Portlandia!

The title is based on the current IFC series Portlandia that takes place near Portland for those of wondering what a "Portlandia" was/is.
The Cleveland Cavaliers hung tough for a while against the talented Portland Trail Blazers and got to within five points in the middle of the third quarter.
In the end,bad shooting (36%), turnovers (24!) and an inability to get back against the Portland transition game doomed the Cavaliers to a 98-78 loss.
Kyrie Irving led Cleveland with 21 points,with only two other Cavaliers reaching the ten point mark.
Cleveland takes today off before traveling to Salt Lake City and the Jazz tomorrow night.
No Devils or Cavaliers tonight! How will I kill the time?
Looks like a feature coming up!

Swashbucklings

1) 24 turnovers.
Most of which led to Portland fast breaks and easy points off the transition.
Simply put-Few teams will win turning the ball over 24 times,let alone the Cavaliers.

2) Three of twenty four from behind the three point mark for an anemic .125 shooting percentage.
This is going to be a very inconsistent team from night to night from the outside.

3) A very nice night for Kyrie Irving,but as Austin Carr pointed on the telecast,Byron Scott kept Irving in the game throughout despite the large deficit because Scott wants Irving to pick his conditioning up and learn to play with short breaks.
Irving led the team with just under thirty minutes of floor time and Scott's reasoning makes lots of sense to me..

4) I also liked Scott's jerking Omri Casspi from the game ASAP after Casspi's missed three pointer and follow up mope and not even trying to get back against the Blazer break.
Nothing against Casspi,but that type of play cannot be allowed to grow without repercussions.
Good call by Scott..

5) Watching the game and Portland's LaMarcus Aldredge and it seems to me that Aldredge is the template for what Cleveland hopes to eventually receive from Tristan Thompson.
A rangy,athletic big man that can run the floor and be a shotblocking threat on the defensive end.
I haven't seen much of Aldredge,but from last night's game-that would not be a bad template to run a power forward off of!

Photo Credit-AP Photo