The Nuggets Dig a Deep Mine, Can’t Crawl Out

First Quarter:

Nate Robinson got the start because of a late scratch to Ty Lawson and saw some immediate energy, but again no points really. There was a 0-10 stretch in the middle of the quarter. The Nuggets gave up way too many points in the paint. Should have just put up the velvet ropes and taken tickets at the hoop.

Bright spot: Randy Foye got the jumper going.
SMH Moment: Darrell Arthur… He knows what he did.

Team	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Cleveland	13-23	1-6	11-17	2	13	15	9	2	3	1	38
Denver	8-25	3-9	1-1	2	8	10	2	1	2	4	20
	32%	33%	100%

Second Quarter:

Not sure if it was bad shooting or good defense, but the Nuggets showed some life in the quarter. They had stops on eight straight defensive trips; Wilson Chandler went into flashback mode and Danilo Gallinari hit big two threes!

Robinson cut it down to nine on a corner three and the next trip down had a chance to cut it to six on a three from the same spot, but he was fouled by Irving and there was a no-call. LeBron scored the next five and the Nuggets run was over.

Bright spot: There is fight in this team. They won't go away!
SMH Moment: After cutting the lead to nine the Nuggets just got incredibly sloppy with the ball.

Team	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Cleveland	8-24	2-7	2-4	1	8	9	7	1	0	1	20
Denver	9-20	5-10	3-3	2	12	14	3	0	2	3	25
	45%	50%	100%

Third Quarter:

Something I've noticed early about the Nuggets, they play better when they're not in a locker room before the quarter starts. Maybe they should be required to change out on the court before games? Have half time at center court like Jr. High again?

Bright spot: The Nuggets have a nice locker room is what I wanted to type. Randy Foye closed out the quarter nicely and the Nuggets shot 55% from the field in the quarter.
SMH Moment: Kyrie Irving got to do whatever he wanted. Got to his spots easily and ran Nate off the floor.

Team	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Cleveland	9-21	2-5	7-8	1	10	11	5	1	0	2	27
Denver	11-20	1-5	2-4	1	11	12	10	2	1	3	26
	55%	20%	50%

Fourth Quarter:

Love the hustle to open up this quarter. Got the lead down to nine quickly, would have been seven except there was a small brain fart by Jusef Nurkic. It's okay; love how he crashed the boards.

Bright Spot: Hello, Erick Green!
SMH Moment: Can’t keep digging such a big hole and expect to win games. The play that ended it was when Wilson Chandler threw a lazy pass to Randy Foye that was stolen by Dion Waiters and dunked. Instead of a potential four paint game with just over four minutes left, it’s an eight-point game.

Team	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Cleveland	10-16	2-5	4-4	2	5	7	4	1	0	4	25
Denver	12-20	2-5	4-7	3	3	6	7	2	0	3	30
	60%	40%	57%

The Jerk Wrap:

The Nuggets need to stop playing so sluggish out of the gate and out of the half. They were down early in both the first and third quarters. On the plus side though, the defensive rotations were a bit improved, Shaw's bench rotations were a bit improved and the Nuggets were able to score consistently in the half-court offense.