Recap: Denver 133, Cleveland 95 (or, High-Altitude Dumpster Fire)

Recap: Denver 133, Cleveland 95 (or, High-Altitude Dumpster Fire)

2021-02-11 Off By Adam Cathcart

More than most, Cleveland fans can explain that there are very, very different ways to lose a game. Frustration at being close in the end, or overachieving and then falling short, of being underestimated and then making noise against highly ranked opponents even a loss — there is a sting, but still some honor in the loss; something can be recuperated. In their prior match against the Phoenix Suns, the Cleveland Cavaliers had led part of the way and were in a position to win, but could not focus or execute in the final two minutes and lost. This game against Denver, however, was a blowout essentially from wire to wire, giving little succor to fans or organization supporters about the future of the franchise, let alone hopes that this year might result in a playoff berth or play-in contention. In short it was vexing and demoralizing.

The Nuggets might have had a chip on their shoulder coming into the game, as they were on a three-game skid, have lost more than half of their home games in this pandemic season, and are not performing to their high standard from last season, when they overcame not one but two 3-1 game deficits and reached the Western Conference finals, only to be slain by that prodigal son of Akron, LeBron James. The Nuggets had also not beaten the Cavs in the regular season, having lost two matches to the Cavs prior to the pandemic, including one at home.

Thirteen months ago, John Beilein began his press availability postgame in Denver with the words “Another happy locker room and a great road trip thus far…”

In that particular game, both Garland and Sexton had good games, with support from Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson in the front court, tangling with the Joker, and with Alfonzo McKinnie “flying up and down the floor” as Beilein put it.
Approaching Denver this week, when it came to the frontcourt, coach J.B. Bickerstaff did not have Tristan (traded to Celtics, obviously), nor did he have Kevin Love or Larry Nance, Jr.. Instead he went with the same unorthodox lineup he had started in Phoenix.

Austin Carr actually worked in some praise for the Allen-at-the-four lineup in his introductory highlight package in the pregame, showing excitement over the interior passing between Allen and Drummond. There was, of course, only one solitary highlight from the Phoenix game of Allen and Drummond sharing the ball, and the spacing issues — and Drummond’s understanding of his own role — were immediately apparent in this game.
Drummond ended up guarding Paul Millsap for stretches in this game, and he, Andre, got roasted on the perimeter. Millsap, a well-preserved 36 years of age, splashed a couple of threes and also got to the line.

Sexton and Garland could not find their shots. Colin was settling for long off-balance 2s and missing them; Okoro clanged a long 3; although he had a couple of fantastic dunks and sequences, he was largely invisible after a really solid game in Phoenix where he was draped on Devin Booker.

The Nuggets are long, much longer, and more experienced and savvy than the Cavs at the guard positions. Cleveland was not getting punished inside, but they also didn’t impose any kind of energy or force on the Nuggets. Drummond, force, and spacing seemed to be the main issues and whereas the Cavs could key in their defense in Phoenix, the Nuggets have a fully balanced attack and have a way of collapsing into any given weakness presented.
Without enumerating every last instance of Andre Drummond loafing on defense, demonstrating indifference, or fumbling the ball, though his sheer size and skill he still can impact a game positively. He didn’t do much of that in this contest. He set the tone for the game literally on the opening tip, where he corralled the ball from Jarret Allen and flipped it without looking, over his head, to a curious Collin Sexton. Maybe the inability to socialize beyond the team hotel is having negative effects on interpersonal connections among players? Only time will tell.
Obviously Drummond is capable of monster games and nice chemistry with Garland in particular. To pluck a couple of artifacts from Kevin Love:

 

But after this game it was fire and fury for Andre from the commentariat.

Drummond acts as a wet blanket on defensive intensity. When he came in to spell the second unit shortly into the second quarter, the pace slowed markedly and mistakes started to pile up.
Recapping every last aspect of this game would be cruel and unnecessary.  A savage dunk over Cedi in the fourth quarter personified the beatdown.

At the end of the first quarter, Austin Carr tweeted:

It never happened.
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CategoryRecaps
TagsAndre Drummond Cavs Nuggets Cleveland Cavaliers Isaac Okoro J.B. Bickerstaff John Beilein NBA pandemic Paul Millsap
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NOMAD

NOT CAVS / BASKETBALL RELATED BUT THE BROWNS SHOULD DO WHATEVER POSSIBLE TO SIGN RECENTLY RELEASED J.J. WATTS

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NOMAD

HEY CLF —2 MORE GD CANDIDATES TO —( LMFAO )——ACTUALLY FACTORY OF SADNESS —EMPHASIS ON SADNESSS—RECENTLY RAN AN ARTICLE / AND WERE SERIOUS ABOUT CAVS PURSUING JIMMY FREDETTE —BUT THE PLAYER CAVS SHOULD REALLY PURSUE IS CHINA HOF / STEPHON MARBERRY / WOULD IDEALLY FIT RIGHT IN ON THIS CAVS TEAM :-)

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CLF

LMFAO we do need some point guards!!!!

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MikeO

The Cavs have made some dumb moves over the years, but they never drafted Jimmer Fredette in the lottery, so they have that going for them.

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Jason

Alphonzo McKinnie.

You got both names wrong.

