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W Nuggets 85 Cavaliers 94

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Re: Nuggets at Cavaliers

LARRY HUGHES JUST HIT A SHOT!!!!! ALERT THE OTHERS
 
lmao pip...Damon Jones was huge for us tonight as was Marshall...12 boards and some clutch shots. I think he can replace Drew anyday now, he adds that 3 point shot in the starting lineup that we dont have and is just as good a rebounder imo. And yeah I know Camby woulda been more effective pip the talk was on Jones and how you hated him and stuff hah, but think about it, Snow would get murdered by Boykins last year imagine DJ :(
 
well done cavs...great to get a win back...:D:D
 
Good win for us. I wonder if this game means that Damon Jones is willing to play team ball now or is just auditioning for a possible trade?

Edwin
 
Good to get the W. Nothing pretty, but I think thats the way Coach Brown likes it. They played a severly depleted Denver team and played at a very low level. However they did hustle which kept us in a tight game till the ball started dropping.

Great game LeBron. Good to see Jones and Marshall finally both contribute again.

Snow had his worst performance for the season, but caused trouble defensively.

I really want Marshall to start.
 
Good game. We broke down their defense. We played our offense well with some good ball movement. Had some mental lapses here and there, in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, but we got it together in the 4th, and that's important.

Start Damon Jones.
 
RECAP

A banged-up LeBron James scored 26 points and got enough help from his teammates to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers past the Denver Nuggets 94-85 on Thursday night.

James bruised his left shin and hobbled to the locker room with 29 seconds left in the first half. He came back with the shin wrapped for support.

He also got support from Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall.

Jones scored 17 points and Marshall 11, both hitting big 3-pointers as the Cavaliers ended a three-game losing streak.

Carmelo Anthony, coming off a career-high 42 points in a win over Charlotte on Tuesday night, scored 23 to lead Denver but shot just 8-of-23.

Greg Buckner added 15 points and Earl Watson 14 for the Nuggets, who shot 38 percent to Cleveland's 53 percent.

James ended a stretch of six games with 30 or more points. That could be good news for the Cavaliers, who went 1-5 with James carrying the load during that stretch.

James, who declared that the team was in a funk following Tuesday night's loss to Atlanta, added nine assists, including a no-look pass to Alan Henderson that thrilled the crowd.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 16 points after missing one game with a sprained right knee.

Marshall hit a 3-pointer to cap a 12-4 run for an 83-76 lead with 3:46 left as the Cavaliers took control. He made another with 1:51 left to finish off Denver.

The Nuggets were without Marcus Camby, inactive with a sprained right pinkie finger. Camby is second in scoring for Denver, averaging 16.8 points per game.

Despite his injury, James still showed quickness, stealing an inbounds pass for an easy slam to end the third quarter with Cleveland ahead 66-65.

Francisco Elson, who started in Camby's place, kept missing open jumpers, shooting 1-for-5 for two points.

Neither team could establish control early as the Nuggets opened with a 17-7 lead, then missed their next 11 shots as the Cavaliers put together a 22-2 run.

James took a breather and the Nuggets started a 14-0 run to go up 39-33 late in the first half. The Cavaliers were ahead 44-40 at halftime, led by James' 17 points.

Notes

Camby is day-to-day and will be a game-time decision Friday night at New Jersey. ... G Earl Boykins missed his second game with a left hamstring strain. ... James leads all Eastern Conference players with 665,849 votes in the first All-Star returns. ... The Nuggets are 9-0 when they score at least 100 points. ... Former Cavaliers guard Andre Miller handed out tickets to more than 20 family members and friends. "The first years of your career are always the most memorable. I really enjoyed it in Cleveland and have a lot of good memories," he said.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2005121505&prov=ap
 
we passed the ball around and found people with their feet set. we still haven't got z his 16/17 footer going yet.

lebron guarded carmello all night and carmello guarded eric. lolololololol. what a chicken shit.

much better defense. people didn't leave their man when helping. i hope they bring it against miami.
 
Re: Nuggets at Cavaliers

LePIP said:
National TV... Melo and the Nuggets are playing well...

