PORTLAND, ORE.: David Blatt insisted prior to Saturday’s game at Portland that the Cavaliers had already flushed any feelings from Friday’s loss to the Golden State Warriors and were ready to move on.
Their play, however, indicated otherwise.
The Cavs struggled offensively for the second time in as many nights, were consistently beaten defensively and failed to do much of anything right in a humiliating 105-76 loss to the sub-.500 Blazers.
The 29-point halftime deficit was the largest of LeBron James’ career, according to ESPN.
The Cavs failed to create any pressure defensively and didn’t force a turnover until the third quarter. They allowed Allen Crabbe to set a career scoring high by halftime, they were beaten in transition, beaten on backdoor cuts and beaten on pick and rolls. They didn’t move the ball on offense and set a season-low for points in a quarter with 12 in the first. They didn’t show much of any fight except for a brief stretch in the third quarter, when Iman Shumpert and James Jones were each whistled for technical fouls after shoving and hitting Meyers Leonard on separate plays within a minute of each other.
The Blazers ended a five-game losing streak and had dropped eight of their past 10 prior to Saturday.
Kyrie Irving sat because the Cavs don’t yet want him playing in back-to-back games, but Irving wouldn’t have made much of a difference on this night.
Granted, the Cavs were playing the second night of a back to back, but it wasn’t a typical scenario. The afternoon start on the West Coast in Oakland, Calif. allowed the Cavs to arrive in Portland by 9 p.m. Friday rather than their usual middle of the night arrival. But they played like a lethargic, wounded team that at least temporarily had its spirit killed in Friday’s loss to the defending champs.
Kevin Love had 13 points and five rebounds, James had 12 points and five assists and Matthew Dellavedova had 10 points and six assists starting in place of Irving. James and Love combined to shoot 2-of-10 in the first quarter when the Cavs fell behind 34-12 and never recovered. They trailed by as many as 34 in the second half.
James and Love both sat the entire fourth quarter because of the blowout. The Cavs will take Sunday off before playing at the Phoenix Suns on Monday.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.