Recap: Detroit 103, Cleveland 80 (or The Best Player in the World?)

Cleveland laid an egg tonight. After being up 32-17 in the second quarter, they were outscored by 38 and lost to the Pistons going away. The Pistons had 17 three pointers, the same number of free throws they attempted. (Second time for a Cavs opponent this year!) I did a running diary tonight, and by the third quarter, I was really regretting that choice.

First Quarter:
11:27 Kevin Love drains a left baseline jumper and follows that up by taking a charge on the defensive end. He still didn’t have his hands up, but it’s better than I have seen in a while.

9:00 Tristan Thompson grabs two straight offensive rebounds, which leads to a LeBron iso jumper over Singler from the right wing. Tristan follows it up with a 12-footer a minute later. I see you working, TT.

6:10 LeBron, running down the left wing, delivers a beautiful dime with a flick of the wrist from the hip to a cutting Kevin Love in transition. Kevin thumps it. This is starting out well!

4:56 Love and Delly try to block out Greg Monroe on the left block. Monroe easily uses his legs to move KLove under the basket and then tips it in with one hand. It’s official. Kevin Love has lost too much weight. That never would have happened two years ago.

4:30 LeBron delivers a terrible pass behind Mike Miller who’s curling off of a downscreen on the right wing. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope steals and LeBron halfheartedly chases after him and gives up a dunk, looking like he’s running though mud. Uh, maybe take a foul there, King? LBJ follows it up with an “I’m LeBron Freaking James” pull-up three which splashes.

3:20 Tristan Thompson with an Andy-esque dive to the basket. LeBron finds him through three Pistons for a layup. That pass was filthy.

2:47 A Delly floater bangs hard off the backboard and hits absolutely no rim. I love Delly. I really do, but his lack of ability to find any offense for himself is becoming a problem. The dude hit his first free throw of the season last game. As much as I love him, I was wrong. He’s not a starter, at least not with this lack of offensive aggressiveness or confidence. Dude needs to play some 33 down at the Y and find some one-on-one swagger. Right now, he scares no one.

2:35 Kyle Singler outrebounds four Cavs for an offensive board — including LeBron, who literally just stares at the rebound without moving his feet at all. Delly hatchets Singler to prevent the layup. If I hear LeBron complaining about effort at the end of this… LeBron posts up on the ensuing possession and finds Marion for an easy deuce. Fred McCleod’s right. LeBron could get assists in a phone booth.

1:15 Dion attacks in transition… another nifty layup: right hand on the left side. Gotta love a guy who can’t shoot left but goes left anyway.

0:05 Neon Dion! Goes the length of the floor and converts a layup from the same side with the same hand as the buzzer sounds! 28-17, Cavs.

Second Quarter:

11:15 Dion hits a diving Kevin Love who lays it in for his second straight bucket. Kevin’s activity level has been pretty good so far. Stan Van takes a rage timeout.

10:40 A Brendan Haywood sighting! It turns into a Brendan Haywood turnover as he fumbles a pass until he steps out of bounds.

10:00 A terrible Dion one-on-three leads to a four-on-one break and an Andre Drummond finger roll in transition.

9:40 Kevin Love makes an even worse turnover than Dion just did, passing the ball directly to Andre Drummond. Dion saves his bacon with some great transition D, and Kevin Bricks a wide freaking open left corner three. Jodie Meeks drains an “I’m a shooter” straight on three. Uh oh. I sense a run coming.

9:11 I do not like the Miller, Dion, Price, Haywood, Marion lineup. Neither does Blatt as he substitutes one minute later. Still, why put a lineup in if you’re going to play it for such a short amount of time?

7:43 Dion with a tricknasty up-and-under followed by horrific defense on Jodie Meeks who burns Saint Weirdo for an and-1. Cavs throw it away on the next possession. That pass was four feet wide of being four feet wide.

6:30 Uh oh. Marion just twisted his ankle while blowing a layup. TT cleaned up the play, but Shawn doesn’t look good. He just limped back to the locker room. Ugh.

5:30 Jonas Jerebko just knocked down a left wing triple with no one within 12 feet of him. Dude has eight points in the quarter. Might want to guard him.

5:00 Cavs miss three open triple tries on one possession. The lid on the rim is punctuated by Kevin Love going up weak and being stuffed by Drummond who didn’t need to leave his feet to snuff out a wenus shot from the hip. After another LeBron miss, the Cavs are 3-13 from deep.

3:40 Don’t look now but the Pistons are only down three. After a switch which left Thompson on Jennings up top, Jennings jacked up a three (which is what Jennings does) that swished. Blatt’s turn for a rage timeout. Out of the timeout, we’re treated to an uninspired play which ends in a LeBron 20-foot brick.

