A Lot To Figure Out In Cleveland

Let’s start with the good news from Cleveland. LeBron James is now the youngest player, at 33, to reach the 30,000-point plateau. He blew past that milestone on Tuesday night and deserves full credit for a career of sterling performances.

The Cavaliers, however, lost for the 10th time in 13 games, falling 114-102 to the Spurs in San Antonio. They either cannot or will not play defense, and coach Tyronn Lue is talking about making changes to their starting lineup.

Cleveland is but a half-game ahead of the third-place Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference race, and this is a race Cleveland was expected to win en route to another NBA Finals matchup with the Golden State Warriors. That seems extremely unlikely, given the tenor of the locker room and the player-only meetings and the general ineptness (for a team of this talent) on the court.

There are, however, there are other Cavaliers worth watching. The University of Virginia men’s basketball team is ranked No. 2, has won 11 straight games and is 19-1. Disciplined to the point of being boring, these Cavs beat No. 18 Clemson 61-36 on Tuesday night, allowing only 13 points in the second half. Clemson, missing Donte Graham now with a season-ending injury, shot less than 32 percent from the floor.

So if you are fan of the Cavaliers, pick the Cavaliers you want to watch. The ones in Cleveland have an awful lot to figure out before the playoffs. The group in Charlottesville will challenge for the NCAA title. Of course, that championship will be decided well before the NBA playoffs. You can have two bites of the Cavalier apple.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman