Cavs win 126-114 shootout against Nuggets
Caris LeVert’s 21 points helped lead the Cavaliers past the Nuggets.
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson wanted to see how the defense would hold up against an offense that’s built around a dominant post-playmaker like Nikola Jokic.
“It’s going to be fun watching him play and see how we defend him,” Atkinson said pre-game.
Jokic got his points. He bullied his way to the basket, but the Cavs made sure to limit his damage as much as possible. They did a good job of running Denver’s shooters off the three-point line and making sure that the Nuggets did all of their damage in the paint. That’s what matters when you have an offense clicking on all cylinders.
The Cavs have been winning with offense. That has been the case all season. It was the case once again here.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone spoke pregame about why it’s important to limit Cleveland’s three-point attempts. He noted that the Cavs are shooting over 40% in wins and 31% in their losses.
“Can we find a way, somehow, some way, to take away the three-point line without exposing direct line drives to our rim?” Malone asked.
The answer was no. They did the opposite. Cleveland went a scorching 22-48 (45.8%) from three while also finishing just 57% of their looks at the rim. That formula is going to lead to a great offense every day of the week.
The Cavs’ three-guard attack of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, and Caris LeVert led the way.
LeVert’s 14-first quarter points allowed the Cavs to jump out to the early lead. They held onto it from there as they coasted to an easy win. LeVert finished with 21 points on 7-11 shooting with 6 helpers.
Garland added 24 points. Mitchell led the team with 28 points and 6 assists. Having three guards score over 20 points is a formula that’s going to work most nights.
The Cavaliers are an offensive team. They’ve now scored over 120 points in over half of their games. By contrast, they did that in just under a quarter of their games last season.
The defense remains a work in progress and that’s okay. The offense getting right is what’s more important. You can’t win at the level the Cavs have hope to win at without an elite offense. They currently have that.