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Adam Cathcart

Thanks Jason, and apologies for the error — I have made the correction. Curious about if anyone in the world, let alone the NBA, actually has a name spelled “Alphonso” I did manage to find soccer phenom Alphonso Boyle Davies, who is a player for Bayern Munich (a Bundesliga team) as well as Canadian national. Someone, presumably a fan or a manager, has managed to include this majestic description of him in the opening paragraph of his Wikipedia page: “He is widely considered a highly promising prospect in the media due to his combination of his explosive pace, acceleration, dribbling,… Read more »

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Adam Cathcart

Speaking of journeymen role players, I also corrected a bunch of random spellings of Damyean Dotson as “Dodson” in the Phoenix recap just now, will sincerely try to be more on top of this sort of thing in future posts.

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Jason

Our list of “keepers” = Allen, Nance.
Too soon to tell = Garland, Sexton
Way too soon to tell = Okoro, Windler

Though I am souring on Sexton ever becoming a winning player. Short, ball-hogging two guards that don’t defend well rarely are.

Point being, I’d be willing to trade 12 guys on this roster.

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CLF

I think Allen, Garland, and Okoro are the only keepers for now, probably Nance too. Windler has interesting characteristics I’d want to keep if his shot and decision-making come around, which I expect. I’m extremely wary of the Sexton extension, he’ll probably command over 20m/yr and he’s worth half that at best right now. Should’ve tried to trade him at the beginning of the year while he was at peak value. My Harden idea doesn’t sound half bad now!!! I could be convinced of keeping Love and Dre around, if we had a good coach and GM. But I’m expecting… Read more »

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Adam Cathcart

Windler has been a pleasant surprise. Haven’t seen many pieces discussing what the Cavs could get for Sexton in a trade — among other things this idea highlights the need to unhook organization marketing where Sexton is the key building block for all future moves vs. actual basketball analysis / trade potential. I would also like to see Love play out his contract in Cleveland.

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CLF

Great point about the marketing aspect, never thought of that but that’s obviously a major issue an organization would think about that you’d never worry about from a purely on court perspective.

Yeah, I’d like to see Love finish it out here too…. I think at the end of the day, he’s more valuable to us than whatever we could possibly get in a trade.

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NOMAD

I HAVE AN ANSWER TO OUR GAURD PROBLEM (S) SAW WHERE JARRET JACK STILL PLAYING IN THE G LEAGUE —–NEED TO SIGN HIM IMMEDIATELY —I WILL SAY IT FOR YOU CLF // LMFAO

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CLF

LMFAOOOOOOOOOO

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NOMAD

AGREE WITH YOU CLF—–SEXTON HAS ” ALIENATED ” SOME TEAMMATES WITH HIS ‘ OWNERSHIP ‘ OF THE BALL——–BALL SHOULD BE IN DG’S HAND WHEN BOTH ARE IN AT SAME TIME // HAVE A MUCH BETTER CHANCE OF RUNNING AN OFFENSE

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CLF

DG caught flak from JB too last night, but our guard play is a mess…. among the worst starting guards in the NBA I’d imagine.

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NOMAD

ADAM –WOW I FEEL FOR YOU –(AND COMMEND YOU ) FOR DOING THE WRITE UP FOR THIS GAME –( HOW MANY BEERS WERE CONSUMED TO MAKE IT THRU ) —-RUMORS HAS IT RAPTORS WERE INTERESTED IN DRE –( ANY CREDENCE TO THOSE RUMORS )— BUT AGREE A TRADE HAS TO BE MADE// WILL BENIFIT BOTH THE CAVS AND DRE —-KLOVE NEEDS TO COME BACK ASAP —-NEED TO GET MORE MIN’S FOR WINDL3R / HE HAS SHOWN GOOD BASKETBALL I.Q. AND IT IS JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE HIS 3 PT SHOT STARTS TO FALL// MORE PLAYING TIME WILL ALLOW… Read more »

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John B

Kudos for bothering with this game. I have decided not even to watch the replay. Seems clear this team’s morale is pretty low. Not unexpected given how difficult we knew this road trip was going to be, but somewhat disheartening. I think we should probably find a trade partner for Dre as soon as possible. I think even if he is locked in defensively which he hasn’t been all that often of late, this team dislikes playing with him and it is now affecting their effort. No doubt he was one of if not the major factor in the team’s… Read more »

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CLF

Since you didn’t watch the game, I can tell you that Sexton deserved 50% of the blame for what happened last night. Freezing out Dre and others like he did was completely unprofessional. And his play has declined far more than Dre’s so far… guys don’t like playing with him because he’s a ball hog.

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John B

That’s disappointing and inexcusable. He definitely has fallen off in play and attitude. I don’t know if it will get any better with him or the rest of the team unless Dre is dealt. Unfortunate, but I am skeptical they pull themselves out of this dive without a change. I just think there is probably too much tension there now, on both sides.

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Adam Cathcart

As to your last paragraph, right on — second unit with JaVale, Cedi, Windler frontcourt seems to give a lot of defensive effort, at least the feet are moving. Unfortunately in this game JB didn’t pull the plug soon enough on the starters so there was something like a 14 point deficit when they got into the game. Nuggets literally did not miss a shot vs. the Cavs starters in the opening 7+ minutes, not sure if J.B. has a “in case of emergency break glass” substitution pattern but in this one it was business as the (new, since Phoenix… Read more »

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