| Washington Wizards |
| Cleveland Cavaliers |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 27 | 27 | 26 | 17 |
| 24 | 19 | 24 | 18 |
| Total |
| 97 |
| 85 |
Tue Dec 1 Status: Final Attendance: 20562
CLEVELAND, Ohio – It might be time for LeBron James to cease this no-pregame-introductions experiment.Of course, the Cavaliers' refusal (at James' apparent direction) to actually line up and come out when their names are announced before each game had nothing to do with their worst performance of the season Tuesday night, an 97-85 clunker of a loss to the Washington Wizards at The Q.
It's just, well, since the Cavs lost for the first time at home this season and for just the second in the last 31 regular-season home dates, maybe now's a good time to point that Cleveland's whole pregame routine is a little awkward.
Maybe it doesn't hurt. But it surely doesn't help.
James led the Cavs with 24 points, 13 rebounds and nine turnovers Tuesday night. Yes, he was one turnover away from a triple-double. With Cleveland trailing by 10 and trying to claw its way back, James missed reverse layups at 2:19 and 1:44 of the fourth quarter, removing any doubt.
Kevin Love suffered through his worst game this season with eight points on 2-of-10 shooting. Timofey Mozgov failed to score and was limited to nine minutes on the court. Coach David Blatt couldn't bear to watch.
Overall, the Cavs committed 19 turnovers which lead to 25 points for the Wizards. The Cavs only scored 10 off turnovers.
And, finally, the Wizards looked way faster than their counterparts, sprinting up the floor before Cleveland could get back on defense, even after a Cavs basket. John Wall exploded for 35 points.
Cleveland never led and trailed by 22 points – its worst deficit this season.
Those are the facts of the case. What do they have to do with the Cavs not taking part in the time-honored NBA production that is announcing the starting lineups? Again, nothing. Except, well, it's hard to argue that the concept works.
Not all season, but for some time now, the Cavs have huddled with Blatt while the lights are out and their names are called before games. It was James' idea, the Heat would do it every now and then during their championship runs when he was in Miami, and the idea is to cultivate a laser-sharp focus before the game starts.
But on Tuesday, the Cavs were wearing their throwback uniforms honoring the 1970s, which means the popular, 70s-clothes-wearing-Cavs video streamed over the jumbotron before the Cavs' starters were introduced.
Each player stood on the floor looking straight up, laughing at the site of James and Richard Jefferson and Kyrie Irving and the rest of them cutting a rug in their finest polyester.
What kind of focus was cultivated then, and what possibly could've been the harm had the starters, one by one, strolled out to the court when their names were called, as happens everywhere, every night in the NBA?
Last week, before a road game in Toronto, the Cavs finished with their Blatt huddle so early that they were on the court when the Raptors' dancers were still out there gyrating on Drake Night.