CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cavaliers are still streaking, in the wrong direction.
Their plummet down the Eastern Conference standings continued Friday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The Denver Nuggets rolled into town and romped their way to a 120-103 victory behind a 50-point performance from Jamal Murray, who was unstoppable.
“He made some difficult shots – contested, challenged shots,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Guys like that in this league have nights like this. We’ve seen it before.”
Michael Porter Jr. added 22 for the visitors and Nikola Jokic finished with a triple-double: 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
“That’s a tough matchup,” center Jarrett Allen, tasked with trying to contain Jokic, said. “He’s obviously one of the best big men in the league right now, one of the most skilled and he can do literally anything. He can post up. He can pass. He can shoot the three. He can rebound the ball and he can do everything in the game.”
Murray went on a stretch of making 11 straight shots in the second half and he finished 21-of-25 from the field, including 8-10 from beyond the arc in the win, the 16th of the season for Denver.
“He only missed four shots and one of them was from half court,” Allen said. “It was amazing what he did.”
Not only did Murray set a career-high in points, but he did it without shooting a free throw, becoming the first in NBA history to score 50 without heading to the line according to Elias Sports.
“It was definitely one of those nights,” guard Collin Sexton said. “He’s a great player. He sees the basket, he’s [going to] knock it down regardless. He’s been due for a good one and been struggling but that’s the Jamal Murray we all know.
“When he’s making shots and shooting like that, we just have to live with it but we also have to continue to fight.”
Sexton scored 23 and Allen added 20 in a losing effort for Cleveland, which saw all five starters score in double figures.
The Nuggets started hot from the opening tip and the Cavs simply couldn’t keep up.
It was another tough night in the school of hard knocks that is the NBA for the young Cavs, who had lost by an average of 22 points per game over their previous eight defeats.
“We have to learn and if we don’t learn, we wont get any better,” Bickerstaff said.
Denver hit their first 12 shots to open a 26-14 advantage midway through the opening quarter before Will Barton’s fadeaway jumper rattled out. The Nuggets ended up shooting 71.4% in the opening quarter and lead by 10, 33-23.
JaVale McGee rattled Porter with a tackle on a baseline drive with just under 8 minutes to play in the second quarter, which the Nuggets didn’t appreciate. After a replay review, McGee was hit with a flagrant-1 and cooler heads prevailed after some jawing back and forth between the teams.
Porter had 21 and Murray 20 at intermission as Denver led 69-50, marking the first time since Dec. 8, 2006 against the Heat that the Nuggets had two players with at least 20 before half – Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith – according to ESPN Stats and Information.
Denver shot 66.7% in the first 24 minutes, including 8-17 from 3. Cleveland shot 50% but the Nuggets hit twice as many three’s – eight – than the Cavs – four which allowed them to lead by 19.
The Cavs made a run in the third quarter, climbing as close as 9 at 85-76 with 3:14 left in the quarter but Denver ended it on a 10-4 run to lead comfortably, 95-80, after three.
“There were turnovers in that stretch, that against good teams, they’re hard to come back from,” Bickerstaff said.
Cleveland didn’t allow Denver to score 30 in the final two quarters, holding them to 51 points in the second half after surrendering 69 points in the first 24 minutes, but too much Murray and not enough talent of their own did them in again.
