Cavaliers Preview #38: Cavs at Nuggets
Written By: Jacob Rosen | Category: Cleveland Cavaliers | Comments: 53
Cleveland Cavaliers (28-9)
at Denver Nuggets (22-13)
Pepsi Center, Denver, CO
Friday, January 8, 2010
10:30 PM ET
WTAM 1100 AM, ESPN/HD
The Cavaliers begin their epic five-game Western swing tonight with a meeting against the Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. The site of the first big game of LeBron’s career against fellow 2003 draftee Carmelo Anthony will host a different setting tonight. Still one of the hottest teams in the league, the Cavs will look to keep their momentum rolling tonight against a constantly banged-up Denver team. Chauncey Billups returns from the disabled list this evening but Carmelo Anthony remains doubtful along with two other reserve injuries for the Nugs.
Once this road trip is completed, the Cavaliers will have played 27 of their first 42 contests of the season on the road. That number will by far lead the league, but a few wins will definitely be necessary for that mark to look impressive at all come March or April. Denver, Portland and Utah are three perennial playoff contenders in the West while the team cannot afford to slip up against the Clippers or Warriors as well. Things kick off on the West coast tonight with LeBron and his club looking to get started off on the right foot against the Nuggets.
Projected Starting Lineups
Cleveland Cavaliers
-G Mo Williams (17.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 5.0 apg, 17.53 PER)
-G Anthony Parker (7.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.8 apg, 9.55 PER)
-F LeBron James (28.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 7.8 apg, 30.62 PER)
-F J.J. Hickson (6.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.3 apg, 12.80 PER)
-C Shaquille O’Neal (10.4 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.4 apg, 15.50 PER)
Key Reserves: Anderson Varejao, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Delonte West, Daniel Gibson, Jawad Williams
Injuries: Leon Powe (out) and Jamario Moon (out)
Denver Nuggets
-G Chauncey Billups (17.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 5.7 apg, 19.90 PER)
-G Arron Afflalo (8.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.7 apg, 10.86 PER)
-F Joey Graham (4.2 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 0.2 apg, 9.07 PER)
-F Kenyon Martin (11.1 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 1.7 apg, 13.08 PER)
-C Nene (14.1 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, 19.60 PER)
Key Reserves: Ty Lawson, J.R. Smith, Anthony Carter, Malik Allen, Renaldo Balkman
Injuries: Carmelo Anthony (doubtful), Chris Andersen (doubtful), Ty Lawson (questionable), Nene (questionable)
Team Efficiency Stats
Cleveland Cavaliers
- Offense (100.5 ppg, 42.2 rpg, 48.2 FG%, 21.5 apg, 14.4 topg, Eff: 107.3, Rank: 6)
- Defense (93.6 ppg, 38.4 rpg, 43.2 FG%, Eff: 99.4, Rank: 4)
Denver Nuggets
- Offense (107.3 ppg, 41.0 rpg, 47.0 FG%, 21.3 apg, 14.2 topg, Eff: 109.0, Rank: 3)
- Defense (102.2 ppg, 42.2 rpg, 46.1 FG%, Eff: 104.3, Rank: 18)
Previous Matchups
None
Future Matchups
Thursday, February 18 in Cleveland
Game Notes
After starting off 2-8 in the LeBron era against Denver, the Cavs have now won their past two meetings against the folks from the Rocky Mountains. In fact, their impressive victory last December against the Nuggets was a kick-start to the road domination of Cleveland all last season. During those two games in 2008, Zydrunas Ilgauskas averaged 16.5 points while Delonte West put up 15.0 points per contest. They each put up 20+ in the game in December and without Carmelo on the other side for the home team, any offensive firepower outside of LeBron will be the key to victory this evening.
Look to see how Joey Graham, J.R. Smith and Arron Afflalo all perform tonight in the absence of Anthony, Chris “Birdman” Anderson and possibly even Ty Lawson/Nene. Those three combo players will be the keys offensively for the Nuggets as the team is third in the NBA in offensive efficiency, but will likely be without the league’s scoring leader for the fourth straight game tonight. In the past three contests, the three have combined to average 39.33 points per contest without Carmelo in the lineup and if the Cavs can limit their scoring on the perimeters, it will be hard for Denver to keep up with the road team’s firepower.
