Cavs Vs Blazers: 3 Things We Learned

While many were sleeping in Ohio, so were the Cleveland Cavaliers it seems. The Cavs got blown out last night.

On Christmas Day, the Cleveland Cavaliers got within six points of defeating the world champion Golden State Warriors.

Either the Cavs ate too much ham at Christmas Dinner or they had a Golden State hangover, as they fall to the Portland Trail Blazers 105-76 at the Moda Center on Saturday Night.

Fox Sports Ohio had technical difficulties to begin the game, in which would turn out to be a bad omen for the Cavaliers for the rest of the night. They simply couldn’t get anything going against Portland, who was missing All-Star Damian Lillard due to injury.

The Blazers jumped out to a 34-12 lead after just one quarter of action and it just got worse for the Cavs from that point. Allen Crabbe, who averages 10.2 points per game, had 26 points on the evening, in a career night. Crabbe hit 4-of-6 from three-point range, as his hot hand was key in the Blazers quick start.

For the Cavs, no one stands out.

Kevin Love was Cleveland’s highest scorer with 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field. LeBron James was off for the entire night, finishing with just 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting.

The Cavs poor shooting performance they displayed in Golden State carried onto Portland, as they only shot 36.4% from the floor. Although, the difference between the Blazers and the Warriors game is that the Cavs defense, that was so good in Golden State, was non-existent in Portland, as the Blazers shot 46.1% from the floor.

Here are three things we learned from the Cavaliers ugly loss to the Blazers.

Defensive Deficiencies

After the loss to the Warriors, James and David Blatt both praised the Cavs defensive effort and for good reason. Cleveland held the best offensive team in the league to a season low 89 points and only allowed the Warriors to shoot 41% from the field.

After that game, James said, “When we play like that defensively, we’re going to be a very tough team to beat”, via Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group.

Well, apparently, when the Cavaliers don’t play like that defensively, they become a very easy team to beat, something the Blazers exposed on Saturday Night.

Cleveland has been a great defensive team this season, ranking sixth in the NBA with a defensive rating of 98.8. Opponent field goal percentage, a stat that the Cavs put much importance into, has also been a relative strength for the Cavaliers this season. They rank eight in the league in that category, allowing teams to shoot just 43.5% from the field.

None of that defensive effort or intensity was there from the Cavs against the Trail Blazers.

Cleveland were torn apart from a rapid Portland offense, as the Cavs were beaten in every aspect- backdoor cuts, pick and roll, off the dribble, in transition- you name it and the Cavaliers were horrible at it.

The Blazers got easy shots all night long and it started in the first quarter, when they shot a red-hot 48.1% percent in the opening period. From downtown, Portland was able to hit on 57.1% of their attempts after one quarter of action.

People can, and will say, that on any other night Portland would miss some of the shots they hit against Cleveland and to an extend that is true. Al-Farouq Aminu isn’t going to be making 16-foot baseline floaters with consistency anytime soon.

Although, it is easy to hit shots when they’re wide open with little defensive pressure to go with it. That is why Portland shot such a high percentage, as the Cavs defense allowed them to basically walk to the basket at will and then shot any shoot they wanted to on the perimeter.

The Cavs have a team full of good defenders- James, Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova, Tristan Thompson, and Timofey Mozgov. They have proved they can play great defense this season- that stats back it up. Although, Saturday Night’s performance on the defensive end was an absolute stinker and if Cleveland has championship hopes, they can’t afford to have many more nights like this.

Can’t Buy A Basket

Something that the Cavs have failed to find over the last couple of games is a rhythm on the offensive end and that unfortunate trend continued Saturday Night in Portland.

The Cavaliers could only manage a shooting percentage of 36.4% on the night and have now shot below 38 percent for three consecutive contests. For a team simply stacked with offensive weapons, it is a complete shock to see them in such a slump.

The poor shooting percentages against the Warriors and the New York Knicks the game prior were surprising, due to the quality of shots created in those games. In the Knicks game, Cleveland was moving the ball and didn’t fall back into isolation basketball. Again, against Golden State the shots Cleveland created were mostly good looks they would knock down in any other game but they simply missed.

Against Portland though, the ball was sticking and those good looks that were seen in the previous two games were nowhere to be found in the Moda Center.

Cleveland scored a season low 12 points in the first quarter against Portland, which included an abysmal shooting percentage of 25%. James was 1-of-6 in the opening period, while Love wasn’t much better going 1-of-4.

The Cavaliers are an excellent offensive team when the ball is swinging, bodies are moving and the passes are clean and crisp. When this occurs, the ball has energy and the shots become a lot easier and not surprisingly, they go in.

Against Portland, the Cavs showed, despite their armory of offensive weapons, that when the ball isn’t moving and it is sticking, their offense turns ugly.

Not A Happy Hunting Ground

Saturday Night’s game marked the first time the Cavs played in the Moda Center since they were blown out, 101-82, in just the third game of last season.

That night was one Cavalier fans want to forget and not just because of the result (which was actually a closer margin then Saturday night…which isn’t a good thing.) It was the on-court actions from James that caught the attention of everyone that night, as he was simply standing in the corner watching Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters dribble the air out of the basketball, while not getting back and showing any effort on defense.

Well, this time around in the Moda Center, things didn’t get any better from James.

In his worst game of the season- 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting and five assists, four rebounds and three turnovers, James simply couldn’t get anything going and might want to catch the next flight out of Oregon.

For most of the night, James would throw his hands up in disgust and complain whenever his teammates had a defensive breakdown or took a bad shot on the offensive end. On one play in the third quarter, James and Love were seen verbally arguing with each other on the court, during play, after yet another Blazers basket.

More from King James Gospel

On the offense end, James displayed some bad body language when his teammates took a bad shot or didn’t pass him the ball. When James did get the ball, he would attempt to drive the lane into a number of waiting Portland jerseys or pull-up for a jumpshot, an area of his game that he has yet to find this season.

Saturday Night’s performance was very un-like James. He was obviously frustrated with his teammates performance but to be fair, James showed little effort and determination on this night as well.

James will bounce back but maybe there is something in that Portland air that he just doesn’t like the smell of.