Live Thread: Cavs @ Suns (#SlipSlidinAway)

“Slip slidin’ away… Slip slidin’ away… You know the nearer your destination… The more you’re slip slidin’ away…” — Paul Simon

After going 0-for-LA, the Cavaliers have dropped to 6-6 since shaking up their roster at the trade deadline… which sounds better than it’s been lately with two of those wins coming just before the All Star Break when they surprised the Celtics and Thunder. Since then, it’s been a series of untimely injuries coupled with some awful defense, cold shooting and general lack of preparation on either end of the court (looking at you Ty Lue).

Instead of climbing up out of the pack to challenge the Celtics and Raptors for one of the top seeds in the East, the Cavs have instead found themselves slip slidin’ away down the standings. The most recent embarrassment at the hands of the Lakers dropped Cleveland out of the third spot, a half game behind the surging Indiana Pacers. Even more alarming… they’re just another half game out of being on the road to start the playoffs, and a mere three games up on the eight-seeded Miami Heat.

With 16 games left, there’s not much of a chance the Cavs fall out of the playoff picture altogether (barring a few more injuries anyway), but they’re also running out of time and opportunity to build any semblance of momentum to try and salvage a top four spot.

The semi-good news is that the Cavs take on the second worst team in the NBA tonight as they visit the Phoenix Suns for the fourth stop in their six game road trip. The Suns have lost five in a row, 15 of 16 and 20 of their last 22. Their only two wins have come at Memphis and at home against Dallas. They’ve also had injury issues, fielding only 11 players (missing their top three scorers) on Saturday in a close loss to the Hornets. I say “semi-good” because even if the Cavs prevail (as they should) against the mostly tanking Suns… they’ll further contribute to another team’s bid to stay ahead of their Nets pick.

For the Cavs, there was some fallout from the lost L.A. weekend with respect to the starting lineup…

Ty Lue said before the Suns game that Kyle Korver will replace JR Smith in the starting lineup and that Rodney Hood is out. Whenever Hood's back is well enough to play, he will replace Korver with the starters and Smith will stay coming off the bench.

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) March 14, 2018

It’ll be interesting to see if JR and TT… two starters who’ve been demoted, will contribute much off of the bench come playoff time. Or, if they’ll continue to slip slide away down the pine…

Prediction: The Cavs probably start out well, but let the lead slip slide away down the stretch before pulling out a closer-than-it-should-be win against the setting Suns… 122-118.