Written by Jesse Lamovsky

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Inept. Lifeless. Those are two good words to describe the Cavaliers, who fell to 3-12 with their fourth consecutive loss, 91-78 to Phoenix at the Q on Tuesday night. Playing their fourth game in five nights, the Cavaliers were flat, listless and sloppy right from the jump against the mediocre Suns, who came from 26 points down to beat Cleveland earlier this month.

The only bright spot on this cold night was Anderson Varejao. Nailing the outside shot and providing his usual manic hustle and energy, Varejao collected 20 points on 10-of-15 from the field and added 18 rebounds and 3 assists. I’ve long been an opponent of trading the big Brazilian, but it’s really a shame to see such a terrific player wasted on such a bad team.

And this is a really bad team. No one else provided anything positive. Dion Waiters did his usual brick-laying, shooting 7-of-20. Tristan Thompson went 1-of-7 despite taking every shot from point-blank range. Jeremy Pargo clanked away at a 3-of-12 clip. And C.J. Miles was once again awful, shooting 3-of-11 including 0-of-5 from downtown.

Overall the Cavaliers shot a miserable 35.7 percent and committed 18 turnovers. Take away Varejao’s numbers and that percentage drops to 28.9. This team can’t shoot, can’t score inside and can’t stop committing stupid turnovers. Other than that they’re an offensive juggernaut.

They can’t play defense, either. Phoenix shot a steady 46.8 percent and collected 22 assists. Goran Dragic, who lit the Cavaliers up in the Valley of the Sun three weeks ago, once again sparkled with 19 points and 7 dimes. After briefly falling behind 59-57 late in the third period the Suns ended the stanza with 14 unanswered points and were never threatened again.

So that’s what we’re left with: a team that can’t score or play defense and has no bench. And there won’t be any improvement when Kyrie Irving gets back. Kyrie might be an exciting offensive player, but he’s a liability on defense and, frankly, he doesn’t make his teammates better. Third year after LeBron and this team still has zero hope for the present and scant hope for the future.

And I think this organization needs to start looking for a trap door for Tristan Thompson. The guy is almost completely worthless and he isn’t going to improve because he has no skills to build on. Have you ever seen a big man get his shot blocked as often as Thompson? Chris Grant needs to find a sucker who is willing to part with something, anything, for this guy, because he’s terrible.

That’ll about do it. I’ve had my fill writing or even thinking about this abomination of a basketball team. At least until next game.

Next: Friday night at 7:30, when the Cavaliers attempt to break their losing streak in Philips Arena against the Atlanta Hawks.