It was also the Cavaliers’ 50th win of the season and clinched the Central Division title for the second consecutive year.
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Cleveland, it could be time to panic.
“It was just another night where our starters didn’t get us off to a good start”, Malone said.
The reality of the Cavs’ last two weeks and the National Basketball Association standings could factor into Lue’s proclamation. He said Cleveland’s run to the 2007 finals, which included James’ epic performance in Game 5 of the conference semifinals at Detroit – he scored 28 of the Cavs’ final 30 points – is his fondest memory.
“It was embarrassing”, Nuggets coach Mike Malone said. “I’m very disappointed with that”. The Nuggets took it to the Charlotte Hornets in a stunning 101-93 victory on Saturday that saw them snap a three-game slide at the expense of the hottest team in the East. Denver built up a 22-point lead in the third quarter and was strong on the defensive end after allowing teams an average of 118.7 points in the first three games of the road trip. James has scored 20 points or more in 16 straight games against Denver….
James added 11 rebounds and 11 assists before checking out with 6:02 left to a thunderous ovation.
In this season of the unexpected, however, James again made a stir by unfollowing the Cavs from his Twitter account. It was the latest off-the-court chatter surrounding James, who has posted mysterious messages in the past – and declined to speak with the media following the team’s morning shootaround.
“It needs to be part of our identity”, James said.
The Cavs have fought to stay out of their own way most of the season. It’s not given every year, obviously, that you can win a division title, win 50 games in a league where it’s so hard to win.
It was a convincing return to form by Cleveland after the embarrassment of Saturday’s 122-101 defeat at Miami. That is the way it has gone most of the season.
A slow start combined with an incredible display by James all led to a 124-91 Nuggets loss to the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena on Monday night.
“They definitely pushed the tempo on us, and we got it to as close as 40-36 I believe, and then, they went on a 13-0 run, so their pace definitely affected us”, Cavaliers small forward LeBron James said. “You’ve got to take it in. We’ve got to continue to get better at that and continue to step on guys’ throats when we have them down”.
The Cavs will not intentionally sit any healthy players in their game Monday against the Denver Nuggets, but Kevin Love is questionable after missing shootaround with an illness. J.R. Smith scored 15 points, and Matthew Dellavedova had 10 points and seven assists off the bench.
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James was aggressive from the outset and finished the first quarter with 17 points, five rebounds and three assists. Jusuf Jurkic added 11.