Another concept that might be overlooked for the Cavs this season is how their guards have performed in their losses. In the nine losses on the year, the Cavaliers have 166 assists against 134 turnovers for a 1.24 A/TO ratio while their opponents have a 1.86 mark. In the 28 wins on the season, that deficit of -0.62 in terms of A/TO ratio turns into a +0.31 margin. That swing of almost an entire assist to turnover shows how in order for the team to be successful, they really can’t go past the 13 or 14 number in terms of total team turnovers. Denver might not have Ty Lawson but they do know have Chauncey Billups back in the lineup so at the very least their offensive sets will be different yet again.
If you are a Cleveland fan tonight, you want to see the Cavs set their tone with their offensive sets while shutting down the Nuggets on the perimeter. J.R. Smith is a very dangerous weapon offensively and if he is in a groove along with Billups, it could be a very long night on the road. Last year the team showed that it will need a few extra guys to step up and Z and Delonte did the trick in 2008. Mo, Andy, or some others could be the difference tonight or maybe even Jawad Williams in his second dosage of extended minutes. Hopefully the Cavs can start off this road trip the right way tonight in looking for win #29.
Vegas Line
Cavaliers (+4.0)
Over/Under: 202
From the Outside Looking In
Denver Stiffs
Roundball Mining Company
The Denver Post
From the Inside Looking Out
Brian Windhorst’s Blog
Cavs: The Blog
Fear The Sword
King James Gospel
Stepien Rules
Next Game for the Cavaliers
Sunday, January 10 @ Portland Trailblazers
9:00 PM ET
WTAM 1100 AM, ESPN/HD
(Photo above by Michael Martin/NBAE via Getty Images)
Author: JacobRosen
Jacob Rosen is a weekend author for WFNY, the sports editor for the University of Dayton's Flyer News and the current media relations director of the Akron Aeros. Jacob is an Akron native who majors in applied mathematical economics at UD. You can follow him on Twitter @udjrosen or e-mail him at udjrosen(at)gmail(dot)com.Jacob Rosen has written 267 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
I’ll be at the game tonight – and twittering live…windhorst ain’t got nothin on me!
If George Karl has an issue with the Cavs waiving his son Coby, then I suggest he institute a nepotism policy with his team.
/word-a-day calendar’d
(He doesn’t. He won’t.)
Z wants to come back for another year and wants to re-sign with the Cavs.
“I’ve realized I’ve got a lot of good basketball left in me.”
Really? WTF,Z?
http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/01/08/big-z-no-longer-thinking-of-retirement/
him and Shaq for the vets minimum and go for it. It’s not like Z doesnt have a front office job waiting for him when he decides to hang it up.
Well Boston just gave Atlanta some hope.
for the post season that is. Boston looks very beatable, even more so without KG.
MC What your twitter handle is?
hickson is killing us at both ends tonight.
how is hickson killing us? honestly.
Now Z, THAT man is killing us…
As is LeBron…
Shiny, look like road signs, and also are expensive.
Who plays small foward when Lebron comes out?
These are exactly the kinds of games where we need to see Hickson and Andy playing together.
Wow.
This game is atrocious. Delonte HAS to be more aggressive.
Why Z? Why?
1-3 in 6 min is how, did you see the shots he missed?
and missing his assignments at the other end
and a stupid foul at half court.
JJ hickson.
How you guys feel about Jwad? Nice d on the steal but weak offensive effort on the fast break.
It wasn’t weak – he ran right into that guy square. It was man-sized.
Jwad, not sure. some good things (2 for 2) but turning the ball over and ya, dumb foul on the break.
sadly we’re leading in most categories, but turnovers are killing us. You have to play good D against the west.
Yeah I dont mean weak more like jumpy. He seems nervous out there and thats understandable. Im not calling him weak I love Jawad. St. Eds for life.
Can’t believe that comment on the play where Varejao made a basket and was fouled: “that’s the correct call because he double pumped.”
Are you kidding? He double pumped with his feet aloft.
Stop making up rules to justify bad calls.
At least the obnoxious Jeff Van Gundy called it correctly.
