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Key: Digging for Gold
After dropping their first six games, the Wine & Gold finally got their first win of the season on Tuesday night. But the NBA can be unforgiving and after taking care of the Hawks, the Cavaliers will have the heat turned up a notch when they welcome the scorching Denver Nuggets to town.
Mike Malone’s squad is off to its best start since the mid-80s, coming to Cleveland with a 6-1 mark. The Nuggets haven’t reached the postseason since 2012-13, but they look every bit the part through the first three weeks of the current campaign.
The Cavaliers got the Larry Drew Era off to a strong start on Tuesday – taking a double-digit lead over Atlanta in the first quarter and holding the Hawks off the rest of the way.
On the night, Cleveland scored 78 points in the second stanza, shot an even 50 percent, took 43 free throw attempts to just 17 for the Hawks, forced Atlanta into 23 turnovers and drilled a season-high 13 three-pointers.
The Nuggets are coming off a thrilling, 108-107, win on Wednesday night in Chicago, with Paul Millsap tipping in the game-winner with 0.1 remaining in overtime to give the Nuggets their third win decided by five points or less.
Key: The Joker's Wild
The Nuggets come to town with one of the most unique big men the league has ever seen in Nikola Jokic.
The fourth-year center from Serbia is currently leading Denver in scoring, rebounding and assists.
Along with Al Horford, Jokic is one of the best playmaking big men in the Association and has already tallied 17 triple-doubles in his career. In Wednesday night’s win over the Bulls, Jokic – who’s now posted a double-double in five straight outings – finished with 12 points, 10 boards and nine assists.
The 41st overall pick of the 2014 Draft, Jokic has improved in each of his four seasons and comes into tonight’s contest averaging 21.6 points, 10.6 boards, 7.1 assists, 1.29 steals and 1.29 blocks per game. And in his last outing against the Cavs, Jokic went 12-of-14 from the floor, finishing with 36 points, 13 boards and seven helpers.
The Wine & Gold will try to slow him down with Tristan Thompson and Larry Nance Jr. Thompson is coming off his second double-double of the season, tallying 11 points and a game-high 13 boards, grabbing six of those off the offensive glass and swiping a game-high four steals in the win.
Nance was quiet against Atlanta, but notched a double-double of his own (15 points, 12 boards) in the previous outing against Indiana.
Key: Bolstered Backcourt
George Hill has been outstanding over the past three games – and the Cavaliers will need more of that on Thursday night when they welcome one of the more dynamic backcourts in the league to town.
Against Atlanta, the 11th-year man from IUPUI went for 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-2 from deep and 3-of-3 from the line. And over his past three games, Hill is averaging 15.3 points per, shooting 57 percent from the floor and 50 percent from deep over that span.
But Hill was just half of the backcourt combination to shine on Tuesday night at The Q.
Rodney Hood had easily his best game of the young season – leading all scorers with 26 points – going 9-for-13 from the floor, including a perfect 4-of-4 from long-range and 4-of-6 from the stripe, adding three assists and three steals in the win.
The Nuggets’ 1-2 punch of Gary Harris and Jamal Murray has been electric all season. Harris has notched at least 16 points through six of Denver’s first seven games and comes into tonight’s game averaging an even 20.0 points per.
Murray has scored at least 19 points in four of the Nuggets’ first seven games and has notched double-figures in all four career outings against the Cavs.
Key: Second That Emotion
The Cavaliers haven’t been great as a team this year, but their bench has been outstanding – especially over the previous two outings.
In last week’s loss in Motown, Cleveland’s reserves combined for a season-high 64 points. That group was almost as good on Tuesday against Atlanta – teaming up for 54 points with Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson, as usual, leading the way.
It was the third straight 50-plus-point performance from Cleveland’s second unit and they’re now averaging 48.1 points per, good for the second-best mark in the NBA this season.
Jordan Clarkson, the league’s second-best bench scorer from a season ago, is back at it this year – netting double-figures in all seven outings this season and leading Cleveland’s second unit with a 16.0 ppg average, good for fourth-best so far this season.
The Young Bull has been pretty dynamic himself off the bench, having now recorded double-figure scoring in each of his last four appearances – averaging 14.3 points while shooting 88 percent from the stripe over that span.
Against Atlanta, Sexton – who leads all rookies in free throw percentage and is fifth in scoring – notched a career-high with 17 points and eight boards.
Key: Moving Forward
One of the most refreshing aspects of Tuesday’s victory was to see Cedi Osman bounce back from a rough patch that spoiled the 22-year-old's strong start to the season.
After averaging 17.0 points on 45 percent shooting through the first three games, Osman hit a snag, averaging just 7.0 points over his next three, shooting 27 percent from the floor and 23 percent from beyond the arc.
But the sophomore from Macedonia looked like his old self on Tuesday night against Atlanta – finishing with 20 points on 5-of-11 shooting (the second 20-point performance of his young career) including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and 7-of-9 from the line, adding five boards, three assists and a steal.
Osman has still notched double-figures in five of Cleveland’s first seven games and actually had a very nice outing in a start against the Nuggets late last season – finishing with 13 points on 6-for-7 shooting in a March defeat at The Q.