13 stats to explain Cavs 112-108 Nuggets

The Cleveland Cavaliers picked up an ugly 112-108 win over a short-handed Denver Nuggets team that was without four members of their opening night starting lineup.

The stats in the table below are from Cleaning the Glass.

Now, let’s dive into some of the stats.

• The Cavs held the Nuggets to just 11 points in the fourth quarter. Cleveland entered the fourth quarter down nine points and was able to erase that deficit despite scoring just 24 points of their own. Denver’s 11 fourth-quarter points are the fewest they’ve scored in any quarter this season. Defense is just as important as offense if you’re trying to make a fourth-quarter comeback.
• The Nuggets went 4-20 from the field in the fourth and 1-12 from three. You aren’t going to close out many games if your offense goes that cold in the fourth quarter.
• Jamal Murray registered just six second-half points on 2-12 shooting after pouring in 28 points in the first half. The Cavs did everything they could to force the ball out of Murray’s hands by sending double teams his way and trapping him throughout the second half. The rest of the Nuggets were able to make them pay for this strategy in the third quarter. They weren’t in the fourth.
• Cleveland had nine second-chance points in the fourth quarter by grabbing five offensive rebounds. The Cavs did to the Nuggets down the stretch what the New York Knicks did to them on Christmas. Denver struggled to rebound without their top two centers. This led to the Cavaliers having a 23-14 second-chance points advantage.
• The Nuggets committed nine turnovers to the Cavs’ 16. This was about as lopsided as you’re going to get in the takeaway battle. Denver turned it over on just 10.4% of their possessions (87th percentile) while Cleveland coughed it up on 17.7% of theirs (24th percentile).
• Cleveland’s guards were the main culprits as Darius Garland turned it over six times while Donovan Mitchell gave it up four times. Having your two starting guards be this careless with the ball is one of the easiest ways to even the playing field against a depleted Nuggets team.
• Denver outscored Cleveland 18-12 in points off turnovers. The Cavs shot considerably better from the floor, but weren’t able to capitalize due to the damage consistently turning the ball over did.
• Donovan Mitchell notched 33 or more points for the 11th time this season. The Cavaliers are now 10-3 when he does so.
• Mitchell did most of his damage inside, going 9-10 on shots in the paint. This included completing 7-8 in the restricted area.
• The Cavaliers connected on 73.1% (68th percentile) of their looks at the rim. They did this while taking 34% of their shots at the basket(64th percentile). Getting inside opened up the outside shot as they went 16-38 from three (42.1%). Despite how good an outside shooting team the Cavs can be, their outside shot is predicated on their ability to get inside.
• Conversely, the Nuggets finished just 55.6% of their shots in the restricted area (14th percentile). As much as the game has changed, the team that controls the paint to this level will usually win the game. Cleveland outscored Denver 50-34 in the paint.
• Evan Mobley was a team-worst -10. Single game plus/minus can be a little wonky. So, make of this what you will. However, this wasn’t a great Mobley game. He failed to make a free throw despite having five attempts and wasn’t able to take advantage of Denver’s thin front court as completely as you’d like.
• Lonzo Ball was a +10. Ball was behind on Jarrett Allen (+12) in team plus/minus. Still, this was arguably Ball’s best game as a Cavalier. He knocked down a pair of triples, made a noticeable impact on defense with his two blocks, and did a great job of keeping the ball moving on offense. This game was a good example of why it’s difficult to give up on Ball, even though performances like this have been few and far between.