The Denver Nuggets rallied to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-109 on the road to kick off their post All-Star break schedule.

Nikola Jokić posted 24 points, 18 rebounds, and 13 assists in the win. The Nuggets are now 22-0 when Jokić logs a triple-double. It wasn’t his most impressive performance, but he still controlled the game when it mattered. The Nuggets outscored the Cavs 26-18 in the fourth quarter with Jokić out there for much of that time.

Michael Porter Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope brought the rain from the three-point line tonight. Porter had 25 points and shot 6-of-10 from three. Caldwell-Pope also shot a perfect 4-of-4 from three himself.

The Nuggets willed their way to the finish line tonight with some timely shooting, but Denver certainly benefitted from poor shooting by the Cavaliers. Evan Mobley was dominant on the inside, but Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell combined to shoot 3-of-13 from three-point range. The Cavs as a whole shot just 6-of-26 from the perimeter. Comparing that to Denver’s 17-of-36 from the three-point line is close to bullying. The Cavs are a great team, but the Nuggets just simply might be better.

 

Here are my takeaways from the Nuggets first game back from the All-Star break against the Cavaliers:

All-Star rust in full swing

Often in a season, the games right before and right after the All-Star break can get pretty weird. For the Nuggets, they had one significant practice Tuesday prior to traveling to Cleveland that was interrupted by a leak in practice facility at Ball Arena.

So, it’s unsurprising that some weird things happened against the Cavaliers. Jokić had his pocket picked three times in the first quarter by Donovan Mitchell, Murray and Porter had shots go all the way in before rattling out. There were also some wild swings throughout that led to big time shots for both teams, and yet the game was close all the way.

 

 

Michael Porter Jr. comes out swinging

Michael Porter Jr. wasn’t invited to the three-point contest in Salt Lake City over the All-Star break. It looks like he became the Michael Jordan meme and took that personally.

Porter started the game 0-of-2 from behind the arc but finished 6-of-10, hitting some impressive three-pointers off the catch that were simply unguardable. The Cavaliers decided to put Donovan Mitchell on Porter so that they could have Isaac Okoro, their leading defender, on Murray. That resulted in some rhythm jumpers for Porter that helped him get into a groove.

Porter finished the game with 25 points on 8-of-14 from the field to go with six rebounds. He had some good defensive possessions, contesting shots both on the perimeter and at the rim in the fourth quarter that led to some transition baskets for Denver. Porter also had a drive in transition himself where he looked infinitely more comfortable handling and driving tonight than he did at the beginning of the year.

 

New bench must iron out the kinks

In the last 23 games of the year, the Nuggets are going to focus on integrating newcomers Reggie Jackson and Thomas Bryant. It’s going to lead to some interesting rotations with the bench as the Nuggets try to find the best ways to strengthen their playoff rotations.

In the first half, Jackson and co. struggled to find the right rhythm. Jeff Green attempted seven shots, Bruce Brown never really found his shooting tough, and Christian Braun was mostly floating and looked unsure of what to do. That’s unsurprising, but it also put the Nuggets at a disadvantage in the first half.

The Nuggets went away from Braun in the second half and staggered KCP instead, who had a great game overall and made a major defensive impact in the second half. It will be interesting to see how the rotation evolves going forward, and Braun would likely be the odd man out in that situation.

Of course, it’s the first game, and the Nuggets know that chemistry takes time. They will be patient, and if they continue to get tough wins on the road in the process, there won’t be a ton of complaining.

Final Rotations