Written by Jesse Lamovsky

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The Cavaliers snapped their three-game winning streak in dramatic fashion Friday night in Charlotte, sinking the Bobcats 106-104 on Kyrie Irving’s jumper with one second remaining. Being the Cavaliers, they made it as tough on themselves as humanly possible. This game never should have come down to a final shot. But it did, thanks to a horrific fourth-quarter collapse that turned what should have been a walk into a nail-biter.

For most of the night the Cavaliers did whatever they wanted against the Bobcats, who were fresh off their first win in over a month on New Year’s Eve in Chicago. Cleveland took the lead midway through the first period and expanded it relentlessly against a Charlotte team that entered the night with the worst scoring defense in the NBA. When C.J. Miles splashed home his third three-pointer of the night it was 84-67 Cleveland with 3:37 to play in the third period.

That’s when it all fell apart.

In the eleven minutes after taking that fat 17-point lead, Cleveland’s offense simply disintegrated. The Cavaliers committed four turnovers and missed thirteen of their fifteen shots during this stretch. And it wasn’t as if shots were barely rimming out. Air-balls, bricks, hand grenades that bounced off the backboard- these shots weren’t even close to going in. Every possession was one-on-five, with kamikaze drives into traffic and shots hurled wildly in the general direction of the backboard.

It was, quite simply, awful basketball. And when the dust settled with 4:46 left in the fourth quarter, Charlotte had a 91-90 lead.

It took a dose of eleventh-hour heroics by Kyrie Irving to take back what the Cavaliers had so tried to give away. Kyrie poured in 14 points in the final four-and-a-half minutes, including the two that provided the margin of victory. After Gerald Henderson’s turnaround hook made it 104-104 with sixteen seconds left, Kyrie dribbled down the clock and put up a fall-away jumper that tickled twine with one second remaining. He finished the night with 33 points on 10-of-21 shooting from the field, 3-of-4 from downtown and 10-of-10 from the line, overcoming 5 turnovers and his usual array of defensive lapses.

C.J. Miles added 18, but perhaps the best Cavalier performance came courtesy of Tristan Thompson. Looking startlingly comfortable with the right-handed hook, Thompson tossed in 8-of-10 from the floor on the way to a season-high 19 points to go with 13 rebounds. He also nailed two clutch free throws with 36.3 seconds left, giving Cleveland a 104-102 lead and setting the stage for Henderson’s counter and Kyrie’s winner.

Even with the eleven minutes from hell factored In Cleveland put up an admirable offensive line, shooting 50 percent from the field, hitting 7-of-16 from three-point range and balancing 23 assists against 13 turnovers. Shaun Livingston had a nice night off the bench with 6 points, 5 assists and 2 steals. And Luke Walton even provided some comic relief, firing up two air-balls in twelve seconds to the delight of the Charlotte crowd.

The Bobcats stayed in it thanks largely to the efforts of three men, two of them reserves. Ben Gordon and former Cavalier Ramon Sessions poured in 27 and 20 off the bench, respectively, and Gerald Henderson added 17 including 4-of-5 makes from three-point range. Really though, the Bobcats didn’t do anything special to nearly steal this game. Cleveland just tried its utmost to give it away.

Some might call this game “entertaining.” If being led to the scaffold only to receive a call from the governor as the noose is being snugged round your neck is entertaining than yes, this game was entertaining. Yes, the Cavaliers won, and when your favorite team is 8-26 every victory should be savored somewhat. But the lasting memory of Friday night will be the eleven minutes in the second half in which the Cavaliers collectively forgot how to play basketball.

Not that the memory of an early-January tilt between the Cavaliers and Bobcats is going to bounce around the brainpan too long anyway.

Next: Saturday night at 7:30, when the Cavaliers return home to the Q to take on James Harden and the Houston Rockets.