Written by Demetri Inembolidis

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The Cleveland Cavaliers (6-8) have played 1,686 games “in the friendly confines” of the Cleveland Arena, Richfield Coliseum and Quicken Loans Arena.  In those 1,686 games, they never managed to accomplish what they did last night after they lost by 39 points.  In the 42 year history of the franchise, they have has 26 game losing streaks (2010-2011) and started a season winning only 2 games in 36 tries (1970-1971).  The franchise has had some great moments, but there have been more valleys than peaks.  The Cavs have managed to be on the winning end of the biggest blowout in NBA history (68 points), but in 1,686 tries they never once performed as poorly as they did last night. 

The Cavs are a young team that will struggle against quality opponents.  Cleveland began their season with a respectable 6-6 record and appeared to be in position to grab a playoff spot.  Looks can be deceiving.  The true test will be what they can accomplish in this stretch of the season, where they find themselves competing against playoff teams from last year in 8 out of 9 games.  If their performance against the Bulls (14-3) is any indication, it will be a rough stretch for the young team.

The Cavs were out-played in every facet of the game against a Bulls team that was missing their MVP.  This is not to say that the Bulls would have won by more points had Derrick Rose played.  When CJ Watson starts and scores 15 points and dishes out 7 assists, it will be a long night.  The Bulls had a balanced attack and no single player scored more than 21 points.  They had 5 players in double figures and 2 missed the cuff by a combined 3 points. 

It is impossible to single-out one specific are that the Cavs could have improved upon and made the game more competitive.  They only shot 30% from the field.  They got their shot blocked 16 times.  They were out-rebounded by 16.  They did not defend and the Bulls converted on 55.4% of their field goal attempts.  They did not move the basketball and only had 13 assists compared to Chicago’s 27.  The game was ugly from the first tip-off until the final buzzer rang and it is likely that Byron Scott and the Cavs will want to put behind them.  The most telling statistic is that the biggest lead for the Bulls was 42.  For Cleveland it was 1. 

Few people believed that the Cavs were a playoff contender before last night’s game.  The disappointment by this performance should not stem from playoff hopes and dreams coming to a screeching halt.  The source of the fan disappointment is that these types of games should have been a thing of the past after getting the 1^st and 4^th picks in last year’s draft.  Twitter user @HoopsBoosh put it best when he said “I can’t believe that the Cavs managed to set another “worst” record after last year.”  Even the person with the sunniest disposition and deep-seeded optimism would find it hard to argue that to not be the case. 

For the first time in his career, Kyrie Irving faced an elite NBA defense.  His final numbers are deceivingly good, but Irving was rendered useless after the first quarter.  In that first quarter, he shot 4-5 and had 11 points and 2 assists.  Throughout the rest of the game, he only made 1 more field goal (which happened to be in the 2^nd quarter).  I bring this up not to scare Cavs fans and question the selection with the 1^st overall pick.  Kyrie Irving is already exceeding expectations, even though he suffered after facing his first real NBA test.  The sooner he has these kinds of performances against elite defenses, the quicker he will learn to succeed in spite of them. 

Kyrie Irving was not the only Cavalier to be rendered useless by the Bulls defense.  Antawn Jamison had one of his patented “Phone it In” performances and he made 1 field goal in 10 tries.  Joakim Noah, Omer Asik, Carlos Boozer and Taj Gibson proved to be too much for Anderson Varejao, Tristan Thompson, and Semih Erden.  Varejao’s streak of pulling down 10 or more rebounds ended after 8 games.  Tristan Thompson really struggled from the field and only made 2 out of 10 shots. 

The Cavs need to leave this game in the past and look ahead to Atlanta tonight, which is easier said than done.  Seeing how the Cavs bounce back from bad games will be a telling sign of where this team stands and how effective the message of the coaching staff is. 

The Good: As far as the players on the court go, nothing was good.  On a personal level, I listened to part of the 4^th quarter on WTAM and got to hear John Michael and Jim Chones for the first time.  Joe Tait’s shoes are almost impossible to fill, but Michael and Chones were better than I expected.  Michael sounded comfortable and gave solid play-by-play and Chones offered great and honest insight. 

The Bad: The Cavs are not drawing a lot of fans through the gates.  Out of the 30 NBA teams, they are in 27^th place for attendance.  Even though the listed attendance was a respectable 17,871, the Cavs managed to put on a historically bad performance.  The franchise cannot afford to perform this badly when attendance is suffering and fans actually come to see the team play.  In popularity, the Cavs are below the Browns and Indians.  Most Cavs fans can probably be classified as casual fans and do not know or care that the team is actually showing signs of progress.

The Ugly: Joakim Noah.