Not a Recap: Denver 124, Cleveland 102 (or, Winter March to Zion)
2019-01-20Forgive us, Cavs fans. The dregs of January are here, and unexpected commitments forced us to miss the live thread. Personally, I picked the absolute worst weekend to travel to the higher latitudes. It’s about -15 wind chill where I’m at in Michigan. The Cavaliers also suffered from the January chills, as they were dismantled by the red hot Nuggets in the first half, getting outscored 70-46 before Cleveland outscored Denver by two in the last half.
Cleveland was led by a surprising performance by Ante Zizic and his 23 points. Ante spaced the floor well on his pick/and roll execution with Cameron Payne (three assists) and Collin Sexton (seven assists) and finished well around the basket and got to the line. Ante added six rebounds, but the Cavs were dominated on the glass 48-34, which included 12 offensive rebounds for Denver, and a 89-72 field goal attempt advantage.
Ante had a tall order, as the only real big on the squad against one of the NBA’s best centers, Nikola Jokic. The Joker messed around and got a triple double with 19-11-12 and a game high +21, to Ante’s -16. Five of those dimes went to Jamal Murray’s who dropped 26 and went on 4-7 from downtown.
Cedi Osman added 17, attacking the left side of the basket and going 1-3 on triple tries, while Rodney Hood added 18 and three dimes off pretty decent jump shooting. Jordan Clarkson was a game low -21 and Tristan Thompson missed his second straight game with foot soreness. Some are speculating that he’s sitting for an impending trade.
Cleveland looks to rebound tomorrow afternoon in Chicago, in a tank battle against the Bulls who are now without Wendell Clark for 8-12 weeks. Fortunately, there were lots of lottery players on display last night for fans of both teams to salivate over. R.J. Barrett scored 30 in Duke’s win overn previously undefeated Virginia, and Zion Williamson added 27 including this ridonculous dunk. See you Monday, Cavs fans.
Deng Adel sighting.
Last day of ASG voting with fans voting in Rose & Wade as starters (pathetic).
My 12 for each conference:
Starters:
East: Lowry, Irving, Kawhi, Giannis, Embiid
West: Curry, Harden, PG13, LBJ, Jokic
2nd fives:
East: Kemba, Dipo, Butler, Griffin, Vucevic
West: Dame, Hield, KD, AD, Gobert
Last 2:
East: Simmons, Beal
West: Harris, Aldridge
Close but no cigar:
East: Sabonis, Siakam, Drummond, DeRo
West: Russ, KAT, DeRozan, Doncic
Nice finish lauri
This version of Derrick Rose is a good comp for Collin Sexton. Their games are a lot more suited for the NBA like a decade ago.
Amazing how good Rose looks away from us. Thanks Ty!
Still think he or Wade could have won us a game or two in the Finals.
Eh, I’m not sure. Playoffs/finals are a different beast.
I’ve always thought that it’s an incredible, ongoing effort that the CtB crew puts in to not only provide analytical pieces, but also live game thread moderation and a recap for every game. I think a few misses here and there are completely acceptable, and no apology necessary.
And context matters – if there was ever a game to miss, it was the last game of a miserable roadtrip which we all knew the likely outcome before it happened (as much as you can in sport).
Thanks, Simmo!
TERRIBLE “NO CALL ” BY REFS SAINTS / RAMS GAME !!!!!
Possibly even worse than the ‘in the grasp’ from your own guy in the Cowboys game last week. The NFL is a joke.
I thought Sexton made some real nice passes this game; slowly but surely, I think he’s coming along.
Yep. I think 7 dimes is a career high.
I also think Drew preaches not turning the ball over. We only had 3 in a recent game or something ridiculous.
However, I think there can be a downside, especially for a young PG , of getting too tentative. Of not trying to make any plays. Then, when you need to make a play, you are in unfamiliar territory. Whereas the guy given more freedom has already learned those lessons.
Fine line.
HEY NATE HOW DID YOU FARE WEATHERWISE IN CANTON AREA —AT 1ST THEY WERE CALLING FOR MORE SNOW IN YOUR AREA—THINK WE TOOK SOME FROM YOU : (———LOVE THAT PICTURE OF ZION —-BRINGS BAC GREAT MEMORIES OF TRIPS THERE WITH MY FAMILY —–THERE AND ALL THE OTHER NATIONAL PARKS IN UTAH —–ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS ———WHAT ARE THE EARLY PREDICTIONS FOR TOMORROWS “DRAFT CHAMPIONSHIP “——–DOES IT REALLY MATTER AS I HAVE ALLUDED TO EARLIER —-THE PING PONG BALLS WILL EVENTUALLY DECIDE —-NEED TO INVENT “WEIGHTED PING PONG BALL ” BY THIS SPRING STAY WARM MY FIRENDS !!