After the embarrassing defeat against the Dallas Mavericks, the Denver Nuggets (35-30) suffered the next setback in the fight for the playoffs in the West. LeBron James countered a strong performance by Nikola Jokic in Crunchtime and led his Cleveland Cavaliers (38-26) to a 113:108 victory (BOXSCORE).
The Cleveland Cavaliers got off to an extremely hot start and scored 38 points in the first quarter. Although the Cavs threw the ball away seven times, Denver couldn’t capitalize on it. Especially from downtown they stayed very cold (1/6 threesomes). Consequently, the Cavs led with 15 points to the end of the quarter.
In the second section, the nuggets hit much better, but Cleveland held on to them and narrowed the lead to 12 points. However, the trend continued: after the break, Nikola Jokic, who scored 17 points in the third quarter, led the nuggets to two points.
In the final section, both teams stayed at eye level for a long time – the nuggets even took the lead with three points 8:35 minutes to go – before LeBron James took over 110 seconds to go. The King, who had not previously scored a point in the last quarter, led the Cavs with an And One layup and a three-way 109:104.
After Paul Millsap shortened by Dunk, James hit a difficult jumper. Nikola Jokic scuttled two free throws in return, then the king put the lid on it ten seconds before the end by hitting an incredibly difficult fadeaway out of the corner.
Except for the King (39 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds), who will be playing for the 24th time. No Cavs player scored more than 30 points for the third time this season, scoring more than 15 points. Larry Nance Jr. (13,13 boards, 4 steals) played a double double while Rodney Hood scored 15 points. Nikola Jokic (36 points, 12/14 FG, 13 boards) was the top performer in the nuggets, but Gary Harris (18) and Mason Plumlee (12,6/6 FG) also delivered strong performances. However, the vulnerability of the nuggets to turnovers was alarming (21).
In the night from Saturday to Sunday, the nuggets have to go up against the Los Angeles Lakers, while the Cavaliers are guests of the other team of the City of Angels.