Irving’s late shooting leads Cavaliers past Suns 101-97

Provided LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving are all healthy, it’s tough to believe this team can’t find its way back to the Finals again. As bad as Cleveland’s loss in Portland was on Saturday night, the Suns are coming off an equally-painful defeat, falling to the one-win Sixers at Talking Stick Resort Arena. “It was a good night”.

The Suns trailed 94-92 with two minutes to play, but the Cavs responded when James drove the lane and passed to J.R. Smith on the perimeter, who swung it to Irving, who passed on a 3-pointer for a floater in the lane to temporarily cool the Suns’ momentum.

All this came with superstar Damian Lillard watching from behind the bench missing his third straight game due to injury in his left foot.

Cleveland’s “third team” might have gotten a push with its Portland adversary, but that was after the Blazers had extended their advantage to 34 points early in the fourth quarter. Believe it or not, things only got uglier. Allen Crabbe scored 21 of his career-high 26 points during the first half to lead the Blazers (12-20) to their most lopsided win of the season.

Cavaliers: Cleveland’s 12 first-quarter points is a season low for any quarter. And the Cavs gave little. That said, Cleveland’s performance against the Blazers was a disgrace, and there are zero excuses for it. “We had rotations, coach had rotations down, so we got to get back to that”. “We got to figure it out”, Irving said. “We have to learn from it, and we have to watch some film for sure, but throw it in the trash and get ready for Phoenix”.

“For me, I just manage it by just being accepting of what’s going on out there and knowing that the hard work that I’m putting in will turn into something”, Irving said. That crisp ball movement and Love’s early offense are normally good signs for the Cavs.

The Suns had a chance to take the lead but another Knight three-pointer was wiped out by a Tyson Chandler offensive foul with 46.6 seconds left. Irving’s taking part in time has-been restricted to date.

NOTES – Portland plays at Sacramento Sunday night.

Nearly from the opening tip, Portland was in control. As Crabbe was having the game of his life, there didn’t seem to be any desire to actually, you know, defend him. Cleveland doesn’t have another back-to-back situation until mid-January.

“We were lacking in energy, lacking in approach and flat as all get-up”, Cleveland coach David Blatt said. Obviously, this can have some ill effects on chemistry. “… Sometimes when you’re struggling, there’s a little more pressure”. McCollum at point guard, Portland managed to escape the first half with zero turnovers.

It was tied at 3 when the Blazers went on a 10-1 run, featuring 7 points by usual shooting guard C.J. McCollum, playing the point in place of an injured Damian Lillard. And that’s fine, as Cleveland had plenty of ugly losses past year nobody still harps on thanks to the Finals run which followed them.