Preview: Nuggets-Cavaliers
By Andrew Dill
January 11, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) drives to the basket during the first half against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
The Denver Nuggets continued their winning ways last night against the Brooklyn Nets, defeating them 111-87. Off the bench, Timofey Mozgov would dominate the Nets from start to finish. He would score 17 points, adding 20 rebounds and 2 blocks. They will look to improve their win streak to eight, as they face a Cleveland Cavaliers team that is struggling, sitting at 5-12 on the season and owned the number one overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft selecting Anthony Bennett, and he is failing to produce. The Cavs have utilized Bennett in the power forward role, and are now going to use him as a small forward. This season in 13 games played, Bennett is averaging 2.2 points per game, 0.3 assists, and 2.6 rebounds.
When: Wednesday, December 4th.
Time: 7:00 pm ET, 5:00 pm MT
TV: Denver: Altitude Sports Cleveland: Fox Sports Ohio
What To Watch For: The Nuggets are winners of seven-straight, and have been playing well due to their bench play. They are currently second in the NBA in points per game with 40.9, only trailing Dallas by 0.6. Nate Robinson has shaken off his slow start to the season, averaging 16.0 points per game, 3.4 assists, shooting 47.8% percent from three, and 51.9% percent from the field. Kyrie Irving has started to come on for the Cavaliers of late, as he is averaging 17.8 points per game, 3.6 assists and 2.8 rebounds.
Key Match-Up: You might be looking for Ty Lawson and Kyrie Irving here, but I’m going to go with Timofey Mozgov vs. Andrew Bynum. Bynum would score a season-high 20 points, 10 rebounds, and had 5 blocks in the win over Chicago on Saturday. If you remember, Bynum sat out all of the 2012 season recovering from surgery on both knees.
Projected Starting Line-Ups:
Denver Nuggets:
PG – Ty Lawson
SG – Randy Foye
SF – Wilson Chandler
PF – Kenneth Faried
C – J.J. Hickson
Cleveland Cavaliers:
PG – Kyrie Irving
SG – C.J. Miles
SF – Alonzo Gee
PF – Tristan Thompson
C – Andrew Bynum