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Key: Mile High Matchup
After 11 days on the road, the Wine & Gold wrap up the longest roadie of the season on Saturday night in the Mile High City – taking on the Nuggets before heading home.
On Friday night in Utah, the shorthanded Cavaliers took another one on the chin – falling by 16 points in a game that wasn’t really as close as the final score would indicate. The Jazz got big efforts from Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, holding the Cavaliers to just 31 percent shooting through the first three quarters, building their lead to 38 points before calling off the dogs in the fourth.
The Playoff-bound Nuggets bounced back from a drubbing of their own this week – beating the Bulls on Thursday, two nights after the Warriors came into their gym and beat them by 31 points.
Denver is wrapping up a four-game homestand and – as they’re prone to do against an Eastern Conference squad at the end of a trip – will look to take advantage of a Cavaliers squad that’s ready to get home.
The Nuggets dropped the Wine & Gold earlier this season at The Q – dropping Cleveland by 19 points despite being held to just 15 points in the first period.
Key: Joker's Wild
Nikola Jokic is one of the most unique big men to enter the Association in some time – and he’s inserted himself directly into the MVP conversation – leading the West’s second-best squad in scoring, rebounding and assists.
So far this season, the Joker has tallied five triple-doubles and his 7.6 apg ranks him 7th in the entire NBA. Only Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson have rung up more triple-doubles at a younger age than the 23-year-old Jokic and, in terms of putting up historic numbers, earlier this season joined Michael Jordan as the only players to post at least 39 points, 12 boards, six assists and three steals in 35 minutes of game action.
The 41st overall pick of the 2014 Draft, Jokic actually had one of his worst games of the year in Cleveland back on November 1 – finishing with just four points, six boards and three assists in 22 minutes of work.
If Tristan Thompson is able to go after missing Friday’s contest in Utah with a sore foot, he’ll draw that difficult assignment. The blue-collar big has been up-and-down on the trip.
After doubling-up with 15 points and 14 boards in the win over L.A., Thompson was held to just four points and eight boards in Wednesday night’s loss in Portland.
Key: Facing Forward
Cedi Osman has had some tough covers through the first five games of the trip and he won’t get much of break in the finale on Saturday night at the Pepsi Center.
For much of the evening, he’ll match up with veteran forward Paul Millsap, who’s having a solid-but-not-spectacular season with Denver.
The 13-year veteran and four-time All-Star returned from a toe injury in late December and has been his steady self since re-entering the lineup – doubling-up in a win over Phoenix last week and shooting 67 percent from the floor over his last three outings.
Millsap led all Denver starters with 16 points and six boards in the November victory at The Q.
The young Cedi was rock-solid through the first three games of the trip – averaging 15.0 points per, including a 20-point performance in Sunday’s win over the Lakers. But he’s struggled in Cleveland’s last two defeats – netting just four points against Portland and seven points on 3-for-7 shooting in last night’s loss to the Jazz.
If the Wine & Gold hope to pull off the upset on Saturday night, they’ll need their sophomore forward to gird up for the finale.
Key: Freshman Orientation
Rookie guard Collin Sexton has been impressive scoring the basketball – netting double-figures over his last 10 games. But he’ll need to diversify his game if the Cavaliers are going to begin improving this season.
The Young Bull is averaging 14.2 points per over that stretch, but he’s shooting just 38 percent and averaging 2.6 assists.
On Friday night in Utah, Sexton got an education from Donovan Mitchell and finished with as many turnovers (6) as combined rebounds (4) and assists (2). Even with some rough numbers, Sexton still shot 48 percent from deep over that span and has been excellent at the stripe all season – leading all rookies with an .865 mark from the line.
He’ll have his hands more than full on Saturday night, taking on Jamal Murray – who’s notched at least 20 points in six of his last 12 outings, including a 25-point effort in Denver’s recent win over Chicago, scoring 20 of those in the third quarter alone.
Like Sexton, Murray’s been good from long-range of late – hitting on 48 percent of his triple attempts.
The third-year guard from Kentucky, who’s gone for 40-plus on two occasions so far this season, had a quiet night in Denver’s win over Cleveland earlier this year, finishing with just 10 points and three assists in the win.
Key: Backup Plan
Cleveland’s bench numbers on the trip are impressive – and maybe a bit misleading.
The one game that they didn’t top the 50-point mark as a group was the squad’s lone victory on Sunday night in L.A. Excluding that contest, the Cavaliers second unit is averaging 63.0 points per in the other four contests – including a 52-point collective on Friday night in Utah.
Four Cleveland reserves tallied double-figures in the loss – led by Cameron Payne, who notched double-figures for the fourth time as a Cavalier, finishing with 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting, adding four boards, three assists and a steal.
Jordan Clarkson followed up with 13 points, his 40th game in double-figures off the bench so far this season.
Jaron Blossomgame turned in another solid outing off the bench – finishing with 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting to go with five boards in 24 minutes of work.
Matthew Dellavedova chipped in with 10 points and three assists in the loss.
For Denver, Gary Harris returned to the lineup in Denver’s recent win over the Bulls, finishing with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. In the Nuggets’ November 1 victory at The Q, Juancho Hernangomez led all scorers, going 5-of-8 from beyond the arc to finish with 23 points in 29 minutes of work off the bench.