Defense? No thank you. That was the story of the game on Tuesday night for the Cavaliers as they traveled to Rip City in Portland. But to be perfectly honest, shades of the New York game came back to mind against the Trail Blazers. This was yet another utter disaster for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Here are the highlights for a night the Cavs have a lot to learn from:
And while my earlier prediction of Kevin Love having a nice game came true, Kyrie Irving and LeBron James were complete disasters. Irving finished with only nine points on the night while LeBron only had eleven. See the problem with that yet? But perhaps the most disappointing stat of the night was the fact that Cleveland could only manage to score forty-eight points after a thirty-four point first quarter for the rest of the game.
{adinserter 2}It was a no defense, no scoring fest for the Cavs in Rip City. Bottom line, the Trail Blazers had their way almost all night with Cleveland. Kevin Love had yet another double-double. But this was the Damian Lillard show, many had spoken about how Lillard had gotten off to so many bad starts to the earlier games in the season, tonight, those critics were silenced. Lillard simply went off on Cleveland, as did fellow guard Wesley Matthews.
But another problem that has seemed to dog Cleveland to start the year is turnovers. The third quarter was an especially awful quarter for the Cavs ball movement. Turnover, turnover, and turnover. Cleveland must get over these problems if they hope to get the ball rolling early on this season.
Overall, this was the Cavs most disappointing performance yet. LeBron showed up flat, Irving couldn’t pass the ball and the only bright spot on the entire team for the night was Kevin Love. But bottom line, the Cavaliers must learn the hard way if things are going to get better.
Similar to the New York game, this is a learning experience for Cleveland. But there is short time to think about what went wrong as Cleveland comes calling to Salt Lake City on Wednesday night against the Jazz. And while the 1-3 Jazz might not look so much as a threat to Cleveland, this will be a game to motivate them for the rest of the road trip. LeBron must be aggressive, Irving must be accurate, and everyone else (outside of Kevin Love) must be on the same page.
This is an early turning point for the Cavs, and how they manage it is up to them, and them alone.