CLEVELAND, Ohio — New year. New Cavs?

Despite a few groans and murmurs, Cleveland won its first game of 2026, 113-108, over the woefully undermanned Denver Nuggets Friday night. It’s the Cavaliers’ third straight victory.

“You could argue we stole that one a little bit,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said following the victory. “I thought they outplayed us. So, we stole it, but that also shows we have our mettle and our resiliency. Three weeks ago, do we win that game? Probably not. I think we’re in a better place, like spiritually and as a group.

“Just find a way to get a win. Definitely not going to go in the Hall of Fame, the Cavs Hall of Fame.”

With the wounded Nuggets missing four starters — Aaron Gordon (hamstring), Christian Braun (ankle), Cameron Johnson (knee) and MVP frontrunner Nikola Jokic (knee) — the Cavs entered the night favored by a whopping 13.5 points.

The game was much more competitive than that.

Seven lead changes. Five ties. Both teams ahead for about 22 minutes. A two-possession game for the duration of crunch time.

After the Cavs took a narrow three-point lead into the halftime locker room, spirited Denver opened the third quarter on 17-3 run, erasing Cleveland’s lead and building its own 11-point advantage — the biggest of the night by either team.

The Cavs answered with a 13-3 spurt, pulling within one at the 5:13 mark of the third quarter. They reclaimed the lead about three minutes later — until relinquishing it quickly.

By the end of the lethargic and unfocused third quarter, the Nuggets were up by nine. They outscored Cleveland 38-26 during those 12 hideous minutes.

But the Nuggets ran out of gas — and healthy bodies.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Cavs used a 7-0 run — a surge punctuated by a ferocious, two-handed breakaway dunk by Donovan Mitchell — to re-enliven the nervous sellout crowd and trim the Denver lead to just two.

It took until the 2:13 mark of the fourth for Cleveland to finally recapture the lead — a clutch Darius Garland triple. About 90 seconds later, Jarrett Allen pulled down an in-traffic offensive rebound that led to a Mitchell dunk, making it a two-possession game.

In all, the Cavs outscored the Nuggets 25-11 in the decisive fourth quarter, holding Denver to 4 of 20 from the field and 1 of 12 from 3-point range.

“I felt like the first three quarters we were on our heels,” Atkinson explained. “We just decided to blitz every single Jamal Murray pick and roll. Said, ‘If we’re going to lose this, let the other guys beat us.’ We double-teamed him, tried to get the ball out of his hands. And it turned out right for us. We had the right guys shooting on the other team at the end of the day.”

Mitchell finished with a team-high 33 points to go with six rebounds and five assists in 35 minutes. Garland added 18 points and eight assists. De’Andre Hunter chipped in with 16 off the bench, as the Cavs were without starting small forward Dean Wade (knee soreness) and reserve marksman Sam Merrill (ankle).

The Nuggets were led by Jamal Murray, the lone remaining healthy starter. He poured in 34 points on 12 of 28 shooting and 6 of 12 from beyond the arc. Peyton Watson added 21 points while Tim Hardaway Jr. contributed 15 off the bench.

“Our offense was just really bad,” Atkinson said. “Just gotta call it what it is. Stagnant. Iso. Not moving it. Looked clunky. I think their zone messed with us, and messed with our pace. We don’t have to hold it and take 10 dribbles and jack a three. Then just generally, like, we’ve gotta be stronger with the ball at the rim. We’ve got an advantage inside. If we’re gonna throw it to these guys, they gotta do more with it. Frustrated with our offense.”

Throughout the first part of this season, the enigmatic Cavs have had some baffling — and inexplicable — losses against seemingly overmatched underdogs.

Golden State. Portland. Charlotte. Chicago.

At various points Friday night, it seemed like Denver would be added to that infamous list.

The Cavs avoided that — barely. It wasn’t pretty. Wasn’t easy. But when the buzzer sounded, they had turned a loss into a W, flipped the heckles into jubilant cheers and started the new year the right way.

Perhaps it’s a sign of things to come in 2026.

Up next

The Cavs will host the top-seeded Detroit Pistons on Sunday afternoon. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.