119-117 Comeback Win in Denver

The Cavs had to dig deep for Monday night’s win. Denver outrebounded Cleveland, 46-39, attempted 13 more free throws and got just 18 combined points from their second unit. 

Jamal Murray doubled-up for Denver and Nikola Jokic notched his fourth straight triple-double against the Wine and Gold. But the Cavaliers also managed to hold Murray scoreless in the first quarter and forced Jokic into seven of Denver’s 13 turnovers. 

One game after finishing with 23 points in his Cavaliers debut, Harden tallied 22 on Monday night, doubling-up with 10 boards to go with seven assists of his own while leading both teams with three blocked shots. 

The third member of Cleveland’s starting five to tally a double-double – again – was Jarrett Allen, who doubled-up in his fourth straight game, finishing with 22 points and a game-best 13 rebounds, going 10-for-16 from the floor in the win. In the five-game roadie overall, Allen averaged 22.6 points and 11.6 boards, shooting 70 percent from the floor in the process. 

“We never gave up on ourselves,” said Allen. “We kept trying to find a way to get back into the game. Honestly, there's a lot of mistakes that were our mistakes, so once we cleaned those up, we got back to where we wanted.” 

Jaylon Tyson was the only other Cavalier in double-figures, chipping in with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-9 from beyond the arc. At .477 on the season, the sophomore swingman from Cal now ranks 3^rd in the Association. 

*** Locked and loaded after the Trade Deadline, the cardiac Cavaliers completed their barnstorming tour of the Western Conference on Monday night, capping a 119-117 comeback win over the Nuggets in Denver. 

Eastern Conference foes better be ready for their return.

After erasing a seven-point deficit to grab the win two nights earlier in Sacramento, the new-look Cavaliers put on an encore performance in the Mile High City – rallying back from seven down to tie the score on James Harden’s triple with 32 seconds to play and sealing the deal on Donovan Mitchell’s two free throws with less than a second remaining. 

The Wine & Gold now head home – in the final game before the All-Star break – having won four straight, nine of their last 10, and 11 of their last 13 dating back to mid-January.  

The Cavaliers had an even tougher uphill climb on Monday in Denver than Saturday’s victory in Sacramento, trailing by 10 points with seven minutes to play, dealing with the elevation and tired legs at the end of a trip. But Cleveland continued to chip away from there. Jaylon Tyson’s three-pointer with four minutes remaining cut into the Nuggets’ seven-point lead, and the Cavs stayed within striking distance from there.

“We just stuck with it,” praised Head Coach Kenny Atkinson. “It wasn’t going our way, but we had a great spirit, togetherness. We had a belief even when we were down. We were doing the right things. I thought our end of game execution was pretty much perfect. For the big plays that we had to make execution-wise, we executed. Us reading time, score, situation, that’s how you steal a game like that. You have to execute at the end.”

Mitchell led both teams with 32 points, his second straight game topping the 30-point mark, 27^th this season – going 11-for-23 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the stripe, leading Cleveland with 10 assists to go with two steals and a pair of blocks. Monday marked the fifth time in his last seven outings that the seven-time All-Star handed out at least eight assists. 

“There’s so many different things that we’ve found and we still haven’t practiced,” said Mitchell. “It’s just hooping and vibes right now, just figuring it out. That’s the biggest thing – we’re just figuring each other out. We found a few things that worked last game and brought them tonight.”

*** After taking four of the final games on their West Coast junket, the Cavaliers wrap up the season’s unofficial first half on Wednesday night when they welcome the Wizards to town. On the other end of the midseason classic, the Wine and Gold welcome the Nets to town before closing out the month of February with four of their final five games on the road, including a trip to Charlotte the night after tipping off the second half at home against Brooklyn.