Denver on the right road
NUGGETS 126, CAVALIERS 117 Nuggets make 19 3-pointers, six by Gary Harris, in latest victory
CLEVELAND» Lebron James and the Cavaliers were charging as another Nuggets double-digit lead had evaporated to one point with 2:40 to play.
But then Paul Millsap calmly drained a 3-pointer, Gary Harris followed with his own trey from the left corner and Wilson Chandler got free underneath for a dunk. And then Harris clinched Denver’s second win in less than 24 hours by burying another 3.
Those 11 consecutive points in 1:16 of game time pushed the Nuggets to a key 126-117 shootout victory Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd at Quicken Loans Arena. The win keeps Denver in the Western Conference playoff picture and gives the Nuggets their first four-game road win streak since December 2013.
“I love how unselfish we were,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “I think there were plenty of opportunities when they cut it to one where we could have panicked. We kept on executing and, more important, we kept on finding the open man. We didn’t settle for good shots. We got the great shot. When we do that, we’re a really tough team to guard.
“It was just guys having a relentless will to win and not give in to any adversity.”
The win was the 12th in the past 17 games for a Nuggets team that entered Saturday in the eighth slot in the crowded Western Conference, a half game up on the idle Clippers. And offense again propelled Denver to victory.
The Nuggets (35-28) made 19 3-pointers, their second-highest total this season, surpassed only by the franchise-record 24 they hit less than a month ago in Milwaukee. Denver’s 35 assists were its third-most this season, while its .547 field-goal percentage ranks sixth-best this season. The Nuggets exploded for 73 points in the first half and led by as many as 15 points in the third quarter. Harris finished with 32 points — including six 3-pointers.
“It makes the game much easier,” said Will Barton, who finished with 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists off the bench. “The 3s add up, and we’ve got a lot of guys that can shoot it and we have confidence in ourselves.
“We keep making the right play and the extra pass, and guys knock down shots . ... We try to feed off each other and get it to the hot hand or to the open man.”
Still, Denver needed to hold off Cleveland late thanks to the Cavaliers’ own 52.3 percent outing from the floor. After a J.R. Smith pull-up cut Denver’s lead to 110-108 with 7:50 to play, Barton answered with a 3-pointer before Mason Plumlee threw down a transition dunk to increase the Nuggets’ lead to seven points. Free throws by Smith and James sliced Denver’s advantage to 115-114 with 2:40 to play before the Nuggets’ final scoring barrage.
The high-scoring affair perhaps should not have been a surprise, given that Cleveland entered Saturday ranked 28th in the NBA in defensive efficiency while Denver was 24th but had “bottomed out” during a 16game stretch since Malone took the reins off his team’s potent offense.
That suspect defense has made it challenging for the Nuggets to hold on to any lead recently, as they blew a 19-point advantage in a stunning Tuesday loss to the Clippers and allowed lowly Memphis to trim a 16-point cushion to one possession before holding on to win Friday night. The Cavaliers made their push late in the third quarter. After a pair of Harris free throws gave Denver a 99-84 advantage at the 3:23 mark in the period, Cleveland finished on a 13-4 surge to set up a tight final frame.
The Nuggets held on despite James compiling a triple-double with 25 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds. Smith scored 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and Larry Nance Jr. added 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
The Nuggets are off the next two days before a Tuesday game at Dallas.