The Cleveland Cavaliers put up a good effort, but they couldn’t come away with the win.
The Houston Rockets pulled out a 117-113 win thanks in part to offensive rebounds and spending half the game at the free throw line. Even though it was a loss, the Cleveland Cavaliers played arguably their most complete game of the year. What makes it more impressive is they did so without two of their starters, three if you want to count Derrick Rose. They also did it on the road against arguably the best team in the league that doesn’t play Oakland.
LeBron James had another solid outing putting up 33 points on 62.5% shooting with 7 assists and 4 boards. Unfortunately, he played the game as the quasi-point guard and had a hard time protecting the ball resulting in seven turnovers. Still, it was an excellent performance from the King. He was the only reason they had a chance to win this one down the stretch.
Jeff Green had an outstanding performance off the bench. He finished with 27 points on 11 of 15 shooting. He carried the offense at stretches and was easily the Cavs’ second best player on the floor. That’s not something many people thought they’d be saying this season.
James Harden put up a triple-double for the Rockets finishing with 35 points, 13 assists, and 10 boards. He also went to the free throw line 14 times which was as many times as the Cavs did as a team.
Losing games is never fun, but at this point in the season, the process is more important than the result, especially for a team that disregards the regular season like this one does. Cleveland looked much better than they have for most of the season. They continue to show that they can play up to the best competition in the league. Now they only need to learn how to show this type of effort against lottery teams.
Here’s what we learned from the loss.