Live Thread: Nuggets @ Cavs (plus, some Quarter Pole Thoughts?)

Good evening CtB!

The Cavs welcome the Denver Nuggets to the Arctic shores of Lake Erie as these two teams face off in a primetime, nationally televised matchup. Even though we’re only 25% through the season, the parameters of the game are well-defined. For the Nuggets, they’re struggling to keep themselves out of the play-in in the West, even with the Herculean efforts of Nikola Jokić. Regardless, champions aren’t dead until they’re dead, so the Cavs should expect a championship effort from the road team tonight.

For the good guys, the Cavs are looking to stay in the top four of the East and ought to be going for the top seed in the East given their heightened aspirations. Also, this game would be considered one of the bigger wins of the season. The Cavs will begin a brutal three game stretch tonight where they could easily end up 0-3 if their approach is not professional. 1-2 would be understandable but maddening, 2-1 would be perfect, 3-0 would be a shock. The beauty and enjoyment of the season so far has been watching these young Cavs starting to rise and conquer every challenge they are given. Things are really falling into the Cavs’ place… Donovan Mitchell’s 2nd half against the Celtics, the elite offense, the massive contributions of the depth… it’s starting to feel like there’s real magic with this team…

Luckily, Donovan Mitchell has really risen to the challenge of leader of the team. The main contribution is keeping the guys loose and level-headed. Even when they were on that historic win streak to begin the season, Spida’s message was essentially, “We haven’t really done anything yet, we have bigger goals…” He’s got the guys locked in on a championship mindset, and it has produced some of the best basketball in franchise history so far.

What do the stats say?

The most obvious statistical story is the improvement of the offense. By shooting a couple more threes (about 36 attempts last year, 38 this year) and speeding up the pace (bottom 10 to top 10 this year) the Cavs have constructed a championship level offense. It’s amazing what a couple of tweaks can do for a team.

The biggest concerns really center around two things. First, the rebounding is mediocre at best. This will haunt the Cavs in the playoffs when creating more possessions becomes more important. Secondly, defensive drop off happening with Jarrett Allen on the court is something to watch (Cavs are a 118 defensive rating with Jarrett Allen on the floor, without Mobley this season in over 300 minutes of action). One big mitigating factor is Allen is having to matchup against more physicality and size in his minutes than Mobley. Or could be a sign that Allen’s simply wearing down given the lack of front court depth outside of Tower City? Whatever the case, that sounds like the reason the Cavs were sniffing around Kyle Kuzma and you have to wonder if POBO Koby Altman is scouring the league for some other competent power forwards.

To address Max Strus, it sounds like there’s been a delay in his recovery efforts and that he’s not close to playing. Yours truly believes the Cavs are just hoping he might see the court post-All Star Break so he can ramp up for the playoffs. But out for the season seems like it’s now in play, just given how Ty Jerome went last year granted we don’t think Strus has had surgery. Stay tuned and stay prayed up for getting the Strus loose.

Tip off is scheduled for 7:00PM Eastern time and will broadcasted live on NBATV and locally on Fanduel Sports Network, Go Cavs!