1:50 Brandon Jennings Nashes around the baseline then puts the Pistons up one after Drummond and Monroe had been beating up the Cavs around both baskets for the last two minutes. LeBron’s sloppy handle gives Jennings the chance to can an opportunity triple 20 seconds later. A 24 second violation is up next for the Cavs, caused by… LeBron’s sloppy handle.

0:03 A Kevin Love three and a Greg Monroe technical stop the bleeding. Oy. LeBron just limped to the locker room with some malady. It’s 50-47, Pistons. That was hideous.

Third Quarter:

11:44 A nifty LeBron no-look bounce pass to… Brandon Jennings… KCP Layup… WTF LeBron, see the pass before you throw the pass. LeBron follows it up with an iso-brick. Brandon Jennings heat checks his way into two more points for a seven point lead. As Dr. Seuss would say, The Pistons are hot, and the Cavs are not.

10:50 LeBron/Tristan turnover under the bucket with most of the Pistons collapsed inside… Brandon “I once scored 55 in a game, and now I don’t have to play with Josh Smith anymore” Jennings line drives another three. “They need a timeout” says master of the obvious, Austin Carr.

9:25 Kevin Love is now 1-7 from three. Just a thought, but maybe get him the ball near the bucket. Sounds crazy, I know. Oh, I just remembered the Pistons have Andre Drummond. Never mind. Oh, now Kevin’s 1-8.

8:34 Delly with a mind-numbingly bad pass. CKP triple. That’s the 100th pull up triple of the game. The Pistons are up 11.

7:53 This just in, Mike Miller is the worst defensive player in the NBA, and everyone knows it. Kyle Singler isn”t scared a whit as he drains a trey with Miller closing from four feet away. LeBron lazily closes out on Caldwell-Pope on the next play to give the Pistons another triple.

6:40 LeBron is salty. Drummond just outrebounded three Cavs (including ‘Bron) and dunked it in their grills. Oh no… David Blatt just made a Mike Brown “I have no idea what I’m going to do during this timeout” face. Detroit’s on a 38-12 run. “Hold me. I’m scared,” I text Tom.

5:15 LBJ just bricked another isolation J. He’s 4-16 so far. The Cavs are missing Kyrie Irving, and Dion can’t get off the bench this quarter, because, it’s not like the Cavs need offense or anything… As if on cue, Mike Miller clanks another three. New plan. We’re only playing Mike Miller once a week. It’s hard to recover when you’re 134 years old.

4:00 Cavs are burned again on the high pick-and-roll: their defensive bugaboo for 2014. Delly got stuck on a massive Andre Drummond screen and Cleveland conceded the long two. But it’s Jennings’ night. He just extended the deficit to 17.

1:37 Jennings just nailed a Dion Waiters style step-back-long-two in Dion’s face. That’s just mean.

0:57 Dion tries to answer with his own step-back rainbow from the right elbow, and fails. He gets stuffed at the rim by Drummond next time down.

0:01 A.J. Price draws a charity loose-ball foul and cuts it to 77-61, Pistons. Worst quarter of the season? It’s in the discussion.

Fourth Quarter

11:42 Jodie Meeks: contested three-point swish. If the Cavs come back, I’m giving away my Christmas presents.

11:08 Kevin Love with a nice “hands up” knockaway on Greg Monroe. Monroe is 2-12 this game. Well, at least the Cavs are doing something right. Hey, he just missed again… 2-13. Kevin with a great job of… being in the way… there.

11:58 A.J. Price: pull-up clanker. He’s the anti-Jennings right now.

10:23 Price to Marion for a soft-slam. Hey! Matrix is back. Good to see.

9:18 I sing, “We’re building a brick house!” Robert Goulet style as Marion clangs a three. Cavs are shooting 23% in the half. They’re down 23. LeBron is getting ready to come back in, and I say, “why?”

9:08 A.J. Price leaves his man to collapse to the paint for no discernible reason and Caron Butler buries another wide open triple (the 15th). LeBron does in fact check in after the commercial. He loses the ball off his leg. 24 second violation. Jennings hounds him on the next possession and he coughs it up again. The crowd boos, deservedly so.

7:37 Down 25, LeBron complains harder for a continuation call than he fought for some rebounds this game. Did I mention Cleveland’s down 25. Let it go and play. You’re not winning this game, Mr. James. He and two other guys in white jerseys stare at a Jodie Meeks triple try off a curl. Swish.

7:00 LeBron gets mad, goes one on two, gets swatted by Jonas Jerebko, and gets the ball stolen. Ugh. Do I have to watch this anymore?

5:50 LBJ hits a catch-and-shoot triple. It’s clear he’s trying to get himself in a rhythm before he checks out. I get it, but it’s painful. Cavs down 24.

