Photo: Scott Shaw/Cleveland.com

Anyone who thinks the Los Angeles Lakers have a walk to the NBA Finals must not have seen the Denver Nuggets play this season. All they've done is go 4-0 thus far against the Lakers and Cavaliers, dispatching of the wine and gold tonight in the extra session amid trade deadline and All-Star break hangover. LeBron's incredible 43 point, 13 rebound, 15 assist performance after a slow start was not enough against a deep and large Nugget frontcourt led by Carmelo Anthony, who matched James's effort with 40 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists, nailing the game-winner with 1.9 seconds left in OT. The Cavaliers' win streak ends at a franchise-tying 13 straight, and the Cavaliers begin the second half of the season with a tough loss, their second to Denver this season.

New guys in house: Both Antawn Jamison and Sebastian Telfair were in the Q this evening to watch their new teammates, but neither were able to dress due to not all players passing their physicals and reporting to their respective new teams as of yet. Jamison hopes to play tomorrow night in Charlotte, while Telfair has 1-3 weeks left to rehab from injury. Empty picture frames hung all around the Q where images of Zydrunas Ilgauskas used to be. Z is said to be pushing for a buyout from the Wizards, and the fact that he has yet to report to the Wiz shows his true intentions. While he is bound to have multiple suitors (Dallas, Denver, and Atlanta to name a few), I hope and feel that we will have Ilgauskas back in wine and gold in 29 days. Judging the comments from LeBron, Shaq, Mike Brown, and Danny Ferry today, a reunion with Z would put a pep back in their step.

Surprise cam-e-MO: Just hours before the game, word came down that Mo Williams had been cleared to play and would return to action after missing 11 games during the past four weeks due to a left shoulder strain. Mo Gotti came off the bench with Daniel Gibson staying in the starting role, and while he looked incredibly rusty and tentative in the first half, he looked to hit his stride a bit in the second half, drilling two trey balls. Mo finished with 8 points and 3 assists in 18 minutes, and he did not play much in crunch time, perhaps being limited in minutes in his first stint back. It was great to see Mo back, and it's the first step in returning to normalcy. No doubt a full-go Mo would've helped immensely tonight as the Cavalier offense simply bogged down late in the game as it has had a tendency to do during this win steak, most without Mo and Delonte.

Missed layups, missed free throws: These two areas, along with turnovers and offensive rebounds given up, summarized the correctable errors that doomed the Cavs this evening. The Cavaliers came out right away and showed they lacked some focus, some of which I guess is understandable. I mean, they are coming off a week-long layoff where I bet they wish they could have kept playing with that 13-game win streak. Also, they traded one of the most popular guys in the city of Cleveland and a gigantic clubhouse presence. What is just too hard to overlook, however, were the 17 missed free throws in 40 attempts (57%), at least four missed layups early in the game, (two each by Shaq and LeBron), 16 Denver offensive rebounds, and 11 turnovers (9 of those coming in the fourth and overtime). If you watched the Cavaliers all season, you know most of this is nothing new. What the Cavaliers hope to do is more than compensate for those weaknesses with offensive versatility and defensive toughness, which they are more than capable of doing on most nights. Tonight, they ran into a healthy, prepared Denver team that is one of the best five teams in the league. You can't have all four of those weak areas bite you in the same game and expect to survive against the Nuggets, especially not when Carmelo Anthony drops 40.

Shaq attacks: One thing the Cavaliers didn't forget over the week-long layoff is that Shaquille O'Neal has turned a corner with this team, and he can be used quite effectively to rack up the fouls on the other team. After a slow start where Shaq missed three very makeable shots, The Diesel made five straight before the half. Shaq battled mild foul trouble to finish with 18 points on 9-of-15 shooting and 7 rebounds in 30 minutes. He was able to draw Nene, Kenyon Martin, and Chris Andersen (before exiting due to injury) all into foul trouble. If these two matchup again in the postseason, he will be a key factor, because the Nugget frontline is very capable, but it is not very deep past Birdman. Shaq and Andy's foul trouble tonight showed that the Cavalier frontcourt, at least without Jamison and Powe, is more prone to dangerous foul trouble. That's all the more reason that both of these teams could be vying for Z's services after a potential buyout.

All the right weapons: The Denver Nuggets got great contributions from several players tonight, and it showed that they have all the things a championship caliber team needs. First, they have the star in Carmelo Anthony. Anthony was absolutely unreal, even with LeBron guarding him most of the game. Melo finished with 40 points on 13-of-28 shooting after starting just 2-of-11 from the field. He scored 17 of his 40 from the fourth quarter on, and he hit the dagger game-winner with just two seconds left with James draped on him. Denver also got a terrific performance turned in from Kenyon Martin, who has really rebounded this season. K-Mart had 18 points and 17 rebounds tonight, and he picked up some real key offensive rebounds. Chauncey Billups on the whole struggled shooting just 7-of-20, but he turned in 18 points and handed out 8 assists while penetrating the Cavalier interior defense, and absolutely abusing Daniel Gibson at times. Finally, they had Aaron Afflalo, who turned in one of the best defensive performances on James this year before Carmelo took over, in the first half. Afflalo helped James start off at just 2-for-9 shooting in the first quarter, and he had just 8 points at the half. Afflalo is the type of guy who can body up to James and make his job much more difficult. The Nuggets really have three guys in Afflalo, Martin, and Anthony who can cover LBJ. All of that adds up to a whale of a matchup if these two All-Stars align in June.

