Written by Jesse Lamovsky

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It was a typical night for the Cavaliers Wednesday in Boston’s TD Garden. Playing without the injuried Anderson Varejao and displaying its usual slipshod effort on both sides of the ball, Cleveland dropped to 5-22 on the season with a 103-91 loss to the Celtics. It was the fifth straight defeat for the Cavaliers, who fell to 1-10 in the month of December.

The game plan for Cleveland on this night seemingly featured a determination to not guard Paul Pierce. Apparently no one on the Cavaliers either a.) studied film of the Celtics or b.) watched an NBA game after 1998. Either way, the Catfish was given one wide-open look after another, and he responded with a season-high 40 points on 13-of-16 from the field and 6-of-7 from downtown. Pierce led the way to a scorching offensive night from the Celtics, who got off at a 59.7 percent clip against Cleveland’s lackluster-as-usual defense.

Pierce wasn’t the only Bostonian that found the going easy. Getting to the rim at will, Rajon Rondo knocked in 7-of-11 from the field on the way to 20 points and 8 assists. Kevin Garnett took advantage of Varejao’s absence to score 12 on 5-of-9 shooting, and Jason Terry got hot late to tally 15 on 6-of-9 from the floor.

There were a few bright spots on the Cleveland side. Getting the start in the place of Varejao, Tyler Zeller scored a career-high 20 on 9-of-15 from the floor. Kyrie Irving had his usual nice offensive night with 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting. And Dion Waiters had 13 points on 6-of-15 shooting, a 40 percent clip- a scorching night by the standards of the terminally ice-cold rookie.

They also showed some fortitude. Trailing by twenty late in the third period in front of a hostile crowd, the Cavaliers ripped off a 20-2 run to close to within two at 82-80 with 9:04 remaining in the game. But a clutch jumper and two free throws by Rondo aborted the threat, and Boston put it away late with a 13-3 run fueled by three Cleveland turnovers.

But despite the positive signs, it was yet another case of Cleveland not being smart enough or good enough to win. It doesn’t seem to matter who the Cavaliers play, or where. They’re bad enough to lose handily at home to the likes of Toronto, and they’re bad enough to lose on the road to Boston. They tank in the second half, they come back in the second half; at the end the result is usually the same.

Hey, at least the season is more than a quarter of the way over. And the Cavaliers should have a high lottery pick, which means Chris Grant will have another opportunity to draft either a 35 percent-shooting guard or a big man that can’t shoot, dribble or pass. Who says there aren’t silver linings?

Next: Friday night at 7:30 when the Cavaliers host the Indiana Pacers.