Five nuggets for…gonna be honest: I picked an arbitrary number. Denver steamrolled Cleveland 124-102. It was hard to feel inspired.
1. The Cleveland Cavaliers are a terrible basketball team. Let’s start there. They lost 14 of 15 games going into Saturday. Cam Payne, who’s averaging 6 points per game on 39.8 percent shooting in his career, started for Cleveland at shooting guard. The Nuggets were up 25 midway through the second quarter. They shot 66 percent from the field in the first half. The game was over 18 minutes in.
The back-to-back demolitions of Chicago and Cleveland capped a stretch of 11 games in 19 days. Denver has three days off before facing Utah in Salt Lake City on Wednesday.
“Now this gives us a chance to come up for air,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
2. Nikola Jokic recorded his fourth triple-double of 2019, and we’re only 19 days in. Jokic scored 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting, grabbed 11 rebounds and handed out 12 assists. He didn’t play in the fourth quarter. If he broke a sweat, I couldn’t see it from my perch on the main concourse. Jokic is up to six triple-doubles and five dunks on the season.
3. Jamal Murray’s shooting struggles keep fading further and further into the rearview mirror. Murray hit 8 of 14 shots, including 4 of 7 3s, in the win. In the last 13 games, Murray is shooting 50 percent from deep on 6.5 attempts per game. He’s raised his overall 3-point percentage to 36 percent from 28.5 percent in roughly three weeks.
“He puts so much pressure on himself. He wants to be great. For three years now, he’s gotten off to tough starts with his shooting,” Malone said. “We see it at some point. This year it took longer than we expected. He’s too good of a shooter. And the second part of that is he spends too much time on his craft, coming in at nighttime when no one else is around, coming in after practice. You knew he’d find that rhythm.”
4. For the first time since Oct. 20, all five players in Denver’s opening night starting lineup were available to play. Will Barton missed 38 games after going down with a hip/core injury against the Phoenix Suns in Denver’s second game of the season. Barton and Harris, who’s coming off a strained hamstring, both were on a minutes restriction and came off the bench. Barton chipped in with five points in 21 minutes. Harris contributed four points in 17 minutes of floor time. Malone said he plans to ramp up both their minutes against the Jazz.
5. Malik Beasley helped keep Denver afloat while Barton and Harris were injured. The 19th overall pick in the 2016 draft has become a consistent rotation piece in year three. Beasley hit three 3s on his way to 13 points Saturday. He’s shooting 42 percent from outside this season, which puts him just behind his backcourt partner Monte Morris, who’s sitting at 42.9 percent from deep after going 3 for 4 from behind the arc against Cleveland.
“I’ve seen those guys put in the work,” Harris said. “Everything that’s happening, they both deserve it. They’ve been putting in the work this summer, during training camp, during the season. We know those guys can play. It’s good to see them go out there and do it.”