5:35 Back from commercial. LeBron’s on the bench. Thank God. Let’s just move on.

0:50 There’s no Cav in the same area code as Kyle Singler as he makes the last triple of the night for Detroit. 17 threes…

0:00 Brendan Haywood had a decent few minutes in garbage time. He earned himself some run. Of course the problem with him is the same problem as with Mike Miller. You can probably only play him once a week at his age. See you next Sunday, Brendan.

Thoughts:

Cavs were 5-29 from three and the Pistons were 17-31. That’s basically your ballgame. Combine that with 10 turnovers for Detroit and 17 for the Cavs, and we don’t need to talk about much else. Execpt… The Cavs had 15 fouls. That’s not even four fouls a quarter. That’s an unacceptably soft level of physicality, and a completely obvious answer for why the Pistons felt so comfortable on offense. It’s time to sign Kenyon Martin. Cavs need a thug or two to put people on their butts. When Matthew Dellavedova is leading your team in fouls, it’s obvious they have a physicality problem.

Think the Pistons are happy to be free of Josh Smith? They’re sure playing like it. Count me among those who think Daryl Morey’s outsmarting himself right now. Brandon Jennings certainly seemed happy with his 25 points, five boards, and six dimes in Josh’s absence.

Remember when there was a time that people thought David Griffin might get voted Executive of the Year? That seems laughable now. The Cavs roster is an absolute mess. Lou Amundson, Joe Harris, Alex Kirk, and James Jones are not NBA rotation caliber players. A.J. Price, Mike Miller, and Brendan Haywood are bad replacement player quality. And Miller sarts! With Andy out and Kyrie out for now, Blatt has seven guys to choose from. That’s not a lot of options. He can’t make the ball go in the bucket. Griffin needs to shake up this roster and he needs to do it quickly. It’s the NBA. You can never have too many bullets in the gun. Right now the Cavs are half loaded with blanks. And if LeBron is the one who put together this roster, then it’s his fault too.

I was tempted to put Delly in that list of bad NBA replacement players. But he’s not. He’s just a guy who doesn’t score, but he effects the game in other ways. There’s a reason the team was -4 with Delly on the floor, and -19 without him on the floor. Cleveland’s defense fell off a cliff without Delly. Yes, he can’t score, but Mike Miller can’t guard anyone. When his shot’s not falling, Miller’s useless. Like I said, he’s too old to play starter’s minutes at this point.

I have a hard time blaming David Blatt. The Cavs only have seven rotation players right now. One can’t score, one can’t play defense, and one is 37 years old.

Dion had an awful defensive game too. The Cavs didn’t pick up shooters in transition, and Dion was as guilty as anyone. He was a mind numbing -24. He had some sparkling drives but only finished with six on 3-8 shooting. Saint Weirdo indeed.

Kevin Love was -25 for the game, and it didn’t feel like he had an awful game. He scored 20 and added 10 rebounds. He competed, scored, and did a decent job on Greg Monroe. Yes, Monroe beat him up on the O-Boards, but Kevin forced him to make tough shots. Still, Kevin couldn’t buy a shot from outside. Cavs need to figure out how to get him touches in other spots. For goodness sake, could they get the ball to him in the high post?! Sadly Cleveland doesn’t have this in their offense. Dion, LeBron, and Kyrie are all solid cutting from the wings with the ball in the high post, and Kevin is solid on dribble drives from there. The search for how to best use Love on offense continues.

Tristan had a nice night: seven offensive rebounds, 7-8 from the floor, 4-4 from the line, 18 points, and 11 rebounds. That’s something right?

LeBron had some more ridiculous post game comments tonight. “We’re not a very good team.” He continued, “we’re just not very good in every aspect of the game that we need to be to compete every night.” I want him to stop talking in “we” and start talking in “I,” because LeBron was not very good tonight, and he’s hurting his teammates. LeBron did admit that his turnovers were a problem, and David Blatt talked about his team’s “carelessness with the ball.” But most of that was on James. LeBron’s play at the end of the first half was unconscionably bad: isolation bricks and turnovers. He did set up two players for threes, but the Cavs only got two good looks out of six possessions. You just can’t win like that. Furthermore, he’s skipping doing little things when he’s frustrated, like trying to rebound. When your best player feels like he can take plays off, everyone feels like they’ve got license to do that too. LeBron’s line 5-19, 10 rebounds, seven assists, and seven turnovers. I realize the hutzpah of a 5’10” out-of-shape almost 40-year-old criticizing a guy who can fall out of bed and almost get a triple double, but I know guy who’s hurting his team when I see it.

Cavs are much better when they come out of the gate not trying than when then they stop trying mid game.