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Denver Nuggets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

February 9, 2026 · 2025-26 season

The Cavaliers beat the Nuggets 119-117 on 2026-02-09 on the road against the Nuggets. The Nuggets started Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, Cameron Johnson, Julian Strawther, and Christian Braun. The Cavaliers started James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen, Sam Merrill, and Jaylon Tyson. Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers) scored 1 points (0/7) in his matchups, with Julian Strawther as his primary defender. Nikola Jokić (Nuggets) scored 20 points (9/18) in his matchups, with Jarrett Allen as his primary defender.

Box score

In orange, the game high in points, rebounds and assists.

DEN

Denver Nuggets 117

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Jamal Murray GS	35:36	17	8	11	1	0	1	3	6-16	1-6	4-4	-4
Nikola Jokić GS	32:59	22	14	11	2	1	7	0	6-11	0-2	10-12	-2
Christian Braun GS	31:52	20	5	2	0	0	1	4	7-13	4-8	2-2	+3
Cameron Johnson GS	29:23	10	4	1	3	0	1	5	4-5	2-3	0-0	-7
Julian Strawther GS	28:54	20	6	0	0	0	1	4	8-16	2-6	2-3	+3
Tim Hardaway Jr.	29:24	12	1	0	1	0	0	1	4-10	3-9	1-2	+6
Bruce Brown	25:17	1	4	0	2	0	0	4	0-6	0-2	1-2	-10
Jonas Valančiūnas	15:01	12	4	0	0	0	2	1	2-4	0-1	8-10	0
Jalen Pickett	11:34	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	1-4	1-3	0-0	+1
Totals		117	46	25	9	1	13	23	38-85	13-40	28-35

Did not play: DaRon Holmes II (DNP - Coach's Decision), Zeke Nnaji (DNP - Coach's Decision), Peyton Watson (DND - Injury/Illness)

CLE

Cleveland Cavaliers 119

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
James Harden GS	36:02	22	10	7	0	3	2	3	7-16	2-7	6-6	+9
Jarrett Allen GS	34:38	22	13	1	0	0	0	5	10-16	0-0	2-4	+8
Donovan Mitchell GS	34:08	32	1	10	2	2	2	1	11-23	3-10	7-8	+3
Jaylon Tyson GS	31:10	16	3	1	0	0	2	3	6-13	4-9	0-0	+11
Sam Merrill GS	25:03	9	2	1	1	0	1	4	3-6	3-6	0-0	+13
Dennis Schröder	24:39	5	2	3	2	0	1	2	2-7	0-4	1-2	-14
Keon Ellis	19:33	2	3	1	1	1	2	3	1-5	0-4	0-0	+2
Thomas Bryant	13:22	5	3	1	0	0	0	4	1-3	1-3	2-2	-6
Nae'Qwan Tomlin	12:30	6	1	0	0	1	0	3	2-3	2-2	0-0	-10
Craig Porter Jr.	8:55	0	1	0	0	0	2	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	-6
Totals		119	39	25	6	7	12	29	43-92	15-45	18-22

Did not play: Tristan Enaruna (DNP - Coach's Decision), Larry Nance Jr. (DNP - Coach's Decision), Tyrese Proctor (DNP - Coach's Decision)

Lineups

DEN

Denver Nuggets

Starting lineup

The 5 most-used lineups:

Nikola Jokić · Jamal Murray · Cameron Johnson · Julian Strawther · Christian Braun Starter 10.5 min
Tim Hardaway Jr. · Nikola Jokić · Jamal Murray · Bruce Brown · Christian Braun 4.3 min
Tim Hardaway Jr. · Nikola Jokić · Jalen Pickett · Cameron Johnson · Julian Strawther 3.8 min
Jonas Valanciunas · Tim Hardaway Jr. · Jamal Murray · Bruce Brown · Christian Braun 3.7 min
Tim Hardaway Jr. · Nikola Jokić · Jamal Murray · Julian Strawther · Christian Braun 3.6 min

CLE

Cleveland Cavaliers

Starting lineup

The 5 most-used lineups:

