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 LeBron James had 33 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, and the
Cavs used a new-look defense to clinch the Central Division title
with a 124-91 victory Monday night against the Denver Nuggets.
Cleveland (50-20) endured frustrating moments of inconsistency
throughout the season, but it still sealed the fifth division crown
in team history and its ninth 50-win season.
"All is not bad," Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. "We're still growing,
we're still getting better on a night-to-night basis and we can
celebrate this, but we gotta keep moving forward."
The Cavs scrapped some of their defensive principles that haven't
been working the last few weeks and returned to the simplified
format that carried them to the NBA Finals last season. They held
the Nuggets to 39.5 percent shooting Monday and led by as many as 36
in the fourth quarter after Denver's five starters combined to match
James' 33 points.
 "It was embarrassing," Nuggets coach Mike Malone said. "An
embarrassing effort. I haven't seen that from our team most of the
year. I'm very disappointed with that."
The Cavs built a 19-point lead in the first quarter when they scored
38 points, their most in an opening quarter all season. However,
they give it all back in the second when Nuggets reserve guard Will
Barton scored 16 of his team-high 27.
Cleveland went scoreless for more than six minutes while the Nuggets
scored 17 consecutive points mainly off the Cavs' reserves. When
James and the starters returned, the Cavs reclaimed momentum.
The game was essentially over after three quarters, and James left
to an ovation with six minutes remaining after securing his second
triple-double of the season and the 41st of his career.
In this season of the unexpected, however, James again made a stir
by unfollowing the Cavs from his Twitter account. James' cryptic
messages a few weeks ago on social media set the internet on fire,
as did Monday's revelation he no longer follows the Cavs.
Asked about the reasoning behind it, James stared down a reporter
momentarily before responding simply, "Next question."
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The Cavs have fought to stay out of their own way most of the
season. Locker room issues led to the firing of coach David Blatt at
midseason, while the play of fellow stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin
Love seemed to aggravate James at times this season.
Still, Cleveland remains atop the conference and holds a slim
one-game lead on the Toronto Raptors for home-court advantage in the
East playoffs. The Cavs' blowout victory Monday, led by a dazzling
performance from James, followed an embarrassing loss at Miami on
Saturday when Cleveland trailed by 33 in the fourth quarter. That is
the way it has gone most of the season.
Even Monday, the reserves let the Nuggets back in the game in the
second quarter before the starters could put the game away in the
second half.
"We definitely have to develop that killer instinct," Lue said.
"When we get up, we get cute -- the fancy passes, we take a couple
bad and questionable shots. We've got to continue to get better at
that and continue to step on guys' throats when we have them down."
Cavs forward Channing Frye scored 14 points as a replacement for
Love, who did not play because he was ill. J.R. Smith scored 15
points, and Matthew Dellavedova had 10 points and seven assists off
the bench. Irving finished with eight points and three assists.
Jusuf Nurkic, Gary Harris and Nikola Jokic each scored 11 points for
the Nuggets, although Harris was a minus-45 during his 34 minutes.
"We got our butts kicked," Malone said. "I'm not going to use any
excuses for it. For the most part, they did whatever they wanted and
we helped them do it."
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