The Cavs were granted the 7:30 slot on NBA TV for their Wednesday evening match-up against the Philadelphia 76ers.  Things got off to a good start when the Cavs held their own against the 76ers in the first quarter.  The second quarter began with a 28-27 Philadelphia lead and it ballooned to a 66-41 halftime lead for the home team.  The Cavs actually outscored the 76ers by 10 points in the 1st, 3rd and 4th quarters yet they still lost by a final score of 113-99.  The results of the second quarter turned out to be an insurmountable lead for Philadelphia.

Many things went wrong in during that quarter for the Cavs.  First and foremost, they could not score the ball.  Cleveland shot 28.6% from the field during that stretch.  They missed all four of their three pointers and made only two out of eight free throw attempts.  Byron Scott substituted the second unit for much of the second quarter and the they struggled to score, defend and rebound.  In fact, Philadelphia pulled down 19 rebounds compared to Cleveland's 7.  Philadelphia scored on 60.9% of their second quarter possessions, assisted on 9 baskets and got to the line 12 times en route to 38 points.  The 76ers even took their lead to 26 points during the quarter.  The Cavs are a young team with a lot of new pieces, but it is unreasonable for any team with as many high lottery picks and a former Coach of the Year manning the sidelines to be that far in the red before halftime even occurs. 

Dion Waiters once again struggled from the field.  Byron Scott played the rookie for almost 27 minutes, which is a welcome change.  Waiters has struggled throughout the entire preseason, but it is important for the Cavs to invest as much coaching as they can to make things work with him.  Waiters scored 5 points on 2-9 shooting and missed all 5 of his three point attempts.  One of his skills which had the Cavs enamored with him is his ability to drive.  For some reason, we haven't seen much of that thus far.  One possible explanation is the superior NBA defense compared to that in NCAA and the Summer League.  Whatever the reason is, Waiters needs to get back to doing what he is good at and make the most of his skills.  It is hard to justify seeing him take 5 three point shots in any game. 

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After beating Montepaschi Siena on Monday night, the Cavs sputtered out of the gate and were thoroughly dominated by the visiting Milwaukee Bucks.  The sellout crowd of 3,942 were treated to an NBA game in what is customarily the home arena for the Canton Charge of the D-League. What they were not treated to was a high-quality NBA game with the home team putting on a show for the crowd.

The Cavs finished the night with 19 assists but voided that positive with the fact that they committed 22 turnovers.  The Cavs had a fairly awful night shooting the ball.  The team combined for 38.5% shooting compared to the Bucks who shot 44.0% from the field.  Little should be made of the sloppy offense because of all of the new pieces on the roster and nature of preseason games. 

It is important to remember that the regular season does not begin until October 30.  Little should be made of who gets playing time, who struggles, who does well and rotations.  Byron Scott is experimenting and this is the perfect time to make tweaks.  The Cavs are not returning two starters from last year and they have ten new players on the training camp roster.  Byron Scott and Chris Grant have between now and the end of training camp to decide if they prefer Donald Sloan or Jeremy Pargo to backup Kyrie Irving. 

• The elephant in the room is Dion Waiters.  Things have not gotten much better on the Waiters front after he came into the Summer League out of shape and shot only 30%.  It is not time to panic and declare Waiters a bust or a future star in the making, but he needs to improve his play sooner than later if he wants to justify where he was selected. Dion Waiters finished the night with 2 points on 1-7 shooting, 3 assists and 4 turnovers.  His jump shot looks broken.  I am fine with him taking jumpers in the preseason if the intention is to tweak his shot and improve from a longer range. However, where Waiters will excel is in splitting double-teams and driving into the lane.  Hopefully Waiters plays to his strengths instead of settling for lazy jump shots. 
• Jon Leuer had a very nice first half scoring 8 points on 4-7 shooting.  Leuer showed an offensive repetoire that will surely help the Cavs second unit if he can keep it up.  He was hitting shots from mid-range and even showed the ability to put the ball on the floor and drive.  An added bonus were his 2 steals, 1 block and 1 assist.
• The highlight of the game came in the beginning of the third quarter when Tristan Thompson blocked a Samuel Dalambert shot, ran the floor and dunked off an Alonzo Gee assist.  The ensuing basket was his only made field goal in five tries.  Thompson finished the night with 2 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 blocks. 
• After getting big minutes on Monday night, Omri Casspi, Luke Harangody, Samardo Samuels, Donald Sloan and Luke Walton did not play.  I would expect them to play on Friday night against the Chicago Bulls.
• CJ Miles had a nice performance for the Wine and Gold.  He was the high-scorer for the Cavs with 18 points.  Miles was a bit trigger-happy at times, but his shot was falling.  He had active hands and managed to record three steals.  There were times where he was playing the passing lanes a bit too aggressively and he was torched by his man, but that could be an easy fix with a little bit of coaching.
• Kyrie Irving was Kyrie Irving.  He finished with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.  There was a great sequence where the Cavs were running on a fast break after a CJ Miles steal off of a Brandon Jennings turnover.  Irving had a great behind-the-back pass to a cutting CJ Miles who converted on an athletic layup.
• The Bucks had 6 players score in double figures and the Cavs only had two.  The Bucks undersized, but lethal back court of Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis scored a combined 30 points.

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