean, I did have to watch it pretty closely to recap it… ;)
Same here. I didn’t do a recap tho, but I watched closely to tell they played horrible despite the win. Especially the embarrassment was just less than 24 hours ago that game. ;)
You don’t score 60 in a half by playing terrible… you can say they played terrible defense… or a bad fourth quarter, but to paint their entire effort as horrible is erroneous…
Yup. And the Suns almost stole that game in the final few minutes, if not for a Kyrie bailout.
Wherein
They’re coming from a 29 point loss on a team (one of the worst) without its best player.
They’re facing a team (one of the worst) without it’s best player.
Lebron and Love was well rested. Tho played good individually.
They showed NO HUNGER
The outcome is good. But you can’t deny the concerns going forward because of the attitude they’re showing.
Not concerned at all… you can worry if you want to though… ;)
Nah, I’m good. Just a realistic fan right here. :D
Hope LeBron goes for 50
Hope Delly goes for 50
There fixed.
I hope Cols eats more chicken nuggets than the Nuggets bball team get points.
I think the team should’ve let Kyrie play this one. He was the starting to roll last game and this is a needed continuation in my opinion. Even just under 20 mins would do good for his court feel..