With Kyrie Irving nursing a shoulder injury in Cleveland and MVP candidate James Harden on the other side, LeBron James came out with the same aggressiveness he displayed in Thursday's win against the Golden State Warriors.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- With Kyrie Irving nursing a shoulder injury in Cleveland and MVP candidate James Harden on the other side, LeBron James came out with the same aggressiveness he displayed in Thursday's win against the Golden State Warriors.
Only Sunday afternoon yielded a different result for James and the Cavaliers, who lost their second straight game to the Houston Rockets, 105-103, in overtime.
The Cavs are now 37-24 and failed to overtake the Chicago Bulls, who lost earlier on Sunday, in the Eastern Conference standings. The Cavs are still fourth, a half game back of the Bulls.
Here are five observations from the loss:
MVP matchup - James and Harden are two of the four most talked about MVP candidates. Golden State's Stephen Curry, who has led his team to the league's best record, and Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook, who has recorded a triple-double in three consecutive games, are the other two.
James has always been aware of his place in history and adding a fifth MVP trophy would put him with Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players with at least five MVP awards. While he has hasn't admitted as much, James would love to be in that company.
Sunday gave him another opportunity to go head-to-head with one of his competitors. He was aggressive from the beginning, which was the right approach with Houston missing Dwight Howard in the middle, as James finished with 37 points.
But his usual efficiency eluded him, shooting 15-of-35 from the field His 35 field goal attempts are the most he has taken since 2006, his fourth season in the NBA. Of his 35 shots, 12 came from three-point range. The Cavs tied a franchise record with 40 attempts from beyond the arc, too many against a team missing its better defender.
Then when the fourth quarter arrived, James turned the game into a personal showdown with Harden, rarely letting anyone else on his team get involved in the offense, which made Cleveland easier to guard.
James outperformed Curry and Klay Thompson on Thursday night, but Harden got the better of him on Sunday.
"The Beard" scored 33 points on 8-of-18 from the field to go with eight rebounds and five assists in the same number of minutes. His dribble penetration and parade to the layup line (18 attempts) was the difference in the game.
In three games against the trio of MVP candidates, James is averaging 37.6 points, shooting 48 percent (41-of-85) and 37 percent from three-point range (10-of-27). He is also averaging 4.6 assists, 8.6 rebounds and 4.0 turnovers.
Free throw issues - After the Cavs and Rockets battled for 50-plus minutes, the game came down to the free throw line, James' nemesis.
The four-time MVP has tried a few different routines at the stripe this year, but still doesn't look comfortable. He is shooting 72 percent this season, which is his worst percentage since 2007-08.
With the Cavs down by one, James attacked the basket and was fouled after missing the shot. He stepped to the line with four seconds, hoping to give the Cavs the lead once again and possibly for the final time. Instead, James missed both free throws and Harden collected the rebound.
James finished 3-of-11 from the foul line and took blame for the loss. He needed to make the free throws and will likely be in that situation again in the future.
The bright side: It would've been easy for James to settle for a jumper late, just as he did at the end of regulation, instead of attempting to drive past Trevor Ariza.
There have been times in the past where James has been hesitant to take it to the basket, looking to avoid being at the free throw line late. Not Sunday. It took courage to drive, take contact and be willing to go to the line in a pressure-packed situation.
No minutes for Mozgov - Timofey Mozgov, who finished with 10 points, four rebounds and a block, played 18 minutes and sat the entire fourth quarter.
That raised questions from some fans. Some believed his size would've kept Harden out of the paint and off the free throw line. Others believed Mozgov could've helped the Cavs' offense score inside instead of settling for three-pointers.
But Mozgov didn't belong on the floor late and Blatt made the right call. Thompson was playing too well. He earned those crunch-time minutes.
One of the best players for either team Sunday, Thompson finished with 14 points and a season-high 19 rebounds. He grabbed 11 offensive boards, was active on offense and defense, made all of his free throw attempts and was better equipped than Mozgov to defend the Rockets, who like to use a quick, athletic and small lineup with Josh Smith or the versatile Donatas Motiejunas playing center.
Playing Mozgov would've meant sitting Thompson because the Cavs can't afford to play the duo together. What makes the offense so challenging is the spacing. It puts pressure on the opponent. That spacing is not possible with Mozgov and Thompson on the court at the same time. It's why Blatt uses Kevin Love and James Jones, capable three-point shooters, when Thompson is on the court.
The Cavaliers traded for Mozgov because they were looking for more size on the interior and better defense at the rim. There are plenty of matchups where Mozgov will play extended minutes and close the game, but Houston, minus Howard, isn't one.
When Mozgov, who had the worst plus minus of any player (minus 13), wasn't getting spun around in the post, he was having a difficult time closing out to the three-point line.
The Cavs played their best defensive quarter in the final 12 minutes, holding the explosive Rockets to 16 points, their lowest in any quarter since Jan. 30 against when Houston played the Celtics.
It wasn't a coincidence that Mozgov was sitting on the bench wearing warm ups at that time. Sunday was Thompson's game.
Defensive challenge - Playing against the Rockets isn't easy. Houston, which averages 103 points per game on the year, scored 29 points in the first quarter, had 50 points at halftime and stormed out of the break with 32 points in the third. But as has been the case recently, the Cavs made a few adjustments, changed the lineup and picked up the defensive intensity in the fourth quarter.
By the end of regulation, the Cavs had held another opponent under 100 points. In the last 20 games, only three teams (Lakers, Pacers and Bulls) have reached the century mark against the Cavs' improved defense.
Forgetting Love - Love had a poor shooting night in the loss against Indiana on Friday. Trying to atone for that, he came out firing.
Love scored eight points in the first quarter and had 21 points on 8-of-16 from the field through three quarters. But then came the fourth quarter, one that has rendered him ineffective for the majority of the season.
Love went 0-for-3 in the fourth quarter and overtime, scoring zero points. He is now averaging 2.5 points on 35 percent shooting in the fourth quarter. On Friday night, his ineffectiveness had nothing to do with usage. He just missed a bunch of shots that night and was bullied by tough and rugged Indiana.
Sunday, he was ignored by his teammates.
The Cavs need to come up with a better way to keep him involved, especially late. James resorted to hero ball, but Love's lack of involvement wasn't just a one-game problem against Houston. It's now a nasty trend.