Reserves wore down Cavaliers’ depth

CLEVELAND» Facing the Cavaliers on the second night of a backtoback set, Nuggets coach Michael Malone knew he was going to have to rely on his reserves.

It wasn’t surprising to see the Nuggets come out flat on the heels of Wednesday’s overtime thriller in Chicago that saw nine players play at least 20 minutes. While the Cavs played with energy, the Nuggets’ offense deteriorated into isolations and disjointed sequences. After one quarter, it was 2715 Cavaliers, and it looked like fatigue might get the best of the Nuggets.

Then Malone turned to Juan Hernangomez, whose contributions to Wednesday’s victory didn’t show up in the final line.

“I even singled (Hernangomez) out (Wednesday) night the locker room in Chicago,” Malone said. “Every huddle, he didn’t play the whole night, but every huddle he was in the game, supporting his teammates. And that’s really big, that’s mature. And tonight, I knew we’d need him. Didn’t know he’d have the night that he had, but we need his energy on the second night of a backtoback.”

Hernangomez was instant offense. He buried three nohesitation 3pointers in the second quarter to help flip a 12point deficit into a 5042 halftime lead. He hit two more 3s en route to a gamehigh 23 points along with his everpresent effort on the glass. With Hernangomez’s versatility, the Nuggets’ reserves wore down the Cavs’ depth in the second half.

“When Juancho plays, he plays extremely hard,” Malone said. “You never have to worry about that. You know what you’re going to get, and obviously tonight I think you saw the best of everything about Juancho.”

Mason Plumlee, another consistent source of energy and rebounding off the bench, said there’s more to come from Hernangomez.

“Internally, we know he’s capa