The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t need LeBron James for most of the game versus the Houston Rockets until James Harden got hot in the fourth, resulting in a 106-100 loss. It was a tough break for the Cavs who played at home to a stunned Quicken Loans Arena crowd.
The Cavs were up by 20 points, 62-42 in the third quarter making it seem as if this was going to be a second straight win for the Cavs without James. But the Rockets never gave up, needing to win almost every game left on their schedule to make it to the playoffs. On this night, they showed enough grit and determination to eke out a win despite being on the losing end for most of the game.
Even without their leader, the Cavaliers still had their two All-Stars with them and a supporting cast that can rain down threes on an opponent at a moment’s notice. For most of the game, they performed like a team that was in sync and a legit title contender. Sadly, “most of the game” isn’t 48 minutes of basketball and no matter how well the Cavs played in the first three quarters, it wasn’t enough to make up for a lackluster fourth quarter.
Kyrie finished the half with 15 points, 5 assists, two three-pointers, a block, and a steal.
Here are three things we learned from the game:
Kyrie Irving can’t win the game without Kevin Love
When LeBron isn’t suiting up, it’s up to Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love to take charge. They did just that in the first half with Irving assisting Love a couple of times and the two playing off of each other beautifully.
Kyrie finished the half with 15 points, 5 assists, two three-pointers, a block, and a steal. Kevin, on the other hand, had 10 points and 7 rebounds.
But the second half came and Love disappeared, especially in the fourth quarter, when the defense so bothered him that he couldn’t even take more than a single shot (which he missed, by the way).
The Cavs needed to find a way to get Love more involved in the offense but they failed to do so, succumbing to the Rockets strategy to take the ball out of his hands. Then again, Love has games when he appears to not want the ball enough as evidenced in this game by a wide-open shot that he passed up to the chagrin of the crowd.
For his part, Kyrie did his damage in the fourth, scoring nine points including a three-pointer that cut a four-point deficit down to one with 1:30 to go. It wasn’t enough and with Love virtually non-existent, the result was a disaster.
One-on-one basketball won’t get the Cavs many wins
Once again, one-on-one basketball killed the Cavs in the fourth and once again, it resulted in a disappointing loss. With or without LeBron, the players need to move the ball to get the best and highest percentage shot possible whether it’s the first quarter or the fourth quarter of a tight ballgame.
Coach Tyronn Lue needs to keep his players accountable, not only before and after games but also during games.
This was epitomized by J.R. Smith and Irving when the two dribbled the ball too much on two separate possessions which resulted in the Rockets getting the ball each time during the latter stages of the fourth.
Coach Tyronn Lue needs to keep his players accountable, not only before and after games but also during games. He can’t brush that aside and let his players get off the hook especially during the crucial stages of the game. We’ve seen this before with David Blatt and we’re still seeing it with Lue even though the latter, to his credit, is doing a better job keeping them accountable off the court.
Cavs’ defense needs work
For the better part of the game, the Cavs played great defense, limiting the Rockets to 71 points after three quarters with James Harden scoring only nine points and shooting an atrocious 3-of-9 from the field.
When the fourth quarter began, Harden was a man possessed, slicing through the Cavaliers’ defense like hot knife through butter on the way to scoring 18 points in the final stanza. Defensive-stopper Iman Shumpert couldn’t keep up with Harden as the three fouls he incurred early in the quarter may have dampened his spirits.
Cleveland looked clueless in their rotations, allowing the Rockets to make runs including an 11-0 run that practically sealed the Cavs’ fate. Late in the fourth, with the Rockets ahead by only one point, Love double-teamed Harden from 40-feet out that led to a wide open Trevor Ariza for the corner three with 17.3 seconds remaining, putting the Rockets back up by four.
The Cavs need to get their defensive act together consistently if they want to head into the NBA Playoffs with the momentum of a winning streak on their side. As it stands, the Cavs are 6-4 in their last 10 games, a far cry from the team that finished last season with the best record in the NBA from late January to April.
As ESPN’s Dave McMenamin pointed out,
"“The defensive issues might be trickiest of all. After spending his first 20 games or so on the job preaching pace and focusing on the Cavs’ offense, Lue pivoted to try to salvage a defense that slipped significantly.”"
Coach Lue has to stop resting his players this early with the best record in the East still up for grabs and the team playing inconsistent basketball.
Can the Cavs get their act together and finish the season strong heading into the playoffs or will the team continue its recent slump in the final eight games of the season?