Written by J.D. Shultz

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The Cleveland Cavaliers' season can be described in one word:  Uneven.

That's definitely not surprising, whether you follow the Cavs or not.  This is a team in total transition, in player personnel, coaching personnel, front-office personnel - basically everything except ownership.

Obviously, it's going to take more than a season to "even" things out, but the hope is that things will slowly begin stabilizing as the season moves forward.  During that time, the fuzzy picture will become clearer, and Cleveland will start to see what they have, what they need, where they are, and what their ETA is going to be . . . to reach their goal of returning to contention.

The unevenness is on display in almost every Cavs game, on both micro and macro levels.  It's why the Cavaliers are often wildly inconsistent on both sides of the ball from possession to possession . . . and also why the team isn't able to hold 19-point leads (as they did Friday, although they still won).

But none of this means that the Cavs can't be competitive, and it doesn't mean they can't win games.  And they will, as they did Friday night in Philadelphia . . . and as they did Saturday night in Washington.

The Cavs beat the Wizards 107-102 . . . and yes, it was another uneven Cavs game.

Beginning early in the second quarter the Cavs began building a winning offensive effort.  A lot of players were involved, and the defense was good enough to build an 11-point lead.  But it didn't hold.

 

In the third quarter, the Cavs fell apart, and the Wizards came back.  Too easily;  too quickly.  At one point, Washington went on an 11-0 run, and with eight minutes left to go in the third, the lead was gone and the Cavs and Wizards were tied at 62.

 

The Cavs offense took awhile to come back from its halftime break.  With two minutes to go in the third, the Cavs had only made three field goals in the quarter.  Three field goals in 10 minutes.  But as things ebb with the Cavs, they flow.

At that moment, everything got back on track and within a minute the Cavs neutralized what was a seven-point defecit.  But yet another lull was coming in the fourth quarter.

With five minutes left to go in the game, Washington looked like they were ready to start locking this one down.  The Wizards were only up five (85-90), but the Cavs seemed lifeless on offense.  To put it simply, the Cavs once again appeared to be lost without a go-to shooter to take control in the final period.

And then Anderson Varejao changed the game.  And Mo Williams started playing as if this were the '08-'09 or '09-'10 Cavaliers.

Here's that pivotal play:  With 4:30 left, J.J. was at the free throw line.  He made the first, missed the second.  But Andy pulled a sweet move, boxed his man out, and claimed the offensive rebound.  (As you may recall, that's exactly what happened in the first game against Boston.  Andy found a way to get an offensive rebound out of a missed free throw, and that was the game-changer.  The "diff," if you will.)

Anyway, this time Andy passed it out to Anthony Parker who nailed a three.  Yup, a four-point play . . . and suddenly the Cavs were back in business.  And then Mo took over.

On the next possession, Mo dished it to Varejao for an easy put-in.  Then Mo followed that with a jumper.  Then he drew two fouls and made all four free throws.  Then Daniel Gibson made a huge three, and Mo followed with another three to put this one on ice.  The defense was solid, the offense had a plan, and the team executed.  It wasn't an even performance, but it was enough to stay competitive and ultimately come out on top.

Mo Williams led all scorers with 28 points (on 10-of-19 shooting).  He also added three assists, two steals, and four rebounds.  Gibson had 19 points (on 7-of-11 shooting), with two assists, two steals and four rebounds.  Parker had 13 points (on 4-of-9 shooting, 3-of-4 beyond the arc), Ryan Hollins made all five of his shots and ended with 11 points (although he only had one rebound), and Varejao had 11 rebounds and eight points (on 4-of-7 shooting).

For the Wizards, Al Thornton was the high scorer, with 23 points (on 10-of-16 shooting) with six rebounds and two assists.

So what does this mean for the Cavaliers, and what does it say about where they are?

Well, there are no easy fixes.  The team should become more and more "even" as they become familiar with each other, and Byron Scott's system.  But they'll likely continue to struggle with interior defense, and they'll need to identify an outside shooter that can be the go-to playmaker late in games.

It's hard to say what they can do about the inside defense now, personnel-wise . . . they just need to keep the energy-level on maximum intensity.  As for the shooter, again, there isn't a clear answer currently on the roster.  They'll just need to take either Mo or Gibson off the ball, and get them shots when the defenders are keying in on the ballhandler.  They've been doing some of this now, but there are too many bad jumpers being taken by Jawad Williams and Jamario Moon.  Ramon Sessions' game will develop, but he needs to focus on using his athletism to find others shots right now, instead of himself.  Once he gets comfortable, and proves to be more of a threat as a distributor, he'll find lanes . . . and won't have to force his own offense.

We all knew this season was going to be a ride . . . an uneven one.  But uneven rides can be thrilling.  You've ridden a rollercoaster, right?