NBA Cleveland Cavaliers

One-Dimensional Cleveland Cavaliers Don’t Have a Plan for Life Without LeBron James

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Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers drives past Jeff Teague of the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena on December 30, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Kevin C. Cox-Getty Images

How will the Cleveland Cavaliers fare without LeBron James for an extended stretch? Miserably, if you look at Cleveland’s latest performance without James as a case study. Put quite simply, the Cavaliers don’t have a Plan B.

James celebrated his 30th birthday from the bench, suffering from a sore knee as the Cavaliers fell 109-101 to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday. Atlanta, in second place in the Eastern Conference, improved to 23-8 with the win while Cleveland slipped to 18-13, with the loss exposing just how feeble Cleveland really are at the three position without a healthy LeBron.

While the Cavaliers don’t deserve to reclaim their age-old infamous Cleveland Cadavers tag just yet, their other small forwards are looking slow, sluggish, and ill-equipped to step up to the challenge.

LeBron’s backups, Mike Miller and James Jones, had less-than-impressive performances on Tuesday while Cleveland was also missing the once-formidable small forward Shawn Marion. Miller failed to launch a shot despite playing 19 minutes while Jones shot 3-for-10 from the field for nine points.

In a position that requires lightning-quick reaction time, ruthless defense and a versatile offensive repertoire, all three of Cleveland’s other small forwards are in their 30s, clearly past their peaks and have watched both their numbers and minutes steadily decline in recent years. Thankfully for the Cavs, they can always look to Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson to carry them against weaker teams than Atlanta.

Irving returned from his own knee injury and made an immediate impact on Tuesday with a four-point play early in the first quarter, and then followed that up with a spectacular old-fashioned 3-point play moments later. Irving was one of the lone bright spots, finishing the night with 35 points while Thompson fouled out late and finished the night 13 rebounds and 18 points.

The usually solid Kevin Love couldn’t seem to get it going either and eventually left the game late in the fourth quarter with back problems, going a brutal 1-for-8 from the field, finishing with seven points.

James aggravated his knee and left hamstring in the Cavaliers’ Christmas Day loss to the Miami Heat, and then also suffered a quad contusion in Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons. Given the performance of his backups, it makes perfect sense that the Cavaliers use caution concerning his injury.

James’ scratch from the lineup came on the heels of his controversial comments surrounding his performance after last Friday’s win over the Orlando Magic and a recent highly-publicized falling out between coach David Blatt and other Cavaliers who haven’t quite bought into his system.

Tuesday’s loss was only the second time Cleveland has been without James this season, but Cavaliers fans should eventually anticipate seeing less and less of LeBron in coming weeks, months and seasons as their hero grows longer in the tooth and the 11 grueling NBA regular seasons he has played begin to take their toll on his body.

That will put added pressure on guys like Jones, Miller and Marion down the stretch, but so far none of them have shown they are up to the challenge. Some more wheeling and dealing are in order for Cleveland if they really intend to build a championship-caliber team.

Peter Mallett is a blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @RedCardTheRef1, like him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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