The Cleveland Cavaliers' aging roster does not fare well in the second of back-to-back games. Injuries hurt even more.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland Cavaliers' offense against Dallas was so bad it needed only Anderson Varejao to lope out to the right side of the key and run the pick-and-roll with LeBron James.
In an almost unwatchable second half of offensive predictability and stagnation, the Cavs, in the second of back-to-back games, almost took fans back to the days when the flame sputtered out under coach Mike Brown.
The difference is that the Cavs played much better defense under Brown.
The other option to the loop of endless pick-and-rolls by James and Varejao, oops, make that Channing Frye, was for Good Kyrie Irving to dance to the rim to the music of Allen Iverson and the Ankle Breakers and make layups off angles that would test a pool hustler.
Alternatively, Bad Kyrie would use up most of the shot clock dribbling to little effect and force up a desperate fallaway against the shot clock.
The leading culprits for this loss were age, attrition and the absence of a ball-handler other than James or Kyrie Irving.
Age
The Cavs are an older team, as coach Tyronn Lue has said, which fares poorly in back-to-backs. They are 0-6 in the second of such games when the second is on the road. The games are unavoidable, given arena availability difficulties.
Playing at a fast pace, which was largely abandoned in the ugly second half in Dallas, either is not creating enough early offense, or it is leaving the players -- who travel on private jets and stay in the best hotels -- too tuckered out to get back on defense at a clip that suggests commitment to purpose. The defense has been an open door.
Attrition
The Cavs don't have J.R. Smith as his broken thumb mends. Smith is missed for the explosive effect of his streak shooting and the momentum of his "911 shots" in shot-clock emergencies.
Iman Shumpert, however, has scored in double figures in seven of the past nine games and is shooting an excellent 26-for-52, 50 percent, in Smith's 3-point role in those games. Shumpert is probably a better defender than Smith.
Love
What this game showed was the importance of the injured Kevin Love, who missed the game with back spasms.
Love can play inside and out, creating more floor space. Frye, whose 11 fourth quarter points kept the game at least mathematically interesting, only puts the ball on the floor reluctantly and does not play as big as his height at the rim.
Love, the often overlooked third wheel of the Big Three, is having an All-Star season, but it might be best for him to miss the game and rest his back. Neither Frye nor Richard Jefferson should be expected to provide Love's routine double-double in points and rebounds.
Anthony?
It is hard to see how the Cavs would be better without Love.
James might be like a kid on a sleep-over with a chum if the Cavs traded Love for his old friend Carmelo Anthony. But that's only an emotional response, not a basketball reaction. It already is a trade offer the Cavs say they rejected.
If you think the Cavs' offense was stagnant in Dallas, wait until the ball goes to Anthony and stays there, as if it had been tossed into a tar pit.
Absence of a back-up point guard
The Cavs have a handful of back-to-backs left, which will test their thin roster. This week they are auditioning point guards for a backup role, a roster problem James has decried.
The favorite if he is mobile after an ACL repair is Mario Chalmers, who hit a famous shot for Kansas in the NCAA Tournament and was a James teammate in Miami.
James likes playing with guys he can count on to have his back in back-to-backs.