NEW ORLEANS: Hours before the game, before the New Orleans Pelicans shot holes across the Cavaliers’ defense, LeBron James insisted it didn’t feel as if the Cavs were in a slump.
It’s hard to deny it now. This team isn’t playing well and hasn’t been for a couple weeks. Monday’s 124-122 loss to the Pelicans was further proof — the Cavs’ fifth defeat in their last seven games.
Kyrie Irving scored a season-high 49 points, the most of any Cavs player this season, and LeBron James registered his third triple-double of the season and 46th of his career. Yet the Cavs still lost on a night the Pelicans were without All-Star Anthony Davis.
Davis missed the game with a leg injury and the Pelicans still led the entire night. Kevin Love scored 22 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, and James had 26 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists, but New Orleans joined Utah and Portland as cities the Cavs haven’t won in since James returned to Cleveland in 2014.
The Pelicans matched their season-high with 16 3-pointers after they entered averaging 9.3 per game. Terrence Jones scored a career-high 36 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Jrue Holiday scored a season-high 33 points. Jones’ block on James with 2:45 remaining and the Cavs trailing by eight brought the crowd to its feet and dealt another reminder of how out of rhythm this team is right now — and how reliant they are on James and Irving to carry them. James played 44 minutes and Irving played 41 after James played 45 minutes and Irving played 41 in Saturday’s overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
The Cavs trailed by double figures almost immediately and the deficit swelled to 22 in the second quarter. They spent the rest of the night trying to dig out of it, closing within 94-86 entering the fourth after Irving erupted for 19 points in the third quarter to shoot the Cavs back into the game.
Langston Galloway, Donatas Motiejunas and Tyreke Evans countered with 3-pointers within the first two minutes of the fourth and the Pelicans’ lead was back out to 103-86. That’s been the problem for the Cavs throughout this skid. They’ve simply tried to outshoot their defensive mistakes and right now it isn’t working.
Irving’s 3-pointer from the wing pulled the Cavs within 115-109 with four minutes left. He was fouled by Holiday on a 3-point attempt with 1:58 left and made all three free throws to pull within 117-114. But he missed a 3-pointer from the wing in the final minute that would’ve pulled the Cavs within a point and the Cavs lost a jump ball following a double foul.
Their last real chance faded when James was stripped by Galloway while trying to dribble behind his back for his sixth turnover of the night.
The Cavs return home to host the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.