Written by Jesse Lamovsky

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Both Anderson Varejao and Kyrie Irving enjoyed career games on the offensive end Tuesday night in Brooklyn. Unfortunately no one else in Wine & Gold showed up, and the result was a 114-101 loss to the Nets in the last game of a frustrating 1-5 road trip. All of the problems that plagued the Cavaliers throughout the trip- poor defense, atrocious bench play, unbalanced scoring- were on full display in the team’s first-ever game at the Barclay’s Center.

Attack of the Awful Bench: There might be a worse second unit out there than Cleveland’s. It just might not be in the NBA. The bench was up to its usual tricks Tuesday night. After the Cavaliers took a 30-29 lead at the end of one period Brooklyn teed off on the reserves to start a disastrous second quarter. The Nets scored the first 11 points of the period and broke the game wide open from there, cruising out to a 64-42 halftime lead. Cleveland’s backups alternately missed badly on the offensive end while allowing one easy bucket after another on the defensive end. No one hit shots, no one rebounded and no one played defense.

For the game, Cleveland’s bench scored six points on 2-of-13 shooting while being abused defensively. The performance was no aberration- that’s how the backups have played all season. And there’s no end in sight. No one is riding in on a white horse to save the second unit. Of course, if it’s any consolation, the bench wasn’t the only area in which the Cavaliers were lousy Tuesday night.

Which Brings Us to the Defense: Cleveland’s defense against the Nets was just as wretched as its bench play. Brooklyn lit up the Cavaliers for 54.5 percent shooting, doing most of its damage right around the rim. Time and again Nets players found themselves alone at the basket for easy dunks and layups. Three Brooklyn players tallied 20 or more, led by Deron Williams’s 26 points and 10 assists. Joe Johnson rode a fourth-quarter hot hand to 25 points while Brook Lopez set up shop on the block and dumped in 23 on 10-of-14 shooting. The 114 points was the most scored by the Nets this season.

Andy Showed Up: The defeat took some of the shine off a glowing performance by Anderson Varejao. The big Brazilian was sensational, pouring in a career-high 35 points on a seemingly endless variety of shots and adding 18 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Varejao shot 16-of-21 from the field as he whipped the defensively challenged Brook Lopez all night.     

So Did Kyrie- Sort Of: After struggling in the first half as Brooklyn took its huge lead, Kyrie Irving got rolling in the second half. The second-year star rang up 25 points after intermission on the way to a career-high 34 to go with 8 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Irving shot 9-of-19 from the field, 2-of-6 from downtown and 14-of-14 from the line and he spearheaded an 18-4 run to cut a 24-point deficit to just ten by the end of the third period.

Unfortunately, Kyrie didn’t get hot until the game was all but out of reach. And while he was a sight to behold on the offensive end, his sick handles drawing gasps from the appreciative road crowd, his defense, as usual, was less than stellar. Kyrie simply couldn’t handle Deron Williams, who did whatever he wanted on the offensive end. Offensive fireworks are nice, and yes he’s expending a lot of effort on that end- but Kyrie simply has to improve his defense, because it’s really poor right now.

Nobody Else Showed Up: Varejao and Irving combined to score 69 points on 25-of-40 shooting. The eight other active Cavaliers combined for 32 points on 13-of-47 shooting. Dion Waiters bricked his way to a 3-of-16 performance; Tristan Thompson scored 14 on 6-of-11 shooting but gathered only five rebounds, and Alonzo Gee scored just four points. No one took the pressure off Varejao and Irving, who were left to handle the scoring load virtually by themselves.

Next: The Cavaliers finally return home to face the Dallas Mavericks Saturday night at 7:30.