You've Been Blown Out

(AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

(Boulder-CO) The Cavaliers were a badly wounded unit yesterday and that was before the Nuggets put a, 113-83, pounding on them. Denver led by as many as 37 points in this laugher by way of very un-Nugget like defense and absolutely phenomenal team play that resulted in a total of 30 assists. However, it should be noted that the Cavs were extremely shorthanded with Drew Gooden, Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, and Anderson Varejao all unable to play with injuries pretty much running the gauntlet.

Now, before anyone gets too worked up over a game like this we should all realize that while a nice whipping like this is good for the Nuggets because it gives them some swagger. The long-term implications of a game like this are null and void. Or for the slow witted, a game like this means nothing other than a W. The Nuggets beating the Cavaliers like they did was akin to a cattlemen putting two slugs in a lame steer. The first one did the trick. Move on.

Quick highlights:

J.R. Smith torched the Cavaliers for the second straight meeting with 18 points all by way of three-pointer. Smith finished 6-11 from downtown while also grabbing five rebounds.

Carmelo Anthony scored a team-high 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds. It was your basic Carmelo Anthony performance.

Allen Iverson scored 25 points and handed out a game-high 13 assists to improve the Nuggets' all-time record in games when he double-doubles to an astonishing 22-2.

The Captain ripped a game-high 17 rebounds, scored eight points, stole the Nuggets an extra three possessions, swatted a pair of shots, and assisted twice. Fantasy monster, anyone?

But like I said before... Don't look deeper into this shellacking than what first meets the eye. The Cavs were badly depleted and anyone in the league probably would have won by double digits. As a team they shot only 34% and besides LeBron James' 30 points the only other Cleveland player to hit double digits in scoring was Larry Hughes with 14.

Go Nuggets!