Cavs stop slide in win over Pelicans behind strong performances from LeBron James, Kyrie Irving

It was a game missing Kevin Love, Matthew Dellavedova, Tyreke Evans, and Eric Gordon. Both teams were desperate for a win, and the Cavs were playing their third game in four nights. It was 24 hours after the Cavs dropped a game against the Boston Celtics despite leading by five with less than 19 seconds in the game. Cleveland didn't put this one away early and then coast to an easy win. They did put together a solid defensive performance, and they did get a victory behind the strong play of Kyrie Irving and LeBron James

Your Cleveland Cavaliers 99, the New Orleans Pelicans 84.

I'll be honest, I was at a function for my school last night and we couldn't get anyone to write the recap. That's why this is late. I'm watching the game now, and I like what I've seen. Kyrie Irving scored 29 points on 21 shots and added four rebounds, three assists and two steals. LeBron James had 27 points on 20 shots, and handed out eight assists to just two turnovers. He even made a couple three pointers.

Anderson Varejao is making a strong bid to enter the rotation, and perhaps replace Timofey Mozgov. Part of this has to do with Mozgov's ineffectiveness, but Varejao has been solid in limited time this year. Last night he played 27 minutes and filled up the stat sheet with rebounds, steals, and blocks. He can hit the elbow jumper with a consistency missing from Mozgov or Tristan Thompson. Pairing him in the frontcourt with either Thompson or James seems to make the most sense, as I'm just not sure there is enough foot speed for him to play consistently with Kevin Love.

Not a great performance from Tristan Thompson it seems. He had his work cut out for him trying to guard Anthony Davis, and to his credit Davis wasn't all that great. Still, it was a step back from the offensive efficiency Thompson has put together over the last two months. He might be missing his partner in crime, Dellavedova.

I'm watching the game now. Hope everyone enjoys the Captain America trailer during the Super Bowl. I'm told there is some sort of game involved as well.