Denver ? The LeBron-Carmelo matchup wasn’t much of a contest, and neither was the one between the Cavaliers and Nuggets.
LeBron James had 17 points, eight rebounds and nine assists to help Cleveland embarrass Denver and Carmelo Anthony in front of a booing crowd at the Pepsi Center.
This was the third meeting between the two standouts of last year’s NBA draft. Denver swept the series last season and Anthony fared a little bit better than James in the box scores.
This time around, though, James had the better game and the better team, and the verdict was pretty much sealed about six minutes into this blowout.
Anthony missed seven of his first eight shots en route to a 14-point night, in which most of the points came after the Nuggets trailed by 20. He finished 6-for-20 with five turnovers.
James, meanwhile, had the exact opposite kind of game. He distributed and rebounded, didn’t force shots and was willing to take a lesser role when other teammates got hot. Jeff McInnis scored 15 points, and Drew Gooden had 10 points and 13 rebounds.