Live Thread: Nuggets @ Cavs
2017-02-11The Cavs are back home after a strong road trip where they went 3-1. Their only loss was against the Thunder, and it was the final game of the trip on the second night of a back-to-back. The big three looked completely gassed for long stretches, which ultimately caused them the game. Overall, the road trip was successful as Tryonn Lue got the offense moving the ball and looking for the wide open shot instead of contested ones after lots of dribbling.
In the past four games, the Cavs have shot a league leading 45.2% from deep landing 15.3 a night, which is also tops in the league. They’re have turned the ball over nearly 16 times a game though, which is a bottom ten number. If they clean up their carelessness with the ball, they’re going to become even more terrifying offensively.
The Nuggets are 3-3 in their last six and traveling to Cleveland after beating the Knicks just last night. Nikola Jokic carried them in New York scoring 40 points on 17-23 shooting to go with nine boards and five assists in  37 minutes.
Thing To Watch
1.Kevin Love, LeBron James, and Kyrie Irving are all tired, and it really showed in the fourth quarter against the Thunder. They couldn’t secure any stops or hold on to the ball, which resulted in them giving away the game. Hopefully, a full day off being back home will refresh these guys.
2.The Cavs have to try and put the Nuggets away early. Denver doesn’t have any true super stars, but they’re deep and slightly above average in almost all areas. Their primary bench guys are Jameer Nelson, Jusuf Nurkic, and Wilson Chandler. The Cavs would gladly take any of those guys. Denver’s depth has allowed them to have just one guy playing over 31 minutes, Danilo Gallinari. If the starters aren’t doing it tonight, Tyronn Lue should just let them rest instead of over extending them for a possible win.
3.Kevin Love needs to feast on Denver’s smallish front line. At some point Kenneth Faried or Nikola Jokic will be on him for extended stretches. Â Love should just over power Faried and out smart the sopomore Jokic. He’s also going to want to control the boards to keep Denver from having the chance to attack an unset Cavs defense.
4.Derrick Williams is playing his second game as a Cav after going 3-3 for 12 points,while playing really solid defense against the Thunder.
I’m picking the Cavs tonight, 123-113. They are really clicking, and they just need one guy to go off for the chance at a blow out with how efficient their baseline offense has been.
DeAndre Liggins is the starter at shooting guard as of 5:45 PM.
Danilo, Emmanuel Mudiay, and Kenneth Faried are out with injuries. The Nuggets bench will have significantly less depth.
Just got back from game & the bar afterwards. Great game! We had some really nice seats too. :) WHen the cameras were not on , Lebron was tired. He often would stay down the other end. He still had a very productive night. It was obvious Ty wanted to experiment with many different line-ups with Derrick Williams. Man, The Dude really tries & puts in the effort on both ends. He really wants to be here! If he made a mistake, he would try to make 2 more terrific plays to make up for it.
Because of course they did…
https://twitter.com/gifdsports/status/830627229667381248
Didn’t know Oak was a Thunder fan….
Russ has triple double… he got his 10th turnover…
Dick Vitale and Bill Walton calling the Cavs/Pacers game next Wednesday… that should be crazy fun
Finally!!!! SOmeone else than Van Gundy or annoying Reggie Miller & Chris Webber.
Russ in reach of a quadruple double tonight… 41 points, 10 boards, 7 assists and 9 turnovers at the end of three quarters…
Classic…
https://twitter.com/richeisen/status/830620583368945666
https://twitter.com/SInow/status/830619483156918272
Crowd in OKC chanting “CUP CAKE” mercilessly at KD… despite their team being down by 20…
ALL STAR BREAK WILL BE GOOD FOR EVERYONE / TRADE DEADLINE SHOULD GET INTERESTING —COULD BE REAL QUIET OR COULD BE SOME BLOCKBUSTER TRADES —-THINK GRIFF WILL WAIT TO SEE WHAT OTHER TEAMS DO —–AND IF A BLOCKBUSTER TRADE IS MADE AND HE FEELS THAT CERTAIN TEAMS HAVE CLOSED THE GAP ON THE CAVS HE MIGHT ” PULL THE TRIGGER ” ON A POTENTIAL ( ” BIG ” )TRADE …..JUST A HUNCH
https://twitter.com/cavs/status/830613243060183040
Ty liked the size of that unit… Fred should read these before he Tweets them…
https://twitter.com/CavsFredMcLeod/status/830614715269337089
Lucky 13 for #13… 13 points 13 boards for Canadian Dynamite…
EVIL THANK YOU FOR THE “RESPECT OF AN OL MAN / NOMAD “– FOR NOT POSTING —OWE YOU ONE –HA -HA
Anytime NOMAD!
Cavs really locked Nugs down defensively in the middle quarters… Held em to 40% shooting ultimately…
JB225—IF THE ENCHILADA PLAYS LIKE HE HAS BEEN PLAYING –YOU HAVE TO KEEP HIM—-ALLOWING THE OTHER STARTERS TO REST IS HUGE —BRINGS ATHLETICISM / EXPERIENCE / TOUGHNESS TO THE 2ND UNIT …ALSO THINK THE CAVS WANT MORE THAN 10 DAYS TO REALLY ALLOW HIM TO GET AQUANTED –IN RHYTHM –TO SEE HIS FULL POTENTIAL / WHAT HE CAN BRING TO THE CAVS —–WOULD NOT HESITATE PUTTING THE ” ENCHILADA ON THE DONKEY ” IN THE PLAYOFFS
ENCHILADA WITH A QUIET SECOND HALF ( OFFENSIVELY ) STILL LIKED HIS ENERGY AND LOCKED DOWN ON THE “D”—–MARCH IS GOING TO BE BRUTAL—21 DAYS ON THE ROAD / GOING TO NEED THE BENCH TO BE HUGE —-IMAN / POSSIBLY J.R. COMING BACK ——LOOKS LIKE KILLERSHRIMP/ MAMBA’S MINUTES ARE GOING TO BE CURTAILED —UNLESS THERE ARE BLOWOUTS
Agree 100%, With Shump out, McRae/Kay could get some run with the James gang vs. teams with smaller PGs. Denver has large guards (outside of Jameer) so we could get away with D-Will guarding point. A quicker PG & that won’t work.
Yeah, he was out there with guys hitting threes in his second stint… when guys are knocking down triples, he’s probably not going to get the ball much… still played with good energy…
LIGS IS ON FIRE !!!!—-SARCASM !!
BUT NOT REALLY SARCASM!!
No need for sarcasm… He had 9 points (3-4, 1-2), five boards, five assists, three steals, a block and no turnovers in 22 minutes…