Cavaliers struggle against Knicks heading into long road stretch
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter
<!-- begin body-content -->CLEVELAND - The bite hurts for a night, but it's the rash that causes the real problems.
And real problems, the Cavaliers do have.
They lost to the New York Knicks 92-84 on Tuesday, on its face one of those stub-your-toe defeats all teams choke down during the course of a season. In fact, the Cavs (20-12) have perhaps had more than their share at home, where four of their five losses have come to teams below .500 on the season.
The Knicks (11-21) didn't play like the doormats their record suggests -- after all it was their fourth consecutive win. But more on that later.
In the absence of Larry Hughes, the Cavs have abandoned a chunk of the style that spurred them to such a spirited start. The record since his departure is a respectable 2-2, but the evidence suggests a dangerous trend. One that, if not corrected, could spell doom as the Cavs play eight of their next nine games on the road.
With the exception of Damon Jones, the Cavs have played well enough on defense to stay in the games since Hughes departed. On offense, their once never-ending river of points has begun to dry up.
Without Hughes' drive-and-kick ability, the opposition has smartly camped on LeBron James. James has responded with some incredible performances, but like last year, individual greatness does not always save the day.
James had 36 points, seven rebounds and seven assists on Tuesday. It was his seventh consecutive game better than 30 points, a franchise record. He also has picked up at least seven rebounds and five assists in each of those games, something no one has done over seven games since Oscar Robertson in 1966.
In the fourth quarter, the Knicks swarmed James whenever he drove to the basket, holding him to four points. He was forced to give the ball up, which is what Knicks coach Larry Brown wanted. Often it was for a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock, and the law of averages should tell you how that went.
The Cavs went just 4-of-20 from the floor in the fourth, scoring a season-low 12 points in the quarter. Half of those were 3-point tries. The team went seven and a half minutes without a basket in one stretch, as the Knicks went on a 15-1 run to clinch victory.
In all, the Cavs hoisted 28 3-pointers, making just six, and they shot just 37 percent overall. Before Hughes' injury, they averaged 102 points and took about 18 3-pointers a night. In the four games since his ability to spread the floor was lost, the Cavs have shot just 41 percent and heaved 26 3s per night. No surprise, they've averaged 16 fewer points per game.
``It's going to be tough to beat anybody when you take 28 3s. We have to do a better job,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said. ``We were standing and watching, we had no movement; the shot clock ran down and we had to cast up a shot.''
It hasn't helped that their shooters have gone cold. Donyell Marshall had 15 points, but was 3-of-11 on 3-pointers. Jones was horrid again, going 1-of-5 on 3s. He's now 6-of-33 on them over his last seven games.
On defense, Jones was even worse. He was often burned by Jamal Crawford (26 points) again and again. Meanwhile, Stephon Marbury's 22 points and rookie Channing Frye's 16 showed the Cavs how team offense is supposed to work.
At the end, the Cavs pinned the loss on lack of focus and taking the Knicks too lightly, but the ship's been off course for four games and counting.
``We can't win ball games like that,'' James said. ``We can't beat anyone in the league doing that.''
