After a drama filled four-game West Coast road trip – from the huge Christmas Day matchup in Oakland to the blowout loss in Portland to Monday night’s thriller in Phoenix, the Cavaliers needed a nice, one-sided win over a struggling club. Tuesday night’s virtually wire-to-wire win over a shorthanded Nuggets squad was just the remedy, with Cleveland taking the 93-87 victory to even the road trip heading home for a pair.
The Cavaliers weren’t especially sharp on Tuesday night – and after four games in five nights out West that stands to reason. But the Nuggets were without their leading scorer, Danilo Gallinari, and their prized rookie guard, Emmanuel Mudiay. Instead, Mike Malone was forced to rely on a few inexperienced players with multiple consonants in their names – and the East’s top squad kept the Nuggets at arm’s length for most of the night.
After struggling from the floor through the first three games of the trip – shooting a combined 18-for-49, including 1-for-13 from long-distance – LeBron was on his game against Denver, leading everyone with 34 points on 13-for-24 shooting, adding six boards and a pair of assists.
Iman Shumpert also found his range on Tuesday night, coming off the bench to follow up with 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting.
Kevin Love – who jammed his right thumb in Monday night’s victory in Phoenix – went scoreless in the second half of Tuesday’s win, but he did lead both squads with 14 boards.
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