Questionable rotation: I wouldn't want to have Mike Brown's job right now in managing all of these fluctuating minutes, but I felt he made some crucial miscues, particularly late in the game, that effected the outcome. For starters, he took Jamario Moon completely out of the rotation. Yes, I understand that someone has to be the odd man out, but after he apparently disapproved of the effort that Jawad was giving, I, along with Brendan of Stepien Rules, agreed that Moon would have been nice to get a look at in this game. Then, assuming he had to limit Mo's minutes, he still went with Daniel Gibson far too much on Chauncey Billups, and it bit him in the rear end. I felt that Delonte West, who had 28 minutes anyway compared to Gibson's 30 minutes, was a much better option on Billups, a very physical guard. Unless this was Game 6 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals where Daniel Gibson could not miss, it's a terrible idea to play him on Billups. It may in fact be the worst matchup for Boobie in the entire association. Brown still, however, went with Boobie on Billups throughout the fourth and in overtime after it was shown early that he couldn't hang with him. If he wanted/needed Gibson in the game, he would have been better off switching Parker on him most likely. MB's job doesn't get any easier either. With Antawn Jamison in the mix tomorrow night and Leon Powe just days away, there are going to be some people on the roster feeling slighted by their amount of playing time.

LBJ-Melo duel in 4th quarter finish: We've seen some great battles with LeBron and the other power four players in the league (Wade, Bryant, Durant, Anthony), but this one ranks right up there simply for the fact that these two went at each other punch for punch much like LeBron and D-Wade did in the second quarter of one of their showdowns earlier in the season. Instead, though, it was in the fourth quarter and overtime as the two locked onto each other for the game's final minutes. LeBron's 24 fourth quarter and overtime points were phenomenal as he attacked the basket while mixing in a few makes from the perimeter. Anthony's game was much more jumper-oriented, but he used 17 points in the final 17 minutes to propel the Nuggets. The fourth ended interestingly enough with a no-call bump by J.J. Hickson that sent Chauncey Billups out of bounds with the ball, followed by three point misses by Anthony Parker and Chauncey Billups to send the game to an extra period. It's interesting that neither Bron nor Melo got their team's last shot in regulation, and not surprisingly, neither supporting player delivered. That changed in overtime.

OT's missed opportunities: It was unfortunate that the Cavaliers couldn't pull it off in overtime after getting new life on Billups's miss and trailing for most of the game. The Cavaliers missed opportunities in the OT that you just knew were going to end up being the difference. LeBron missed a couple of big threes, and they let Chauncey Billups get loose for a wide-open triple, which gave the Nuggets an upper hand heading into the home stretch. LeBron was able to get the Cavs to even with 23 seconds left in the overtime period, but the Nuggets used almost the whole clock, starting with Billups who gave it up to Anthony who hit the jumper over LeBron to give the Nuggets the lead for good. The Cavs had 1.9 seconds to answer, but LeBron slipped upon receiving the in-bounds pass, and he was forced to put up a hurried tough shot that still found the rim and almost found its way down through the hoop for the winner.

 goes to: LeBron James. There's no question who the main man was in this game. LBJ had one of the best statistical games in the last forty years. His 43 point, 13 rebound, 15 assist performance was last matched in 1962 by Oscar Robertson, according to Brian Windhorst via the Elias Sports Bureau. He carried the team through the fourth quarter and overtime, and his shot that came up short would've won the game.

Team Grade: C-

The Cavaliers really had no business winning or even competing in this game after their dreadful first half performance. Give them credit for hanging in there with Denver and making this a heck of a game. Their rebounding was poor, losing the battle 48-44, and Denver was just too darn good. The Nuggets turned it over only 5 times in the 53 minutes, and they shot 46% on the road. The wine and gold's 50% shooting at home just wasn't enough and neither was their 26 assists on 43 field goals.

The Cavaliers hope to turn a new leaf tomorrow night when they welcome Antawn Jamison to the team in Charlotte against the Bobcats. This will be a real test. Remember, the Bobcats have taken two of three from the Cavaliers, including one in the Q that ended on an LBJ miss for the win as well. Their hard-nosed defense and athletic players in Stephen Jackson and Gerald Wallace pose matchup difficulties for the Cavs.

All for one. One for all.

Kirk

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