After spending Christmas in Phoenix, the Denver Nuggets are heading back home for a matchup with one of the marquee teams in the Eastern Conference. The Cleveland Cavaliers have been one of the best teams in the NBA all season and their NBA best record of 26-4 speaks to that. Led by Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, the Cavs boast a strong combination of shot makers on offense and disruptors on defense. The last time these two teams met, the Cavaliers handed the Nuggets a 126-114 loss in a game that was never really close. The Nuggets will have to play better than they did that night, or in their disappointing loss on Christmas night, if they expect any chance at a W tonight.
The Essentials
Who: Denver Nuggets (16-12) vs Cleveland Cavaliers (26-4)
When: 7:00 PM MST
Where: The Can. Denver, CO.
How to watch/listen: Altitude TV where available, Altitude+, KTVD My2, NBA League pass for those not in the Nuggets market, Altitude Radio 92.5 FM. Wear a tool belt and a hi-vis vest with a Tegna logo on it, show up at the arena and tell security your just here to wiggle the antenna a little which should fix those pesky My20 blackouts.
Rival blog: Fear The Sword
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Cavs | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Darius Garland | Even |
| SG | Christian Braun | Donovan Mitchell | Cavs |
| SF | Peyton Watson | Sam Merrill | Even |
| PF | Michael Porter Jr. | Evan Mobley | Cavs |
| C | Nikola Jokic | Jarret Allen | Nuggets |
| Bench | Russell Westbrook, Julian Strawther, Hunter Tyson, DeAndre Jordan | Georges Niang, Caris Levert, Max Strus, Ty Jerome, Jaylon Tyson | Cavs |
Injury report: Jamal Murray – probable (ankle), Aaron Gordon – out (calf), Vlatko Cancar – out (knee), DaRon Holmes II – out (achilles), Trey Alexander – out (G-League), PJ Hall – out (G-League); Dean Wade – questionable (knee), Isaac Okoro – out (shoulder), Craig Porter JR. – out (G-League), Emoni Bates – out (G-League), JT Thor – out (G-League), Luke Travers – out (G-League)
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: paint defense and defensive rebounding
It would appear that Aaron Gordon re-aggravated his calf injury on Christmas and that has left him unavailable for tonight’s contest. Losing AG is never ideal, but losing him against the Cavs who start two premier big men in Mobley and Jarrett Allen is especially tough. I assume Peyton Watson moves into the starting lineup with Michael Porter Jr. sliding over to the four spot because thanks to injuries and poor performance, the Nuggets really have no other option. As a team who neither defends the paint well nor secures defensive rebounds well, this is going to be an uphill battle with the bigs tonight.
The thing to remember: Cleveland is rested
The Cavaliers did not draw Christmas duty this year, nor did they play yesterday or Christmas Eve. It’s been four days of resting, holiday time with the family and more than 24 hours to acclimate to the altitude. Meanwhile, since the buzzer last sounded on the Cavs last game the Nuggets have: played a game in Denver against the Phoenix Suns, flew to Phoenix on Christmas Eve, played the Suns on Christmas, flew back to Denver and assumedly (hopefully) got a little bit of holiday time with their families yesterday. If Denver comes out flat and falls behind early we will chalk it up as the least surprising first quarter ever.
The thing to bet: Peyton Watson over 4.5 rebounds (+125)
Last time Watson was inserted into the starting lineup for an ailing Gordon he started 12 straight games. He had 5 rebounds in nine of those games and two of the three games when he came under five rebounds were blowouts where he played less than thirty minutes (fair warning, decent blowout chance tonight). In the game against the Cavs this season he came off the bench and only played 18 minutes…and grabbed four rebounds. The risk here is the aforementioned blowout possibility or the possibility that Michael Malone goes a different route with his starters to replace Gordon but at +125 I’ll take the risk.
