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NBA: Cleveland Cavaliers Prepare For Denver Nuggets After Embarrassing Loss To Miami Heat

By Dustin Murrell
Published on: 02:41 PST, Mar 21, 2016

After a thorough beating from a Chris Bosh-less Heat in Miami and yet another cryptic Instagram from LeBron James, the Cavs Nation has plenty to worry about. In a game that saw Dwayne Wade surpass the 20,000 career point total, it was clear that the Cleveland Cavaliers still have some preparation to do before the NBA Playoffs. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love combined for a total of just 21 points and a single rebound while also being responsible for five turnovers against King James’ former team. With just 13 games left in the NBA regular season, LeBron and the Cavaliers still have some work to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNljMYEReMI

Cleveland will try to turn things around tonight against the Denver Nuggets. Still a long-shot for a Playoff berth, the Nuggets have everything to gain and nothing to lose as they travel to the Quicken Loans Arena for their 12th-to-last game.

And while the Cavaliers try to focus on the Nuggets after getting crushed by the Magic, their Ohio-native captain isn’t doing the team any favors with his vague social media posts. Before heading to Miami, LeBron posted the following image on Instagram, featuring a collage of photos that include himself, Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Paul. At a time when Cavs fans would love to see their hero post similar content alongside guys like Irving, Love, and Tristan Thompson, he opts instead to post images that recall his success outside of the Cavaliers organization.

This all comes shortly after Cleveland was showing signs that they might be ready for whatever the NBA Playoffs will throw at them. Proving that they aren’t completely helpless without James, Kyrie Irving led a LeBron-less Cavaliers squad to a 99-98 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in which the Cavs never allowed the Mavs to get the lead.

Irving kept it up the following night, leading the Cavaliers in scoring (26 points) for the second game in a row, even with the return of LeBron (18 points). While Victor Oladipo of the Orlando Magic scored an amazing 45 points against the Cavs, Cleveland still walked away with a 109-103 victory over the struggling Magic.

But when Cleveland traveled to Florida for their game the following night, the team played so bad that LeBron and Kyrie each had just 27 minutes on the court, and Kevin saw just 16 minutes of gameplay. Like Cleveland did to Dallas a few games earlier, Miami never let their opponents have the lead on Saturday night. As ESPN noted, it is “a little concerning” to LeBron James that his team struggles consistently in Miami.

But James and the Cavs can’t think about that now. Coming off of Saturday’s eight-point win over the Hornets in Charlotte, the Denver Nuggets are in a do-or-die situation in which they can scarcely afford to lose any more games this season if they hope to make this year’s NBA Playoffs. The recent victory over Charlotte ended Denver’s three-game losing streak, but it will need to be the beginning of a winning streak if they hope to keep playing when the regular season ends.

Going into Monday night’s game, the Nuggets (29-41) are currently sitting in 10th place in the Western Conference: six games behind the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks and 6.5 games behind the 6th place Portland Trailblazers. If they finish off the regular season incredibly strong, they may earn the right to face the Golden State Warriors or San Antonio Spurs in the first round.

Cleveland, on the other hand, is struggling to stay ahead of the Toronto Raptors in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. Toronto has the night off, as they spent Sunday night in Orlando handing the Magic another defeat. If the Cavaliers can defeat the Nuggets, they’ll be 1.5 games ahead of the Raptors on Wednesday when the Cavs host the Milwaukee Bucks and the Raptors travel to Boston to face the Celtics.

Where to Watch

The Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Denver Nuggets will air on local affiliate FOX Sports Ohio. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. EST.

[Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images]

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