The Cleveland Cavaliers are looking for their first three-game winning streak since starting the season with 15 straight wins when they play the Denver Nuggets on Thursday.
Cleveland improved their league-best record to 19-3 on Tuesday, with a dominant 118-87 victory over the Washington Wizards in the NBA Cup group play. Seven Cavaliers scored in double figures, including Evan Mobley, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Donovan Mitchell contributed 19 points, seven assists, and five rebounds, while Georges Niang and Sam Merrill each scored 14 points off the bench.
However, the game wasn’t without challenges for the Cavaliers. Darius Garland, who is averaging 20.3 points and 6.7 assists per game, had to leave the game after colliding with Washington’s Jonas Valanciunas.
Garland appeared to have a head injury, but he reassured reporters afterward, saying, “I’m good. I’m alive.”
Cleveland’s coach, Kenny Atkinson, said, “It doesn’t look like anything that will hold him out.”
Mitchell also went to the locker room briefly because of a stinger to his right shoulder. Mitchell leads the Cavaliers with an average of 24.3 points per game, along with 4.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.6 steals, all of which have been key to Cleveland’s strong start.
“Everybody in this league pretty much knows me as a scorer,” Mitchell said. “For me, it’s just finding ways to become the best player I can be.”
Neither Garland nor Mitchell was listed on the injury report for Wednesday.
The Cavaliers will try to keep winning against the Denver Nuggets, a team centered around one of the most versatile players in the NBA, three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
Jokic led the Nuggets to a 119-115 win over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, scoring 38 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and adding six assists and five steals. The reigning MVP is averaging 30.2 points, 13 rebounds, and 10.4 assists per game this season.
If Jokic keeps up these numbers, he would become only the third player in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season, joining Oscar Robertson (1961-62) and his teammate, veteran Russell Westbrook, who has done it four times.
Westbrook, in his first season with the Nuggets, is playing a different role and is averaging 11.7 points, six assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game. However, Jokic praised Westbrook and Christian Braun for their defense and hustle, which were crucial in Denver’s victory on Tuesday.
“Those guys are winners,” Jokic said. “Winners make those kinds of moves and those kinds of plays. I’m happy to have them on my team.”
Westbrook and Braun (15.6 points per game) are two of six Nuggets players averaging double-digit points. They join Jokic, Michael Porter Jr. (18.7), Jamal Murray (17.7), and Aaron Gordon (14.8).
Denver averages 118.1 points per game, the fifth most in the NBA, and 30.4 assists, which is second in the league.
The Cavaliers are averaging 121.8 points per game, the most in the league. Cleveland also leads the NBA in both 2-point field-goal percentage (.590) and 3-point field-goal percentage (.402).