This leads me to believe that Raptors-America get blown out----->AGAIN :(

Hmmmmm LePip. Good to see you change the semi logo and bring back Mr Pisser. However, it was I, in the Q hiz-ouse with my bullwhip, that inspired the Cavaliers to victory....... :cool:

Great game to be there for, competitive yet it felt like the Cavaliers were in control the whole time. Snow did nothing i remember, and DJones was on FI-AH!
Start DJ Coach!!!!!!!

LeBron played a great game. A Cavalier victory, wrapped up with some fun at Platinum Showgirls. For me Good Times!!!

:thumbup:
 
We definately do much better when Lebron doesn't score. That sounds weird, but its like when Lebron is scoring none of the other guys are scoring out there. Tonight, Lebron had 9 assists and there was actually things like ball movement and execution. I don't know, maybe the catering team changed the wheaties, but whatever it is please continue.

First noticable thing was defense. The guys actually played defense. No, not all the time, but for most of the game guys were challenging shots and executing what looked like a game plan. Is that so much to ask every night? You'll notice Marshall and Z were playing very well on the defensive end challenging shots. Denver wasn't able to get that much penetration either. When Damon Jones started getting burned by the likes of Earl Watson (who comes in the 3rd quarter and immediately hits 3 straight 3 pointers with DJ "guarding" him), Mike Brown made an ADJUSTMENT! and switched Damon to someone else. Snow was solid on defense all night too.

You cant complain much though because Jones did stick 5 three pointers. Whats ironic is that the 3 pointers he made were shot within the offense and with his feet set. Amazing. Marshall was also able to get some open looks but what I liked about Marshall's game was that he went for something other than 3 pointers, which is really what we need him to do as a power forward. Yes, its good he stretches the D, but he cannot camp outside the arc every offensive possession and just sit there, thats DJ's job.

James had one of the best games of the year, his shot selection I felt was much better this game. Instead of forcing things there were many a possession where the guy didn't even touch the ball. Hughes played effeciently and though he didn't light it up, he made some key shots and played some excellent defense out there.

What this team needs though is an 8th man in the small forward/shooting guard spot. Luke just hasn't been effective enough to play for more than 2 minutes at a time. Mike Wilks has been doing okay but he can only be inserted against certain teams where he matches well with the small quick guards. I'm hoping Ira can come in and give a solid 8 minutes off the bench so Lebron can get more rest than hes been getting.
 
team defense in terms of positioning is improved, but players are still a bit lazy about getting their hands up... no point sticking your palm in the shooter's face AFTER the ball's already left his hand
 
I believe the Cavalier's really need to look at zone defenses when Jones is on the floor. Some type of 2/2/1 zone or 2/3 zone. It allows Jones a little more latitude which is heavily required.
 
Game Quotes: Cavaliers vs. Nuggets - December 15, 2005


HEAD COACH MIKE BROWN
(On the game tonight)
“This is one of the first games I feel good about winning the right way. I felt we won the right way tonight. It started with our defense. Our defense fueled our offense. I know we had to be good defensively because we had 21 turnovers and 27 points off those 21 turnovers. So to still be able to hold these guys to 85 points on 38% from the field with 21 turnovers, and giving up 27 points off of turnovers, I feel good. I take my hat off to every individual in that locker room because they brought it individually and they brought it as a team defensively tonight. Everybody stepped up and accepted the challenge.”
(On the Cavaliers offense and key players tonight)
“Again, as I have been saying all year long our defense has to fuel our offense. And that will allow us to get out and run and attack on the other end of the floor. The thing that stands out here also is we shared the basketball offensively. We had 23 assists on 35 shots, which is remarkable. We shot 53% from the field, and this is a pretty good defensive team.

We had a lot of individual guys step up. Donyell (Marshall) had 12 rebounds, I was really happy with that. More than anything, I thought when guys closed out on him tonight he did a heck of a job attacking the basket, getting to the rim, making plays for himself, and making plays for others.

I thought Larry Hughes also played a solid ballgame. He played within himself. He did a heck of a job sharing the basketball. He didn’t force anything. And on the defensive end of the floor, we had him guarding 3’s, we had him guarding 2’s, and he also guarded the point guard. So he showed his versatility for us on that end of the floor.

And LeBron (James), again he is going to keep attracting double teams. When he does and he shares the basketball, he is going to get 9 or 10 assists on a daily basis. I am happy not only with those guys individually, but everybody else as a team stepped up and did their job.”

(Question about Z (Zydrunas Ilgauskas) coming back)
“Z (Zydrunas Ilgauskas) was good. I thought he was great. He got some deep post up positions for us. He made it tough on them inside. He also defensively came across and changed some shots from the back side.”

(Question about establishing an inside game tonight and then going outside)
“It was really important. It just wasn’t the inside game that we established. What we did really well was, we drove the basketball and when they came and helped we kicked it, and if that guy was open he was able to step in and shoot it. If not and somebody closed on him, and this happened to Donyell (Marshall) a couple times, he showed, and he drove the ball. He was able to get to the rim, or he was able to kick it. Damon (Jones) got a lot of looks because of that. On the flipside Damon also was a catalyst of the drive and kick because he did that also.”

LEBRON JAMES
(On the game)
“We got stops and we made shots. When we hold teams to 38 percent from the field we are going to give ourselves a chance to win. Tonight we were able to do that.”

(On having Z in the lineup tonight)
“We were very excited to have Z come in and play well and we were excited to have him back. We missed him the other night. We executed and made big shots.”

(On controlling the game and getting the win)
“For the most part with a team like that we know that they are going to make runs because they are a high volume team. We knew that they were going to get out on fast breaks and make runs. We were expecting this type of play, we were able to withstand and get the win.”

(On getting this big win)
“It was really big. You see what kind of team we are when we come to play. TNT did a great job of helping us get motivated. We were able to use the impact players that we have to our advantage.”

DAMON JONES
(On the lack of effort)
“It feels really good to make shots period whether they are three points, lay-ups or anywhere from the field. To be able to contribute is what you go out to do every night. The most positive thing is that we had energy defensively, and that is what we were missing in the games that we lost.”

HEAD COACH GEORGE KARL
(On the game and Cavaliers shooting 53% field goals)
“I think they (Cavaliers) made adjustments and we ran out of gas a little bit and didn’t get out as well as we were earlier in the game. We had to play a kind of a scramble game and I thought we did a great job most of the time.”

(On the loss)
“I blame it on the NBA game being too long. We played a good enough basketball game to win a 40 or 42 minute game, but they’re on their home court and we’re short-handed. They’re (Cavs) kind of a wounded team that played with a lot of anger and pride and they made shots. You have to tip your hat off to them.”

(On the Nuggets)
“I didn’t like some of the execution of the offense. It seemed they switched some of our stuff, and we got stagnant with ball movement and body movement. We couldn’t find ‘Mello (Anthony) in the second half. They did some good reads on him and they switched them. They were bringing two guys to him, sometimes 2-and-a-half to him and we didn’t find the guys on the weak side as much as we’ve got to start

(On not having Camby)
“In general, I thought our rebounding was satisfactory. But, anytime you’ve got a guy who can get 15 rebounds a game and also be a defensive factor, you definitely miss him. And, we missed Earl Boykins. The pace of the game, if we had better pacing, that would have helped us.”

CARMELO ANTHONY
(On the Nuggets minus Camby and Boykins)
“We’ve been fighting with injuries all year, so we’ve got to do what we did tonight, go with whose going to go out there and play. We never know who we’re going to have out there. We’ve just got to adjust. I think we played hard tonight, they got a couple of big threes.”

(On adjustments each team made)
“They (Cavaliers) had a lot of open shots, especially a lot of open threes, and we had to adjust our defense during the game. They countered a lot of stuff that we did. With me, they started bringing two or three men over to me, giving other people shots, open shots and it was just a matter of us hitting shots.”

(On LeBron James with 9 assists)
“That’s something he does every night. They’ve got shooters out there who can knock down open shots, and he put them in a great position to hit shots. Tonight, shots were going down for them.”
 

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