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The weary Cavs return home for a Sunday matinee against the LA Clippers, who beat them in LA 12 days ago 132-119. The Clippers are 42-31 and in 6th place, just two games behind the Lakers and Grizzlies for 4th place with nine games to play. The Clippers finally have all their big dogs healthy and they are on a major roll having won 10 of 12 with one of the losses by 2 points to OKC. This is a very talented and experienced team led by James Harden (age 35), Kawhi Leonard (33), and Norman Powell (31). Those are their top three scorers with each averaging 20-22 ppg. Bogdan Bogdanovic (32) is a sharpshooter off the bench. Ivica Zubac (28) treated the Cavs like a chew toy in the first game with 28 points and 20 rebounds. He was like...

Too little too late, and the Pistons ate up the Cavs plate. The Cavs have been playing with their food a little too much in March and teams fighting for their playoff lives have taken full advantage of that. The Pistons were just the latest in line to out little thing’d the Cavs. The Pistons took better care of the ball, created more second chances, got more easy buckets and build a lead on Cavalier apathy. The Pistons were without Cade Cunningham and still scored 133 points and put up a 131.7 oRTG. The Cavs defense has struggled more of late than overall -- they’re 22nd over their last 8 games (to which they’re 3-5). Over that stretch, their dREB% is dead last in the league. What hurt them for most of the game against the Pistons...

With a three-game win streak in tow the Cavs head to Detroit for what appears to be a schedule loss. The Cavs will be playing on the second night of a back-to-back with travel while the Pistons have been home for a week and had the last two days off. The Cavs will be playing their third game in four nights. Last night's game against the Spurs came down to the wire and Donovan Mitchell played 35 minutes. Evan Mobley got the night off, however, and nobody else played more than 31 minutes. The Pistons are 41-32 and 2.0 games behind the Pacers for 4th place in the East. Detroit is 0.5 games ahead of Milwaukee so they could realistically finish anywhere from 4th through 6th. Obviously they would prefer 4th so they get home court advantage...

To save you from reading the entire article: Donovan Mitchell started it, and Jarrett Allen ended it. With no Ty Jerome and Evan Mobley, the Cavs relied on two of the core four to carry the load offensively but were helped out by key contributions across the role player spectrum. While the Cavs bench was outscored by 10-points for the game, the Cavs ability to produce in the clutch (they went on a 12-4 run to end the game) was the difference. Despite no Victor Wembanyama or De’Aaron Fox, the Spurs have been a scrappy team. Coming into the game, they were 4-3 including a win versus the Knicks. All that due to the 8th best offense (somehow) over the last two weeks. While the Cavs had their trouble in their defensive woes pop up in the...

The Cavaliers, back on a winning streak after a very impressive win over the Trailblazers, return home for their first game of the season against the San Antonio Spurs. The Cavs catch a break because both of their games against the Spurs were scheduled for the final weeks, after Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox went down with season ending injuries. The Spurs are 31-40 and effectively out of the playoff chase in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, but they’ve been doing alright recently, winning 5 of 8. They are 8-11 without Wemby and 4-3 since Fox went down. As a team they are averaging 123.8 points per game in March, a big jump from the 114.6 they average on the season. Go figure. The Cavs should not take this team lightly...

Back on the winning track after beating the hapless Jazz the Cavs move on to Portland for the final game of a brutal five-game western swing where they are 1-3 so far. The good news is that Sunday was an afternoon game so the Cavs got into Portland early and will have over 48 hours rest before this game. The Blazers are 32-40 overall and have gone from bad to great to average. They started 13-28, then went 10-1, and since then are 9-11. They won four in a row before the Celtics dominated them Sunday without Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, and Kristaps Porzingis. Three starters out and the Celtics buried them 129-116, making 23 of 50 from deep. The Blazers are 20-17 at home and 12-27 against teams .500 and over. Their personnel is average...

The Cavs hit the right note at the right time, and it was just what the doctor ordered to get the Cavs off their longest losing streak of the year. It was far from the perfect game, as the Cavs struggled to get in rhythm offensively throughout the first half but thank goodness the Jazz are as bad as they are and missing some of their best players (no Lauri Markkanen or John Collins). Sometimes there’s schedule losses and sometimes there are schedule wins – the Cavs got there slumpbuster in Utah. The Cavs are still creating opportunities offensively (48.6 potential assists on the season, 48.3 potential assists over their last five games) yet they’re not converting at the league leading rate they were (18th in 47 FG% over last five games...

If there’s one team the Cavs could choose to help break their four-game losing streak it might be the Jazz. Utah has the second worst winning percentage in the NBA at 16-55 and they’ve lost 11 of 12 with the only win coming at home against Washington. The Cavs will take them on in a Sunday matinee. On top of that starting power forward John Collins is out. Collins averages 19 points and 8 rebounds per game. Collins leads the Jazz with a +11.0 when he is on the floor. Also out with an illness is Lauri Markkanen, who is tied with Collins for the scoring lead at 19 ppg. So the Jazz, who are an awful team to begin with, are missing their two top scorers, which of course guarantees they will score 130 points and beat the Cavs. Jordan...

The Cavs’ five-game western road trip continues with game 3 in Phoenix. The Cavs have tied their longest losing streak of the season (three) and will try to get back on track against the Suns. Phoenix is 33-37 overall but are tough at home. They have won 5 of their last 6 at home and are 21-13 at home for the season. They are only 11-24 against teams .500 and over. The Suns are battling for a playoff spot as they are tied for 10th place with Dallas. Portland is two games behind so every game is critical. The Cavs are in a place in their schedule where they are playing teams that are fighting for seeding or a playoff appearance while the Cavs are coasting to the finish and resting key starters. This has been a factor in their losing...