{"id":514558,"date":"2026-01-03T20:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/514558\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T20:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:03:14","slug":"6-takeaways-from-cavs-112-108-win-over-nuggets-we-still-got-a-ways-to-go-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/514558\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Takeaways from Cavs 112-108 win over Nuggets: \u2018We still got a ways to go\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 The Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> didn\u2019t play their best, but did enough down the stretch<\/a> to defeat the short-handed Denver Nuggets<\/a> 112-108<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cavs won on the defensive end of the floor. They came into the fourth quarter down nine points, only scored 24 in the fourth, and were still able to erase the deficit. Their defense was the deciding factor.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDen 11 points fourth quarter\u201d was written on the team\u2019s floor-to-ceiling whiteboard in the locker room when media were allowed in afterwards. That was the most important stat from the game<\/a> and the one that the team presumably celebrated afterward.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers have used Dean Wade to guard the other team\u2019s best perimeter scorer<\/a> in recent games. They didn\u2019t have that luxury on Friday as Wade missed this one with a knee injury, and it showed. Jamal Murray \u2014 Denver\u2019s only opening night starter available for this game \u2014 torched them for 28 points in the first half.<\/p>\n

Cleveland adjusted. They started trapping him whenever he caught the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe said, if we\u2019re going to lose this, let the other guys beat us,\u201d Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said afterward. \u201cEven when they brought the small lineup in, we still went, hit, we double teamed him, tried to get the ball out of his hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And when they didn\u2019t get it out of his hands, they forced difficult shots. Murray had just six points on 12 attempts in the second half.<\/p>\n

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Anything bought from the links helps support Fear the Sword. You can also shop all of Homage\u2019s Cavs gear HERE<\/a>. The link to the Donovan Mitchell NBA Jam shirt is HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lonzo Ball\u2019s defensive impact helped in this area. The Cavs played their best defense with Ball on the floor as they registered an 83.3 defensive rating <\/a>in the 15 minutes he played. His ability to be disruptive in the passing lanes, be a step ahead of rotations, and put good contests on shots went a long way to that. It was one of his best games as a Cavalier, even if his stat line doesn\u2019t necessarily show it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor him to continue to be who he\u2019s been, and not pout, not be in bad spirits, that\u2019s the sign of a pro,\u201d Donovan Mitchell said of Ball. \u201cHe comes in, does his work. Then coming out here and impacting the game in ways that he knows we need him to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though he\u2019s played poorly this season, performances like this show how helpful the best version of Ball can be. His versatility as a ball handler, playmaker, and defender is something this team desperately needs at his size. And while he may not be the best choice every night, the nights that he\u2019s on, he can really swing a game.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers closed with their starting front court of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. That has been rarer than you\u2019d expect this season. Mobley and Allen have only played together in the fourth quarter in 13 of the 19<\/a> games both have been available in. And when they do play in the fourth, it\u2019s for an average of just three minutes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lessening the time both have shared the court has been an ongoing trend. The duo has played just 13.4 minutes<\/a> together going into Friday\u2019s contest. Last season, they played 14.6 minutes<\/a> together per game, and the year before it was 17.1 minutes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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This is happening despite the Cavs having incredible success with Mobley and Allen sharing the floor. The Cavs went into this game outscoring opponents by 11.1 points per 100 possessions<\/a> (91st percentile<\/a>) when they play together. Those lineups have been phenomenal on both sides of the ball and work no matter which guard combination they\u2019re paired with<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When asked about why he hasn\u2019t gone to this lineup as often, Atkinson said it depends on the situation. He pointed to being behind in games \u2014 which lends itself to going smaller more \u2014 and Allen working his way back from injuries as reasons why he hasn\u2019t gone to it often recently. While those are valid reasons, it\u2019s also fair to point out that the big frontcourt has gotten great results this season, and this team doesn\u2019t necessarily have many ideal small-ball lineups when Wade isn\u2019t available.<\/p>\n

The larger frontcourt worked late against Denver.<\/p>\n

Atkinson subbed Allen back in to join Mobley with three minutes left in the fourth with the team trailing by one. The Cavs then forced a jump ball off an errant shot, grabbed an offensive rebound that led to a go-ahead three from Darius Garland, and then secured another offensive rebound two possessions later that led to a game-sealing dunk from Mitchell.<\/p>\n

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Atkinson mentioned afterward that Denver\u2019s lack of shooters allowed for the bigger lineup to work in this instance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue comes [against four-out teams], most teams finish with four shooters on the floor,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cThis team did not today. They gave you two guys that you could [play off of], so it makes it a little bit easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s hard to play those two bigs together because either Evan or J.A. has got to play a small, and sometimes that\u2019s not perfect. It\u2019s not a great matchup. \u2026 Then it goes to the offensive end, sometimes you need more spacing and more shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cavs didn\u2019t play great, but they were still able to pick up a win. They\u2019re a work in progress, but one that is heading in the right direction, even if Mitchell still sees plenty of things that need to be addressed.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think our collectiveness on both ends of the floor,\u201d Mitchell said when asked about what he wants to see the team improve. \u201cI think of communication and understanding. I\u2019m not saying we\u2019re doing a poor job of it, I just think that can be even better. We can be better, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell pointed to a defensive mix-up that he and Allen had, which led to a wide-open three from Murray, right out of the half, as an example of plays \u201cthat can\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhether it\u2019s getting back and communicating defensive things, defensive rebounds, we got to get on the boards, there\u2019s so many things we can do to be even better,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t mean to say we\u2019re not doing a solid job, but we can always be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

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With the win, Cleveland has now won three in a row and five of their last seven. That\u2019s a solid rebound from where they were before this recent stretch, even if they\u2019re far from a finished product.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still got a ways to go,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cWe\u2019re playing well. And maybe I\u2019m being overly [critical], like, a little too much. We\u2019ve done it for 10, 11 days. \u2026 We\u2019ve shown that there\u2019s a different vibe. It\u2019s different. Now, instead of seven games, it\u2019s 10. Ten is 12. We\u2019re at a time where we\u2019re not just talking about it, we got to just do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 The Cleveland Cavaliers didn\u2019t play their best, but did enough down the stretch to defeat the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,305,193,3846,791,5759,187,864,576,762,1178,3627,4442,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-514558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","12":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","13":"tag-darius-garland","14":"tag-dean-wade","15":"tag-denver-nuggets","16":"tag-donovan-mitchell","17":"tag-evan-mobley","18":"tag-jamal-murray","19":"tag-jarrett-allen","20":"tag-kenny-atkinson","21":"tag-lonzo-ball","22":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115832960509139340","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}