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First the Cavaliers lost Anderson Varejao to a broken wrist. Then it was Ramon Sessions to a trade. Daniel Gibson followed soon after with a torn tendon in his ankle. Now, it's Kyrie Irving with a bum shoulder. After starting the year off so promisingly, the Cavaliers now find themselves fighting with the Toronto Raptors for the fourth worst record in the league, with an eye on possibly challenging the New Orleans Hornets for the third. It's been a long, nasty, hard to watch, fall from respectibility.
Just as their schedule gets it's hardest and most hectic, the Cavaliers are imploding and falling apart in fantastic fashion. Despite being a pretty optimistic guy, I'm expecting these remaining games to be some of the worst basketball I've seen in years, and I watched every single game in the losing streak last season.
Case in point, tonight's matchup with the newly strengthened Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks new killer backcourt of Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis are going to be facing off against Anthony Parker and Donald Sloan? Yikes.
Was it the bloodbath I was expecting? Let's find out:
First Quarter: @CavsWITNESS
The Cavaliers aren't tanking, they just flat out suck at playing anything even remotely close to professional basketball. No one is scoring, bothering to run back to play defense, or doing anything that you would expect a professional basketball player to do. Jamison's 1-9. No Cavalier has made more than one bucket. Gee and Thompson are yet to score. Cavs shooting 20% from the floor and 12.5% from behind the arc. Cavs down 15, 29-14 Bucks.
Second Quarter: @_Believeland
Here's a fun game, guess which five Cavaliers he's talking about! Yeah, it's hard, isn't it. You'd think that Ryan Hollins would be involved, but no, he's not with the team anymore. Erden? Nope, hasn't hit the court yet? AP? No, there's no "veteran leadership" present. Fine, I'll answer it for you. It's Donald Sloan, Lester Hudson, Omri Casspi, Luke Walton and Samardo Samuels.
The Cavs have "improved" and are now shooting 33% from the floor and 20% from behind the arc. Jamison shot 100% in the second quarter and is now 2-10. With all this improvement, the Cavaliers have now shaved the lead by one whole point! Cavs down 14, 53-39, Bucks.
Half-Time: @StepienRules
Fred Phelps seriously said that the Cavaliers played "much better and outscored the Bucks by a point" during the halftime broadcast. Have things gotten this pathetic that outscoring the Buck's bench by a point is "much better"? #FML.
Third Quarter: @NBA
"#LeaguePassAlert The bricks are a-flying as the @Bucks & @Cavs are combined shooting 30% from the floor & 26% from behind the arc with 2:43 left in the third!"
Anthony Parker comes alive (that's a Peter Frampton joke people, it's because they're both old, get it?) in the third and is now leading the Cavaliers with 17. The Cavaliers have narrowed the lead down to 11, 79-68, Bucks.
Fourth Quarter: @WayneEmbrysKids
Somehow the Cavs pull to within nine with less than two minutes left. Parker hits a three to bring it to six! AP immediately follow it up by letting Monta Ellis respond with a three of his own! That's the story as the fourth quarter devolves into a shooting contest between Monta Ellis and AP, with Monta and the Bucks getting the best of AP and the Cavs. Cavs wind up losing by 9, 107 - 98 Bucks.
Losing streak sits at nine games. Can the Cavs snap it Friday against the Raptors? Doubtful, but I'll still use this as an excuse to post the GIF Bracket Champion, Rollerblading Raptors Mascot:
