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Cleveland, OH: The Cavs are at home after a long all star break to take on the number one seed Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets are without star Forward Aaron Gordon tonight but they have the two-time MVP Nikola Jokic and Star Point Guard Jamal Murray.
First Quarter:
The Nuggets came out firing and they seemed like they were on a mission, and it seemed like they couldn’t miss a shot. The Nuggets eventually shot up to a 10 point lead, but the Cavs showed heart early with 14 of the 21 points coming from Evan Mobley in 10 minutes.
It was a fast paced quarter and towards the end, it was back and forth and the Nuggets led by a score 31-24 at the end of one.
Second Quarter:
The Cavs showed their heart and intensity they take pride in to start the second quarter. The two Playoff teams went back and forth with the scoring as the Cavs continued to keep the score within 3-5 points, and at the 4 minute mark they tied it up at 43.
The Cavs also turned on the defense as the Nuggets team fell to 36% shooting from the field into the second quarter. The game became very fast paced towards the half as it seemed like back and forth buckets between the teams, and the Cavs played a much better quarter in the second. The Cavs had the lead 57-56 at half.
Third Quarter:
The third quarter begun and Evan Mobley came out and hit his second triple of the game and was 8/9 to start the game. The Cavs took a more aggressive approach seemingly targeting Nikola Jokic on defense to try and wear him down.
Evan Mobley continued to dominate in the paint and Nikola Jokic looked exhausted on defense by the middle of the third. By the 6 minute mark, Evan Mobley had 27 points on 10/14 shooting. Despite the Cavs great offensive play on the interior, the Nuggets were sticking with them, pretty much going basket for basket.
The game was really becoming competitive and it was a shootout, and Nikola Jokic had yet another triple double before the end of the third.
Fourth Quarter:
The fourth started the way the whole second half had been going, the teams were just going back and forth. The Nuggets were really fighting and took a four point lead with 3 minutes left after a couple buckets from Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. Another Porter triple put them ahead by 5 with 2 minutes to go and gave Porter 25.
The Nuggets stayed strong and the Cavs failed on some late opportunities unfortunately losing 115-109.
Notable Performances:
Nuggets:
Jokic: 24 Pts, 18 Reb, 13 Ast 8/13 FG
Porter Jr: 25 Pts, 6 Reb 8/14 FG
Murray: 16 Pts, 9 Ast
Cavaliers:
Mobley: 31 Pts, 9 Reb 12/19 FG
Mitchell: 22 Pts, 3 Reb, 3 Ast 9/21 FG
