Cavs come alive when it matters, fight off depleted Nuggets

The Cavaliers ran their winning streak to three, but let’s not kid ourselves. This one was messy.

Cleveland needed every bit of Donovan Mitchell’s 33 points to escape with a 113-108 win over a Nuggets squad that was missing four of its five opening-night starters. That’s not exactly the kind of game you circle as a measuring stick.

Still, they count.

Jamal Murray was the reason this thing stayed uncomfortable for so long. He torched the Cavs in the first half, pouring in 28 of his game-high 34 points over the opening two quarters. He was getting wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and Cleveland had no real answers early.

The Cavs adjusted after halftime, selling out to get the ball out of Murray’s hands. Traps. Doubles. Hard shows.

It slowed Murray as a scorer, but it came with a cost. He made the right reads, found shooters, and suddenly Denver’s role players were feeling pretty good about themselves.

That showed up in a big way in the third quarter. The Nuggets dominated the frame, outscoring Cleveland 38-26 while shooting 7-of-13 from three. For a thin, short-handed team, that shouldn’t happen. But it did.

To Cleveland’s credit, the response in the fourth was exactly what it needed to be. The Cavs leaned into their advantage, pounding the glass against a depleted Denver frontcourt. Five offensive rebounds turned into nine second-chance points, and the momentum flipped.

The defense tightened, too. The Cavs (20-16) held Denver to just 11 points in the fourth quarter on 4-of-20 shooting. That’s how you close when things haven’t gone smoothly.

Mitchell finished with 33 points and five assists, though the turnovers remain something to monitor. He had four, and Darius Garland had an uncharacteristic six. Garland still chipped in 18 points and eight assists, but ball security wasn’t great across the board.

The bench helped steady things. De’Andre Hunter gave the Cavs 16 points, five rebounds, and four assists, while Lonzo Ball had one of those quiet games that mattered more than the box score suggests.

For Denver (23-11), Murray’s 34 led the way, and Peyton Watson added 21 points.

It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t clean. But it was a win.

The Cavs will take it and move on. They’ll need to be sharper Sunday, when the conference-leading Detroit Pistons come to town for a 2 p.m. tip.