- Take a bow Craig Porter Jr! Injuries in the backcourt pressed Porter Jr. into action, and if the Cavs thought they found something before, they have to know they’ve found something now. Porter was relentless in attacking the rim. His combination of ability to get vertical quickly and his creativity in finishing around the rim is a sight to behold. He’s consistently putting pressure on the inside/middle of the defense. He seems to just glide when he’s on the court. Off the ball, Porter Jr. always seems to be around the ball – whether it was the four rebounds, two steals or one block. Sometimes jobs are relinquished due to injury, and that just may be the case whenever Ty Jerome comes back.
- The question for Porter Jr. is how long can be this effective without an outside shot. Early in the game he passed up a wide open three for a (successful) drive to the basket. He’s going to be on scouting reports moving forward and teams may start Rondoing him.
- Doing his best job to make Cavs fans forget about the other Porter Jr, he finished the game with 21 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. That’s the same point total the 1st round pick Porter Jr. on the other side. Not bad for an undrafted rookie.
- It should come as no surprise the Cavs were victorious running with a Championship* backcourt in Sam Merrill and Porter Jr. Merrill was put into the rotation with backcourt injuries and put together some solid minutes.
- If Dean Wade can consistently hit outside shots, his skillset is one the Cavs could really, really use. The Cavs have struggled to rebound the ball defensively, and Wade has been noticeably active on the defensive glass in his spot starts. His size and ability to move well laterally is incredibly useful with some of the perimeter threats the Cavs have gone against early this season. That jump shot is the swing skill and will always have Cavs fans seeing the outline of a solid rotational player. Wade finished as a +25 for the game.
- Bickerstaff played with his favorite three bigs lineup as Georges Niang saw some minutes at SF due injuries and the Nuggets size up front. Surprisingly, this worked out early with a +5 in his first run against the Nuggets first unit. Niang ended up putting together another solid effort, and now has hit 2+ three-pointers in three out of the last four games.
- Darius Garland has his swag back, maybe? There were still too many turnovers for my liking but this is the All-Star point guard we came to appreciate. Garland was active, persistent in getting into the paint, and his mid-range game was on. When Garland is at his best, he’s putting pressure on the pick-and-roll big defender who has to choose: take away Garland’s mid-range float game to allow an alley-oop, or take away the alley-oop and allow Garland to live in the mid-range. Garland was extremely effective at both options tonight and made the Nuggets pay.
- The Cavs big men were passing their asses off tonight. Both Mobley and Allen had 5 assists each. Allen has put up 5+ assists three times the last two years, so no small feat. Mobley and Allen were playing extremely well off of each other tonight, and it showed.
- Allen had a quiet 15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal, but managed to post an incredible +42. He was the primary defender for Jokic, who was effective while on the court but ultimately couldn’t stay on the court due to foul trouble.
- Speaking of Mobley… two, yes two!, mid-range jumpers for him. Even small progress is progress for Mobley. He needs something outside to make his offensive game more effective, and in turn the Cavs offense more effective. This comes on the heels of hitting a foul line jumper in Friday's game. The shots are still more flat than you’d like but if that can be his sweet spot outside the key, then so be it. He just needs something.
- This is now back-to-back games where Mobley has posted 5+ assists. He also did it earlier in the year against New York. Mobley can be an effective roll man reader but he also been effective at the extended elbow working two man games. The Cavs can use more body and ball movement and allowing Mobley to operate out of the elbow with movement around him can help that.
- The Cavs had some large leads in the first half but they fell victim to some runs once the Nuggets started to run off of misses. Due to the personnel on the roster with the injuries, the Cavs were heavily perimeter oriented. When those shots weren’t falling, it created fast break opportunities for the Nuggets who outscored the Cavs in fastbreak points 18-5.
- One of the other areas the Nuggets really dominated in the first half was points in the paint. The Nuggets were incredibly effective and focused on impacting the paint early on but credit to the Cavs for turning that around. The Cavs ended up being a +10 in this area by game’s end, and also were +14 in rebounding.
- Not necessarily game related but what’s up with Isaac Okoro and Ty Jerome? This isn't a slight against them, but the Cavs seem to be incredibly vague when it comes to injury reports. Media members and the team have been mum on their injuries, only labeling them a knee and ankle. One has to believe Jerome has a high grade ankle sprain which can sideline players for weeks. However a knee injury leading to almost a double-digit game absence at this point for Okoro is concerning. Hopefully we get some good news soon.
- Up next: Cavs will travel to Philadelphia for a Tuesday night TNT game at 7:30PM (ET).
