Wrap-Up — Heading into this week, the Cavaliers had coasted past opponents en route to the best start in franchise history. But a rough Tuesday night in Milwaukee snowballed into an even rougher one on Thursday night in Cleveland – as the Clippers handed the World Champs their second straight blowout loss, a lopsided 113-94 decision at The Q.
Cleveland got off to strong start against an opponent they’ve owned on their home floor over the years – winning 18 of their previous 21 games over the Clippers at The Q.
But J.J. Redick began heating up in the second period to give L.A. an eight-point edge at the break. By the midway point of the third, the Wine and Gold were reeling and one quarter later, Tyronn Lue began emptying his bench in anticipation of Friday night’s matchup in Chicago.
Kyrie Irving still managed to lead both teams with 28 points – going 8-of-19 from the floor and 11-of-12 from the stripe.
Kevin Love notched 16 points and four boards, but had his hands full with DeAndre Jordan for much of the night. The only player in the Eastern Conference averaging at least 20 points and 10 rebounds per contest, Love didn’t grab his first board of the night until the 5:37 mark of the third quarter.
LeBron James added 16 points of his own on 5-of-14 shooting from the floor – adding five boards and five of Cleveland’s 12 assists on the night.
The Cavaliers got six assists on their first 10 buckets of the night in the first quarter, but finished with just six more the rest of the night. On the Clippers’ side, Blake Griffin tied a career-high with 11 helpers and Chris Paul added nine in the win.
The Clippers – who snapped a three-game losing streak as they continue a brutal road stretch – had big performances across the board. Redick went 4-of-6 from long-range, DeAndre Jordan led by teams with 15 boards and L.A.’s bench outscored Cleveland’s, 46-28.
The Wine and Gold start strong but the Bucks dash past the Cavs to hand them just their third loss of the season.
The Wine and Gold also had their NBA record of at least 10 three-pointers in a game to start the season snapped at 16 on Thursday night – canning nine triples, four by Richard Jefferson off the bench.
Turning Point — Despite a sloppy second quarter – and a 21-point first-half by J.J. Redick – the Cavaliers found themselves only down eight at the break – 58-50.
But the Clippers scored four quick points after intermission and Tyronn Lue called for a full timeout 16 seconds into the second half. But that didn’t stop the bleeding and Doc Rivers’ squad proceeded to go on a 9-2 run over the next four minutes and closed the quarter up 20 – 85-65.
L.A. eventually upped its edge to 27 points in the final period before Cleveland’s reserves cut the deficit during garbage time.
By the Numbers – .683, .672 … winning percentages of the Cavaliers and Clippers, respectively, since the start of the 2014-15 season. Only two teams (Golden State, .857, and San Antonio, .749) have been better during that stretch.
Quotable – LeBron James, on the Cavaliers consecutive losses …
“(They were) two pretty poor games for sure, but in an 82-game season you’re going to have a couple of games the season where they’re pretty poor. You hope that they’re not back-to-back but it happens and it’s happened to us in Milwaukee and now tonight. The best thing about this league is you kind of always get the opportunity right away to be better…we’ll get right back at it tomorrow night, so we’ll be alright.”
Up Next — After dropping two straight for the first time this year, the Cavaliers embark on their longest junket of the young season – heading to the Windy City for the second-half of a tough back-to-back against Dwyane Wade and the Bulls. On Monday night, the Cavaliers make their final regular season trip to Toronto followed by a date with Kristaps Porzingis and the Knicks at the Garden two nights later.
