Final Score: Heat run away from Cavs with 118-94 victory

The Cavaliers can’t really win right now. Like, genuinely, they do not have the capacity.

They’ve got about six rotation players that can’t currently suit up, including their best two players in Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love, and honestly, they wouldn’t be that good even with that duo.

Keeping all that in mind, they lost yet another game in what’s feeling like an increasingly long December, falling to the Miami Heat 118-94 for the team’s fifth straight loss and their seventh in the last eight games.

Collin Sexton continued his trend of being incapable of doing just about anything against any opponent with length defensively, but at least made his way to the line for four free throw attempts. Jaron Blossomgame is doing his best, but can’t continue to be asked to be a spot starter.

The same goes for Jalen Jones. But with only nine healthy bodies on the roster, what are the Cavaliers to do?

Offensively, Larry Nance Jr. continues to stretch his playmaking to its absolute limit, trying a few audacious pass attempts (some of which found their home), and Alec Burks had one of his better offensive games as a slasher, while the team actually managed a decent outing from three (13-37 from distance).

Unfortunately, they just don’t have enough firepower, and even if they did, the defense remains absolutely atrocious. The team has very little understanding of how to react after the first action the offense runs.

This Heat team shouldn’t be able to carve up opponents without Goran Dragic to initiate the offense, but Justise Winslow looked like an All-Star (continuing a strong stretch of play as of late, much to Austin Carr’s chagrin). Overall, there’s no one player on Miami that looked especially unstoppable — they all did. The team landed seven players in double figures, and that’s just hard to top on any given night.

Basically, this team stinks in its current form, and injuries have rendered even solid effort on a night-to-night basis mostly irrelevant. They desperately need help, and lucky for them, it’s coming in the next couple of weeks.

Until then, there’s going to be plenty of admirable efforts that end in 24-point losses.

The Cavaliers get no rest, as they travel to Atlanta to play the Hawks on Saturday night. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.