Kyrie Irving out, LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers in vs. Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets enter tonight’s game with a record of 12-19 and have dropped five of their last six games. Injuries have certainly been an issue for the Nuggets during this stretch, most notably on Sunday in Oklahoma City when Denver was without four starters in the 122-112 defeat. Emmanuel Mudiay and Danilo Gallinari will once again be out tonight as they continue to recover from injuries to their ankles.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are leading the Eastern Conference with a record of 20-9 and will be playing their fourth game in five nights. Cleveland is coming of a 101-97 win over the Suns last night in Phoenix. The Cavaliers will be a bit shorthanded tonight as Kyrie Irving will get the night off as he continues to comeback from knee surgery.

When

Tuesday, Dec. 29th at 7:00 p.m. MST

Where

Pepsi Center – Denver, CO

Quick Shots – Nuggets

Kenneth Faried played, arguably, his best game of the season on Sunday night against the Thunder. The Manimal finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Faried’s efforts certainly helped keep the Nuggets in a game many expected them to have no chance in. Hopefully the performance is one he can build on.

Joffrey Lauvergne also played well on Sunday night. King Joffrey scored 18 points while shooting 8-15 from the field. He continues to be a work in progress, however the Frenchman has shown a great deal of improvement over the past few games in which he has received ample playing time.

Mike Miller will recognize lots of faces tonight as the veteran goes up against the team he was a member of last season. LeBron James recruited Miller and James Jones to follow him to Cleveland after they played together in Miami for four seasons. Miller’s most memorable moment with the Heat undoubtedly came in Game 5 of the 2012 NBA Finals against Oklahoma City when he hit seven three pointers and scored 23 points off the bench in Miami’s series clinching victory.

Quick Shots – Cavaliers

Old friends J.R. Smith and Timofey Mozgov return to Denver tonight as Cavaliers. Smith is averaging 10.7 points per game while Mozgov is putting up 6.7 points a night. It will be worth monitoring how each player performs tonight, especially Smith who, as we all know, can heat up shooting from downtown in an instant.

LeBron is no stranger to breaking records and last night he moved past former Nuggets great Alex English into 17th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. He didn’t stop there though as James also moved past Stephon Marbury for 22nd place for most assists in league history in the Cavs victory over the Suns.

In addition to setting records on the floor, James is one of the game’s leading humanitarians. The work he does in the Greater Cleveland community has been well documented over the years and Jennifer Conn of Crain’s Cleveland Business Journal wrote a piece on James foundation’s long-term plans in the community that is definitely worth a read.

Final Shot

Denver comes into tonight desperately needing a win and Cleveland will be playing a back to back. The Nuggets will have to take advantage of the Cavaliers fatigue with fast break opportunities. It’s the Cavaliers only visit to the Mile High City this regular season and it figures to be an exciting night in Downtown Denver.