When The Whore of Akron (thank you Scott Raab) took his ego, his BFFs and his crazy mother to South Beach he left the Cleveland Cavaliers in a deep talent rut. That rut is deep enough that hustle and teamwork isn’t going to be enough against the better teams in the NBA. And despite a career high 31 points from JJ Hickson, it wasn’t enough to beat the Hawks on Tuesday night as Atlanta took a 100-88 decision from the Cavs at Quicken Loans Arena. 

After watching the Cavaliers over the past three ballgames last Wednesday’s emotional win over the Celtics sure seems like a long, long time ago. 

That’s just the way it’s going to be this season for Cleveland. They’re simply going to be out-talented on many nights. And when that happens in conjunction with the Cavaliers throwing the ball over the court they simply won’t be able to make up the big deficits that result.  

Right now this unselfishness that Byron Scott speaks endlessly about seems to mean only that any of the five players Scott puts on the floor are as likely to throw away the basketball or dribble it off their foot as anyone else. 

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Over the previous four seasons or so, the Cavaliers were  locked into a championship-or-bust mindset.

That's all well and good, but the Cavs are now quickly finding out that while their whole organization was bending over backwards to try and win titles and keep LeBron happy, a lot of other teams were busy amassing impressive collections of young talent. And the Cavs are now staring up at those teams.

The Cavs (1-2) saw enough impressive young talent Friday night in Toronto. Saturday night, at home versus the Sacramento Kings, the Cavs saw exponentially more in a 107-104 loss.

Anderson Varejao returned to action Saturday after missing Friday's game to stay in Cleveland for his father's heart surgery, but Ramon Sessions once again started in place of inactive Mo Williams.

After a miserable effort Friday, Sessions stepped up his play in the first half Saturday, igniting the Cavs offense with speedy drives to the hoop. With Sessions wreaking havoc in the paint, the Cavs built up a double-digit second quarter cushion, eventually taking a 67-53 halftime lead.

But the Kings are quickly gaining a reputation as a second half team. They stormed back from a double-digit second-half deficit Friday in New Jersey, only to lose to the Nets 106-100. Saturday, the Kings tightened up their interior defense in the second half, neutralized Sessions' speed, and the dominoes started to fall.

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About 20 years ago, British R&B band Soul II Soul penned some lyrics that are apropos in the wake of the Raptors' 101-81 win over the Cavs Friday in Toronto:

"Back to life. Back to reality."

After cloud nine was ascended during Wednesday's improbable season-opening win over the mighty Boston Celtics, the Cavs (1-1) were forced to look in the mirror during their first road game Friday and see their post-LeBron selves for what they truly are.

They're a team with gaping talent holes. They're a team with very little size in the frontcourt. They're a team that is incapable of overcoming serial self-inflicted setbacks. And they're definitely a team that is going to have a hard time winning any game with two starters on the shelf.

All of those factors came into play Friday.

The Cavs started the game with Mo Williams once again inactive, as Byron Scott decided to play it conservative for the second straight game, as Mo continues to work himself into game shape following a preseason short-circuited by a leg injury and a death in the family.

Anderson Varejao was back in Cleveland to be with his father, who was undergoing heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.

With two vets out of action, Ramon Sessions and Ryan Hollins filled in, and the team felt the pinch. Sessions had a dismal game, finishing 1-for-10 from the floor and 2-of-3 from the free throw line for a paltry four points. He also committed five turnovers, one of four Cavs to commit multiple turnovers.

J.J. Hickson committed four turnovers and followed up his budding-star 21-point performance against Boston with a 3-of-8 shooting, six point performance Friday. Proving, above all else, that Hickson is incapable of turning 23 any sooner than Sept. 4 of next year.

If there was any good to be gleaned from Friday's game, it was the performance of Antawn Jamison. After a forgettable preseason and a opening night in which he didn't even convert a field goal until the fourth quarter, Jamison finally showed some signs of life with a 13-point performance that included a trio of three-pointers.  But like the rest of his team, he didn't provide a lot of muscle in the paint, managing just two rebounds.

As it was, the Cavs were manhandled on the boards by the Raptors as a whole (46-33) and Reggie Evans in particular. The journeyman forward hauled down 14 boards against the marshmallow-soft Cavs interior.

In a battle of teams that both lost their franchise players to Miami over the summer, it was the Raptors who left the game with far more reason to feel optimistic about their future. The post-Bosh Raptors displayed an impressive collection of offensive talent. Andrea Bargnani's inside-outside offensive game continues to develop. He finished with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting. What's more, the 7-foot Italian import scored interior points, venturing outside the three-point arc for just two shots, making one.

Former Nugget Linas Kleiza contributed 19 points and a trio of three-balls, and DeMar DeRozan added 14. Off the bench, Leandro Barbosa and Sonny Weems gave Toronto 13 apiece.

The disparity between the first two games of the season indicates a likely pattern for the Cavs moving forward. They'll look like gritty overachievers ahead of the rebuilding curve one night, and a team in desperate need of remedial basketball education the next night. It's all part of the game as the players struggle to define their roles and learn Scott's playbook and coaching style.

The Cavs won't have a lot of time to dwell on this game. They're right back in action Saturday night at The Q, a 7:30 tipoff against the Sacramento Kings.

If the NBA season was a movie script, the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat are clearly projected to have bigger roles than the Cleveland Cavaliers in the third act.  But as far as opening scenes go, it couldn't have been written any better for the Cavs.

On Wednesday night, the Cavaliers defeated the Boston Celtics 95-87 in Cleveland's home opener.  It came just one day after the Celtics spoiled LeBron James' first game with the Miami Heat.

But it was even more perfect than just the Cavs beating the opponent that the Heat lost to.  On Tuesday night, LeBron didn't get enough help from his new "chosen" cast, while the teammates that he apparently deemed "not enough" were able to pull together to knock off the Celtics the following night.

Yes, the Cavs were rested, while the Celtics were on an home/away back-to-back, but the resiliency and grit the Cavaliers showed against one of this year's "elites" should be more than enough to show Cleveland that this team is going to be one to watch this season, win or lose.

The stars of the game for Cleveland were J.J. Hickson and Daniel Gibson . . . specifically, J.J. in the first half and Booby in the second.  The difference-maker, not surprisingly, was Anderson Varejao, who played as he always does . . . as if it's the most important game of his career.

J.J. finished with 21 points (on 8-of-11 shooting) with six rebounds.  He was on fire right out of the gate, scoring 10 points in the first six minutes of the game.

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