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With injuries come opportunities, and Craig Porter Jr and Jaylon Tyson took full advantage of them. With Darius Garland (rest) and Sam Merrill (illness) late scratches, Porter and Tyson were thrust into action with an already short bench. Tyson earned the start for Garland while Porter Jr came off the bench. With Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade, and Caris LeVert looking like they will all be out past the All-Star break, the minutes provided to Porter Jr and Tyson were auditions for further minutes over the next seven games. For Tyson, it may even be an audition sure to catch eyes as the trade deadline looms. But for now, more depth is being asked to step up and Porter Jr and Tyson did that against the Heat. A combined 13 points, 9 rebounds and 5...
The Cavaliers, leading the Eastern Conference by 5.5 games, head south to take on the Miami Heat for the second of three games this year. The Heat are 22-22 overall and 11-9 at home. They have been yo-yoing between wins and losses all year. At various times they were 8-8, 13-13, 17-17, and now 22-22. They are mediocrity personified. The Heat win the games they’re supposed to win, going 13-4 against teams under .500, but only 10-18 against teams .500 and over. They just suspended Jimmy Butler again. They are 13-12 with Butler and 9-10 without him, so it’s not that big of a deal. Butler averages 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game. These teams played in Miami on Dec. 8 with the Heat winning 122-113. Butler scored 18. Tyler...
Losers of three straight games for the first time this season and 5 of their last 8 the Cavs get a day off on Sunday before engaging the Detroit Pistons Monday night. The game is on NBA-TV and starts at 7:00 p.m. The Pistons are 23-22 on the year. They are 13-11 on the road and 12-16 against teams .500 and over. They started 9-15, then had a hot streak at 12-4, and are 2-3 in their last five. However, those two wins were against Atlanta and Houston, both on the road. Two teams the Cavs have not been able to beat. The Pistons are a balanced team, ranking 15th in points per game and 16th in points allowed per game. Offensively they like to run, ranking 3rd in fast break points per game. Otherwise they’re average across the board...
Houston, we have a problem. The Cavs are on their first three-game losing streak of the year and now have lost 5 of their last 8 games. Houston was consistently the better team before the Cavs tried for another frantic come back and fell short… again. We covered many of the issues that plagued them against the Rockets in Friday’s recap, and they’ve been the same ones that have been a concern for the last month. January has been one big defensive dip. The Rockets scored 33+ points in every quarter – that’s simply unsustainable. For one of the league’s worst three-point shooting teams, the Rockets still shot 46% and still scored 130+ points on the night. Getting to the line 45 times also will help taking nine less shots from the field...
The Cavs return home for the second night of a back-to-back against the Houston Rockets, who defeated them 109-108 on Wednesday. The Cavs will be playing their third game on four nights with a lot of air miles in between. The Rockets have been off since Wednesday so they have had two days to rest and make adjustments. The Cavs will have the home court advantage this time but the Rockets have the rest advantage. The Rockets are 14-6 on the road against 15-7 at home so playing on the road has not been a problem. The Cavs have lost two straight after the shocking upset by the depleted 76ers last night, a team that had lost 10 of 12. Now they have to play the ultra-physical and ultra-aggressive Rockets. The Rockets are an elite defensive...
There’s peaks and valleys to every NBA season, and the Cavs are in one of those valleys again. The last time they were in this position they had lost to Boston, and then Atlanta all within ten days for their first losses of the year. Now, it’s back-to-back losses again, and four losses over last almost two weeks. All the Cavs did after that valley was ride their way to another peak by going 16-1 over their next 17 games. Good teams learn from their losses and respond when they’re tested; the Cavs are facing another test. If cracks appeared in their last valley, cracks had widened in their latest valley. This isn’t being hyperbolic in a loss or overreacting to the moment, there are real issues to discuss outside a flukey game losing to a...

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