If there’s one thing everyone associated with the Cavaliers can agree on, it’s that they were not ready to play on Sunday in a lackluster 91-77 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center.
Since they fell behind, 19-3, to open the game, that was pretty obvious.
What no one can say is, ‘Why?’
Have they checked out already? They’ve lost four straight and 14 of 16, so that’s certainly a possibility with just two games left.
They’ve declined to play defense all season, but they couldn’t even be bothered to play offense on Sunday. The 77 points is their second-lowest total of the season, and almost 20 points under their average. The only game they scored fewer points was at Minnesota, a 91-73 loss on Dec. 7.
Asked if it was surprising that his team came out so flat, coach Byron Scott said, “It’s disappointing.”
Asked the same question, Kyrie Irving said, “I was surprised.”
What was surprising was the effort — of lack of effort — put forth by the Cavs All-Star point guard. He picked up his first foul 19 seconds into the game, and by halftime he had three fouls and three turnovers as the Cavs trailed, 53-34. He picked up his fourth and fifth fouls in a span of 1:14 early in the third quarter and took a seat for the rest of the game. He finished with a career-low 4 points on 1-of-6 shooting, including 1-of-4 from 3-point range.
Asked why he grabbed former Ohio State star Even Turner early in the third quarter when he already had four fouls, Irving said: “That was poor judgement on me. I thought I had three. I was going to commit my fourth to stop the fast break. I forgot I had another foul. . . . I thought I had two going into halftime. It was poor judgement on my end.”
Said Scott, “Just a big-time, bad mistake.”
There has been a lot of that by the Cavaliers down the stretch of this disappointing season, but Irving’s mistake was especially costly on Sunday, when backup Shaun Livingston was out with back spasms. In addition, the Cavs were without C.J. Miles (concussion) and Luke Walton (sprained right ankle).
Tristan Thompson finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds, and Wayne Ellington added 12 points. Mo Speights came off the bench to score 12 points, and fellow reserves Dion Waiters and Kevin Jones each added 11. But the Cavs shot just 36.5 percent (31 of 85) and committed 19 turnovers.
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