Wine and Gold, Under the Weather

The Cavaliers got a rude awakening in their first game back from their longest road trip of the season on Wednesday night. The Magic hung 117 points on the Wine and Gold, and LeBron’s second triple-double of the season was, once again, obscured by a heartbreaking loss.

LeBron put up numbers on Wednesday – as he did last week in Utah – that have stood for 40 years and were last accomplished by players named Baylor and Chamberlain. And people can say what they want about the foul that wasn’t called on the last play, but the Cavaliers had their chances to win it before that jump ball.

“I never get into referee battles,” said a subdued James following the OT loss. “I think we had opportunities to win the ballgame and they made more plays than us. It is as simple as that. I’ve always been a no excuse guy and I voice my opinion throughout the course of the game, but after the game I don’t need to go after them.”

Right now, the Cavaliers are a beat up team. Fans can say what they want about chartered flights and luxury hotels, but the travel numbers add up no matter how you slice it. In the past month, the Cavaliers have traveled 23,500 miles, taken 13 flights, played 12 games in 11 cities, and stayed in 10 hotels while visiting four different time zones.

They’ve been without Eric Snow all season and Donyell Marshall for most of it. LeBron, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and and Damon Jones were all nicked-up on Wednesday. Larry Hughes will miss at least a month. Sasha Pavlovic’s NBA body-clock is still in preseason and Anderson Varejao is still M.I.A.

The result is a 4-5 record.

The Cavaliers have been kept afloat by their starting frontline. Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are the only pair of teammates in the league each averaging a double-double. Gooden’s averaging 14.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per contest and Z is going at a clip of 15.9 and 12.1. And LeBron has been off the charts all year and would easily be the early favorite for MVP if not for Kevin Garnett’s performance paired with Boston’s record.

The backcourt, on the other hand, has been erratic, at best. Between injuries and an ejection, Hughes simply has not found his rhythm, shooting 29 percent from the floor and averaging 6.8 ppg – over eight points below his career average. Pavlovic is right at his career average of 5.8 ppg, but he’s shooting 28 percent from the floor and has broken double-figures once – a 17-point effort in Utah, with all 17 coming in the first half.

Mike Brown’s defensive mettle has been tested lately, too. The Cavaliers gave up 122 points in Denver and 117 more to the Magic. For their troubles, they get a matchup with the league’s highest scoring team (Utah – 109.6 ppg) on Friday night.

Let’s see what LeBron can pull out of his hat when C-Booz and Co. roll into The Q. The two squads passed like ships in the night at the Cleveland Clinic Courts on Thursday afternoon, but it’ll be up-close-and-personal when the popcorn starts popping on Friday.