James Harden · Donovan Mitchell · Jarrett Allen · Sam Merrill · Jaylon Tyson Starter 13.0 min
James Harden · Dennis Schröder · Jarrett Allen · Sam Merrill · Jaylon Tyson 5.6 min
Dennis Schröder · Donovan Mitchell · Thomas Bryant · Keon Ellis · Nae'Qwan Tomlin 5.3 min
James Harden · Dennis Schröder · Donovan Mitchell · Jarrett Allen · Jaylon Tyson 4.0 min
Dennis Schröder · Donovan Mitchell · Thomas Bryant · Nae'Qwan Tomlin · Craig Porter Jr. 3.7 min

Who guarded whom

Based on stats.nba.com matchup data. Points and shooting are always the offensive player's.

Nuggets defense

Donovan Mitchell 1 pts (0/7) in 68 possessions

Guarded by: Julian Strawther (23 %, 1 pts) · Christian Braun (20 %, 0 pts) · Tim Hardaway Jr. (17 %, 0 pts)
James Harden 11 pts (4/10) in 68 possessions

Guarded by: Christian Braun (31 %, 7 pts) · Bruce Brown (16 %, 0 pts) · Cameron Johnson (14 %, 0 pts)

Defender	Guarded most
Jamal Murray	Jaylon Tyson: 20 poss., 2 pts (1/4) · Dennis Schröder: 17 poss., 5 pts (1/3)
Nikola Jokić	Jarrett Allen: 36 poss., 14 pts (4/7) · Thomas Bryant: 10 poss., 4 pts (1/1)
Christian Braun	James Harden: 21 poss., 7 pts (3/5) · Donovan Mitchell: 14 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Julian Strawther	Donovan Mitchell: 16 poss., 1 pts (0/4) · Sam Merrill: 8 poss., 8 pts (3/3)
Cameron Johnson	Sam Merrill: 13 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Jaylon Tyson: 10 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Tim Hardaway Jr.	Sam Merrill: 13 poss., 3 pts (1/2) · Donovan Mitchell: 11 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Bruce Brown	James Harden: 11 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Donovan Mitchell: 10 poss., 0 pts (0/1)
Jonas Valanciunas	Jarrett Allen: 14 poss., 4 pts (1/3) · Thomas Bryant: 10 poss., 6 pts (1/1)
Jalen Pickett	Keon Ellis: 5 poss., 3 pts (1/1) · Dennis Schröder: 4 poss., 0 pts (0/1)

Cavaliers defense

Nikola Jokić 20 pts (9/18) in 67 possessions

Guarded by: Jarrett Allen (54 %, 8 pts) · Donovan Mitchell (9 %, 4 pts) · Thomas Bryant (9 %, 0 pts)
Jamal Murray 11 pts (3/11) in 69 possessions

Guarded by: Jaylon Tyson (28 %, 0 pts) · Dennis Schröder (19 %, 2 pts) · Donovan Mitchell (12 %, 5 pts)

Defender	Guarded most
Donovan Mitchell	Bruce Brown: 17 poss., 2 pts (1/2) · Christian Braun: 16 poss., 5 pts (1/2)
James Harden	Christian Braun: 20 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Cameron Johnson: 15 poss., 5 pts (2/4)
Jarrett Allen	Nikola Jokić: 37 poss., 8 pts (4/7) · Jonas Valanciunas: 9 poss., 5 pts (2/4)
Jaylon Tyson	Jamal Murray: 20 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Cameron Johnson: 10 poss., 5 pts (2/3)
Sam Merrill	Tim Hardaway Jr.: 10 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Julian Strawther: 9 poss., 3 pts (1/2)
Dennis Schröder	Jamal Murray: 13 poss., 2 pts (1/2) · Bruce Brown: 7 poss., 1 pts (0/0)
Keon Ellis	Julian Strawther: 16 poss., 2 pts (1/1) · Bruce Brown: 5 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Thomas Bryant	Tim Hardaway Jr.: 10 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Nikola Jokić: 6 poss., 0 pts (0/1)
Nae'Qwan Tomlin	Jonas Valanciunas: 9 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Nikola Jokić: 5 poss., 3 pts (1/1)
Craig Porter Jr.	Julian Strawther: 6 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Cameron Johnson: 5 poss., 0 pts (0/0)