CLEVELAND: The complacency Tyronn Lue railed against this week apparently wasn’t cured with one embarrassing road loss or one public example made out of J.R. Smith’s antics.
Identifying the problem and fixing it are two different issues. Two blowouts in three nights proves the Cavs still have work to do.
LeBron James scored 16 points, but the Cavs were drilled at home Thursday by the Los Angeles Clippers 113-94 on a night their shooting and defense again failed them. It was the most lopsided loss of the season and marked their largest deficit of the season (27) -- surpassing figures set in their game 48 hours earlier against the Bucks.
A jumper from Tristan Thompson pulled the Cavs within 47-45 with two minutes left in the first half, but the Clippers outscored the Cavs by 14 over the final two minutes of the first half and the first two minutes of the third quarter.
The Cavs opened the second half with three consecutive turnovers, followed by missed shots on their next five possessions. They didn’t score their first basket of the second half until nearly four minutes into the third quarter. By then, the Clippers’ lead was 16.
Lue yanked his starters in Tuesday’s flop against the Bucks because he didn’t like the lack of physicality. The problems Thursday ranged from a poor effort defending the 3-point line, lazy transition defense and a lack of effort in rebounding. And they shot 9 of 24 from the 3-point line, snapping their NBA-record streak of 16 consecutive games with at least 10 3-pointers.
Kevin Love scored 16 points but grabbed only four rebounds. He didn’t grab his first rebound until midway through the third quarter. Kyrie Irving scored 28 points, but a terse discussion between he and Tristan Thompson over the defensive lapses in the second half lasted long enough that Chris Andersen felt it necessary to step in and intervene.
In short, not much is going right presently for the defending champions.
Chris Paul scored 16 points and passed for nine assists while Blake Griffin had 13 points and 11 assists on a night the Clippers passed for a season-high 33 assists.
The weary Clippers were playing their fifth game on this lengthy road trip. They ended a three-game losing streak after falling in double overtime to the hapless Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday – the same night the Cavs were blasted by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Lue hoped the loss, followed by a good practice Wednesday would snap this team back to attention. Instead, they fell behind by 23 in the fourth quarter Thursday, marking their largest deficit of the season – surpassing the 22-point deficit they dug for themselves 48 hours earlier against the Bucks.
Smith’s problems, meanwhile, are continuing. He ended the night with more fouls (5) than points (3) and failed miserably keeping up with J.J. Redick, who scored 23 points on mostly wide-open looks from the perimeter.
The Cavs had won their last four games against the Clippers, but this time Doc Rivers got the better of his protégé. Rivers and Lue met once last season after Lue took over as head coach, and Rivers acknowledged it felt different than all of the previous times he coached against a good friend. Rivers said Lue is like a son to him, which made the initial matchup more difficult.
The second meeting Thursday still felt awkward to Lue.
“To coach against him knowing that he taught me everything and I studied him so much over those five years, it’s kind of weird,” Lue said. “But it also shows he had belief in me and the confidence in me to be a coach when I didn’t know I could be a coach. Now he can look down like a proud father, or a proud dad just looking at me on the other side. It’s a great feeling, but it’s weird.”