Cleveland Cavaliers struggle with Princeton offense, get schooled by Washington Wizards

Coming off a few up practices, the team's second preseason game is a bit of a downer and a reminder the Cavs still are very much in the neophyte stage in learning the Princeton offense.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — After a series of promising practices, coach Byron Scott was just starting to feel a bit better about the progress his Cavaliers team was making learning the basics of his Princeton offense.

Well, until Thursday night.

That Princeton offense, Scott likes to say, is simple in theory because it follows basic basketball instincts of watching the defense and making natural adjustments. But it is called the Princeton offense and not, say, the Faber College offense, for a reason.

While it may be basic, the reads and timing of learning to work together takes awhile, especially when most of the players don't have experience running it, which is the case for the Cavs.

So ups and downs are expected. Coming off a few up practices, the team's second preseason game was a bit of a downer and a reminder it still is very much in the neophyte Princeton stage.

The Washington Wizards ended up handling the Cavs, 97-83, in front of an announced season-ticket-supplemented crowd of 19,124.

There were some positives, including another strong all-around performance by guard Ramon Sessions off the bench and some quality play from forward J.J. Hickson. But, in general, the offense that has been much of the focus of the preseason spun its wheels, at times literally.

When rotations got uncertain, the ball would stop and the shot clock would run down and there would be a bad shot. Or a bad pass. There were plenty of both.

The Cavs shot just 35 percent for the game, and that was with the benefit of 58 percent shooting in the fourth quarter when the benches were cleared. Through three quarters it was closer to 28 percent. There were also 26 turnovers, with seven different players having more than one.

In fairness, the Cavs played without guard Mo Williams, and forwards Antawn Jamison and Anderson Varejao for various reasons. But the progress in general was lacking.

"We just have way too many guys who are a little flustered with the process right now," Scott said. "We're still in the crawling stage ... we'll get better at it."

Even the two offensive bright spots, Sessions and Hickson, had their issues. Sessions had 10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and Hickson had 16 points and eight rebounds. But the two combined to shoot 8-of-24.

"It's just a matter of guys figuring out where guys can get their shots to fit their game," Hickson said. "It is not going to happen overnight. That is why you play preseason."

But it wasn't a great night for either team. The Wizards shot just 40 percent and scored just 33 points in the first half.

Point guard John Wall, the No. 1 overall draft pick, missed his first nine shots. But he rallied in the second half and finished with 12 points and nine assists. Washington big man Yi Jianlian, another off-season pickup, looked good as he scored 16 points with seven rebounds.

Forward Leon Powe had 10 points off the bench for the Cavs and Ryan Hollins, who started at center, had 14 rebounds (his career high is 12) and two blocks.

Friday will be an off day for most of the Cavs' veterans, the first since the start of camp, and all are looking forward to it. Several players seemed low on energy after a two-hour practice Thursday morning.

"After about 10 practices the guys are fatigued right now," Scott said. "I thought that showed."