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01/06/23: The Cleveland Cavaliers looked to improve their performance tonight as they looked mediocre vs the Phoenix Suns despite winning the game. Tonight, the Cavs traveled to Denver to face the Nuggets, who are the current 1st Seed in the Western Conference as they are led by Two-Time MVP Nikola Jokic who has won the award the last two years and is looking to be the first player to three-peat the MVP since Larry Bird.
Denver has some great players outside of Jokic, Point Guard Jamal Murray is trying to prove he can still be amongst the best Guards in the league as he was before his unfortunate knee injury that he is finally back from, along with Michael Porter Jr., who’s a great scorer, and Aaron Gordon who is having one of the best seasons of his career. Denver is a deep team who is well coached by Michael Malone.
First Quarter:
The Cavs started off much better tonight than they did last game against the Phoenix Suns, by the first timeout the Cavaliers looked great, they had a 14-11 lead and had been very impressive on the offensive boards, getting themselves second chance points. The Cavs are doing all they can to slow down Nikola Jokic, but by the 10 minute mark, he had 11 Points, 4 Rebounds, and 3 Assists. The Cavs needed some tightening up to do after the first quarter as they led 28-26.
Second Quarter:
The second quarter starts and the Cavaliers are trying to do what they can to win the minutes that Nikola Jokic is off the floor and resting, and they Cavs came out well, playing with the Nuggets step for step and stringing together a couple of quick buckets to take a 5 point lead just two minutes into the quarter. After the timeout the Nuggets came out firing and within a minute and a half, they had the lead back. The rest of the quarter was a back and forth affair with the Nuggets holding the upper hand by leading 62-58.
Third Quarter:
The Nuggets came out with a head of steam and took and hovered at around a 10 point lead for the first 6 or 7 minutes of the quarter, with Nikola Jokic leading the way with 21 Points, 11 Rebounds, and 7 assists at that point. The rest of the third quarter was all Denver as they continued their great play entering the final quarter.
Fourth Quarter:
There’s not much to say about the final quarter of play as the Nuggets continued their great play, and the Cavaliers just couldn’t keep up no matter what they did. Missing Donovan Mitchell really hurt tonight as this would’ve been a game that would’ve helped if we had full strength. The overall take away from tonight’s game is very simple, Nikola Jokic continues to prove he’s the real deal notching his 10th Triple Double of the season and there’s no signs of him and the Nuggets slowing down. The Final was 121-108.
Notable Performances:
Denver:
Nikola Jokic: 28 Pts, 15 Reb, 10 Ast
10/17 FG
Jamal Murray: 18 Pts
Bruce Brown: 13 Pts, 5 Reb, 6 Ast
5/10 FG
Cavaliers:
Caris LeVert: 22 Pts, 4 Reb, 3 Ast
8/13 FG
Darius Garland: 21 Pts, 8 Ast, 4 Reb
8/20 FG
Evan Mobley: 12 Pts, 9 Reb, 4 Ast
6/13 FG
