The Cavaliers January woes continued with a 124-122 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night in New Orleans. Kyrie Irving was outstanding scoring 49 points for the Cavs, while Terrance Jones and Jrue Holiday scored 36 and 33, respectively for the Anthony Davis-less Pelicans. In the second half Cleveland outscored the Pelicans by 18 but it wasn’t enough to overcome their 20 point halftime deficit.
Some scribbles from Monday’s loss in New Orleans:
- The Cavaliers didn’t seem to be very interested in putting forth the necessary effort to win against New Orleans. A quick look at the box score wouldn’t necessarily show that, considering LeBron James had a 26 point, 12 assist, 10 rebound triple-double and Kyrie Irving dropped 49 points. The effort was not there on the defensive end, however. The Cavaliers haven’t had a good game on that end since defeating the Warriors on Christmas day. They’re 7-7 in that stretch with only one instance where they have allowed less than 100 points.
- Kyrie Irving did play incredibly well on the offensive end. As stated above, he finished with 49 points, 35 of which came in the second half of the game.
- The Cavs really miss, JR Smith, a lot. Not necessarily because of his shot making, but more so because of his defensive effort and his edge. Ben Belden and I dove into this on the latest Burning River Basketball Podcast. You should definitely check that out if you haven’t already.
- As mentioned above, LeBron had a triple-double with 26 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds. James did not have a good game on the defensive end, and also had six turnovers.
- The Cavaliers haven’t been the same since Christmas, and this is a bit frightening, however it is something that was slightly expected. The Cavs have slumped in January before, and I’m sure that the team will be able to crack out of this closer to playoff time.
- The Cavaliers are in action next vs the Kings on Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
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