Recap: Cleveland 99, Denver 87 (Tower City Fireworks, a Mile High)

Coming off of a surprising win over the Atlanta Hawks, the Cleveland Cavaliers weren’t expected to do much against the Nuggets. Vegas had the Nuggets favored to win by ten, and Cavs fans would have been fine with a close loss and some Evan Mobley highlights.

Instead, they got something they couldn’t have expected: a dominant defensive performance, alongside a competent, well-executed offensive performance anchored by some half court rejuvenation by Kevin Love and his team leading 22 points via 13 shots. The Cavs held a lead of three to eight points for most of this game – Denver took the lead once or twice, but Cleveland put their foot down late and ran away with it in the final quarter.

The Cavs played a strong first quarter, as they took advantage of the Nuggets’ sloppiness (Jokic in particular didn’t seem himself, and was easily frustrated) to force turnovers and get out on the break one of which led to this career highlight dunk.

My new nickname for Lauri: The Big Finnishhttps://t.co/dHNTfYwg6k

— HoopsDogg (@oldseaminer) October 26, 2021

This year the Cavs are making use of not only transition but semi-transition, swinging passes as the possession starts to get a good shot before the defense has settled into position. Collin Sexton got cooked in various ways on defense – iso drives straight through his chest, off-ball screens – but it wasn’t enough to keep the Cavs from taking a lead into the second.

The first half of the second quarter got ugly as both teams turned the ball over and struggled to score, although Bones Hyland looked smooth hitting two threes. Facundo Campazzo kept the Nuggets alive with aggressive, hard-nosed play on both sides. The Cavs pushed the lead our to ten at the last minute, only to have things heated up in the last few minutes, only only to have a six-point Jokic flurry cut the lead to a 50-46 at halftime.

The third quarter presented the dilemma of evaluated this game: to what extent were the Cavaliers responsible for the Nuggets’ sloppy, turnover-happy play? It’s clear that the Nuggets weren’t used to playing this bizarre, huge team where there’s always two bigs on the floor, and sometimes three. The 3-2 zone genuinely unnerved them and bothered the perimeter shooters. That being said, the Nuggets also kept throwing the ball away (21 turnovers on the night), and that was largely the story of the third. Every time they would threaten to make a run, the Cavs would get a steal and hit a shot.

Markannen wasn’t very accurate from beyond the arc, but he was steady on both ends, including picking up four steals this game by just being in the right spot defensively. He has been a positive player for this team so far. With a few minutes left in the third, Rubio and Campazzo (literally) butted heads, two swarthy Euros voicing inconceivable epithets at each other, separated before fists could fly. It was thrilling, and sort of scary. Denver promptly lost their composure at the idiocy of it all. After a 70-all tie, Cleveland rocked a 16-3 run to end the third and kick off the first.

The fourth quarter started out with some fireworks from the young guys, with Mobley and Sexton having most of the fun. Garland – as in most of the game – lacked aggression on offense but still played his role as a cog and passed well, finishing with a 9/7/3 line. Interestingly, Bickerstaff pulled Sexton to close the game, going instead with Okoro for the last 6+ minutes. The Cavs utterly stifled the Nuggets offense; Okoro especially had one of the best defensive stretches of his young career, smothering Austin Rivers and swatting two shots in a row in the third quarter. He got so under the Nuggets’ skin, that Will Barton gave him a (ref ignored) cheap shot on a steal and dunk attempt that left Ice holding his hamstring as he watched garbage time from the bench. The Nuggets never came back into contact and the Cavs won this one 99-97.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BOQT04eSsA

Random Thoughts 

• The good and bad of Isaac Okoro was on display. His defense earned him 28 minutes, and he rose up for a ferocious dunk on a nice baseline drive. He also scored four points on five shots. He didn’t take a single three-pointer.
• Mobley was very agile again on defense, and he got going offensively on the short roll later in the game. At times his offense reminds me of Anthony Davis’ offense – more floater and jumpers than seems ideal, but they go in at a decent rate and make him a unique threat. It will be fascinating to see him at center, where his quickness and offensive smarts will be even more unique.
• Jarrett Allen defended Jokic well, although Nikola missed a bunch of bunnies he usually makes easily, and sprinkled turnovers all over the court. That’s what it’s like to have a true superstar, of course: on a bad night, Joker drops 24/19/3 on 9-16 from the field. Allen’s 10-11 from the field and 21/16/2 line were a nice answer.

• Collin Sexton is a very frustrating player to watch; he made Austin Rivers look like Michael Jordan. Also, even when he’s scoring, he is so unlikely to pass that the defense can confidently collapse to the paint. He doesn’t confuse them, force them into churn. He gets to his shots, and he makes them at a decent clip. That’s about all there is to him as a useful NBA player.
• The Cavs looked great tonight, in no small part due to the Nuggets looking horrible. While I enjoy the success, I do worry at times that the team is a little too focused on winning at the expense of development. There is a gap between coaching and the front office in every team in the league (save the Spurs perhaps), but it feels especially relevant in Cleveland.
• Okoro needs to be shooting threes. And while the Rubio-Markannen-Love game can produce some pretty sequences, it feels oddly irrelevant to the Cavs future. Which leads me to…
• GIVE EVAN MOBLEY THE BALL. He’s great on the short roll, he’s great from the elbow. Evan can pass, shoot and drive. He should be soaking up reps and occasionally running the offense for a few minutes at a time. He was a team high +16. He caused a rage timeout in the fourth when he Denver trapped the p/r and Mobley’s short roll reads led to baskets almost every time. Evan’s instincts do not lean towards ball dominance, but eventually he will have to be a medium to high-usage player to reach his MVP ceiling. I see no reason to delay these reps when the team is still years away from serious contention.