Whistles cost Cavaliers in 112-108 loss

     It was a playoff atmosphere in Cleveland Sunday night and it was a rough physical game like you would see in a postseason encounter.

All the ingredients were there for an exciting, closely matched game- except for one- the consistently inconsistent officiating and the Philadelphia 76ers took advantage in a 112-108 win for the visitors from Pennsylvania.

Darius Garland led the Cavaliers with 23 points with Caris LeVert adding 19 to lead Cleveland, who fell 2.5 games behind Chicago for the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference and watched idle Atlanta cut their lead to 1.5 games for seventh in the conference.

Cleveland will visit Orlando on Tuesday to start the final week of the season.

Swashbucklings

1) The Cavaliers had plenty of reason to question the officiating and J.B. Bickerstaff claimed his team was robbed by the officiating in the post-game press conference.

Bickerstaff may be right but that's not going to stop the inevitable fine that I'm sure will be levied by the league, the only question will be the amount.

2) The biggest play in question was a late drive by Darius Garland that saw him fouled by Joel Embiid and a no call that resulted in the Sixers up two and the ball with less than a minute remaining.

It's not unfair to ask for some consistency in the officiating- you made that call all night and with the game in the balance, the whistles were put away and that is defined by an abbreviation that starts with B and ends with S.

3) Joel Embiid and James Harden shot 32 free throws in the game.

The entire Cavalier team shot 31-As the home team!

Usually, one could understand the home team shooting a few more free throws but two players on the visitors?

4) Cleveland did receive a nice night from Caris LeVert, who hit seven of fourteen from the floor.

LeVert's play has been erratic since arriving from Indiana and the Cavaliers will need to hope that he can play well in the playoffs.

5) Joel Embiid finished with 44 points and 17 rebounds and while the officials had a little to do with those numbers, the absence of Jarrett Allen was likely the largest factor.

Embiid is a terrific player and possibly the league's MVP but these were the optimum circumstances for such a great night.