Much better quarter and Lebron sounded in control during his interview. Hopefully they put it away in the 2nd half. I’m going to listen to Tait in bed.
(why does that sound dirty?)
Depends on how you handle it, historycat.
Lebron always sounds in control.
Mostly solid defense by the Cavs in the second period.
LeBron looks atrocious tonight.
So do the refs when Billups has the ball.
Can someone from this site replace John Krolik as the Cavs rep for ESPN’s Daily Dime Live?
He sucks.
The refs are generally terrible tonight. I mean how does Andy NOT get fouled right under the hoop with 2 guys jumping into his arms? I’m just wondering.
The refs are killing the Cavs. Killing them.
‘Bron sucks tonight.
And then he’s better.
Andy is having a great game, just getting hacked on the offensive end and it’s one of those not showing up in the box score games. LBJ getting HOTT
ANDY WITH THE MAJOR BLOCK ON K-MART, AND DELONTE A BIG 3!!!!!!!!
Huge play there. Delonte needs to stay on Billups.
Z sucks.
Wow, LB throwin it away. Terrible shots. Terrible D.
LeBron is pulling a Kobe.
WHERE WAS THAT FOUL!? and Andy with the nice runner.
What? No replay of the block?
I swear lebron was in the air for 5 seconds on that last shot. It looked surreal.
Refs are extremely terrible. Donaghy anyone? and Smith is outta his mind.
That shot was absurd. Amazing.
The moving screen on the game-tying 3 was so horrible. Then a terrible offensive foul called on Andy on the next play down.
Well…that sucked.
In the NBA, you’ve got to assume you’re going to lose a few games each season due to the refs. This is one of those games for the cavs.
On to the next one.
Hats off to Ferry wasting more time waiting to pull the trigger on a trade.
Jack that was as clear cut an offensive foul on Andy as they come. It was a terrible play by him.
Putrid effort tonight. Made me sick. Yes, we didn’t get a lot of calls our way, but that is a trend. I bet it would be a lot better if half our team didn’t whine and complain about every drive to the basket. That gets old.
LeBron shouldn’t have been surprised by the no call near the end of the game. It was a one on one situation and he hadn’t gotten those calls all game. Not when he initiates contact. Then he compounded it by complaining the whole way down the court and not getting into defensive position, which caused Andy to cover for him, which led to the screen by Martin and the dagger 3 by Smith.
Come on LeBron. You should be better than that by now.
Rick, I totally agree on the whining in general and LeBron’s whining at the end. First of all, LeBron really hurt our chacnes for a comeback on that same play by holding the ball for as long as he did. Second of all, why does he need to take every 3 at the end of the game? AP was waiting wide open on at least one of those plays at the end there and I’ll take Mo spotting up for a 3 anytime over LeBron.
Otherwise, the Nuggets flat out beat us at the end there nailing down those shots in succession. What do you wanna say? It was a lackluster effort, but the Nuggets also executed, so you have to credit them a bit.
Judging by the comments and the Twitters I’m glad I chose sleep. I’ve already said my thoughts about the whining and it sounds as though last night’s game would have put me in a booze coma.
The Cavaliers reverted back to their bad play last night – standing around watching LeBron and playing horrible pick and roll defense. If you notice opponents with point guards who can penetrate and score seem to give the Cavaliers problems.
@50 Matt LBJ had reason to “whine” there were some terrible calls in that game but once again you saw despite those calls in the end it was LeBron who kept the Cavaliers in the game until the very end. This is why he can whine and do whatever he wants because when it comes down to it he is the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Boogeyman, I don’t disagree with you on LeBron keeping the Cavs in the game. He needs to take the next step in his game and WIN though. He hasn’t done it yet, not in 7 years. To do that, he needs to cut the histrionics out.
I’ve always been a fan of the quiet, stoic champs across all sports, from Duncan to Federer. I wouldn’t ask LeBron to change his entire court personality, but I think he’d do well to take some cues from guys like Duncan and just put his nose to the grindstone and hustle back down there after a call goes against him. At the bare minimum, use the anger in a positive way to lock down on D, get a steal or a stop, and go even harder to the hole next time down there.