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By Karl Kimbrough (pictured), Cleveland Urban News.Com sportswriter

CLEVELAND, Ohio-, The Cleveland Cavaliers would play the World Champion Miami Heat on December 14 at their home in Miami. They then would return to Cleveland to play the Portland Trailblazers, the team with the best won, lost record in the talent-rich Western Conference of the NBA this season.

The Cavaliers had played 22 games and their record was 9-13. They had won five out of their last six games after a poor start to this season. So these two games would be tests against the current NBA elite to see how good or not so good the Cavs are at the quarter mark of the season. It would also let them know what they need to improve as players, coaches, and as an organization to be a playoff contender this season.

It was not a surprise that Cleveland lost both of those games, but it was both eye opening and revealing when we analyze the way they loss each one. They loss to Miami by a score of 114 to 107 and to Portland 119 to 116. This marked only the sixth and seventh games this season that the Cavaliers scored over 100 points. It was the fourth straight game though with over 100 points for Cleveland, which indicates that they have the ability to score a lot of points and that they have improved offensively.

After the Miami game last month head Coach Mike Brown critiqued his team saying that“ I thought our guys did a solid job of competing. But he said also that while his team moved the ball well in the first half of that game, there were too many turnovers

“We had 14 turnovers for 19 points in the first half and that was a lot of the reason they got up on us.,” said Brown. “I thought we competed in the first half, I thought we did a decent job of trying to move the ball.”

Brown added that the Cavs tried to make to many home run passes against Miami, and that the Heat players baited his team into what resulted in “turnovers and easy points.”In the second half , said Brown, “we had four turnovers for one point, that allowed us to cut into the lead.”

Yes turnovers were a problem in that game against Miami. Turnovers have been a big problem for the Cavaliers offense all season. Against the Heat the 14 first half turnovers were more a result of the Heat defenders causing the Cavs to play a little faster than they wanted to. In this game those turnovers were an indictment not only against the players but the coaching staff as well.

How can I say that? Well, every NBA game is a game of match ups. The game plan must include what match ups the Cavaliers can explore against their opponent. In this game two of the biggest mismatches were Andrew Bynum against Chris Bosh and Tristan Thompson matched up with Shane Battier. Both players had significant size advantages in the low post and wing areas of the court.

Although the Cavaliers scored early, point for point with Miami they failed to set the tone and tempo for the game by getting the ball to Bynum and Thompson. Although the game plan called for Bynum to get the ball in the low post Miami defended Bynum with Bosh fronting Bynum and LeBron James cheating off of Alonzo Gee, playing slightly behind Bynum. In that situation the Cavaliers could and should have swung the ball to the opposite side of the floor to take advantage of James' doubling. The Cavs could have also passed to the other side of the key and allowed Bynum to repost there. They could have also involved Bynum in a pick and pop or pick and roll. An adjustment should have been made. Your low post big man should not be allowed to be taken out of the game totally as Bynum was and has been in other games recently.

Thompson at power forward is a true power forward. Battier who was guarding him is a true small forward trying to play power forward without the size for it. The Cavaliers did go to that match up a few times early in the first quarter and had success. But inexplicably went away from it. Ironically after Coach Brown was ejected from the game for arguing a non call at 3:17 of the second quarter, they went after Battier.

Assistant Coach Jim Boylan obviously recognized that in that match up Miami was giving Battier no help and went after him twice right after Brown left the game. Then began the third quarter taking advantage of that match up. In fact, on almost five straight possessions in the beginning of the third quarter Thompson was sent after Battier. That aggressive attacking of the defensive weak link in Miami's Defense paid off big in the third quarter as Thompson totaled 16 points at the end of the quarter. That was the offensive move which got the Cavaliers back in the contest. It energized and gave Thompson's teammates the confidence they were lacking. Suddenly Irving had open lanes to drive through and other players were now getting into the heart of Miami's defense and making shots.

After Thompson left the game for a respite at 2:49 of the third quarter the Cavaliers had trimmed a 52-68 half time Miami lead to 73-81. Thompson also got Battier in foul trouble, as he had to leave the game midway through the third quarter with four fouls. Just as puzzling as Cleveland not exploiting Miami more with their big men inside early in the game they did the same thing in the fourth quarter. After Thompson gave Miami all kind of trouble in the third quarter he did not return to the game in the fourth until there was 2:16 left in the game with Miami up 106 to 100. Thompson would finish with the 16 points that he left the game with in the third quarter.

I'm not trying to say Thompson is on the verge of being a superstar but the point here is, if you have a good horse to put in the race you have to ride him. So this game was not just a revelation of how far the Cavalier players have to go to be playoff contenders, but the coaching staff as well.

By going to their low post players earlier in the game the Cavaliers would have controlled the pace or tempo of the game. Slowing the tempo down would also have taken Miami out of the open floor because there would have been fewer turnovers, or home run passes as Brown called some of them. On the other side of the court Miami saw the big mismatch they had with Dwayne Wade against C.J. Miles and attacked him early and often.

Defensively, the Cavaliers showed in this and the Portland game that they are further away from being a contender on defense than offense. Miami went after Miles with Wade from the beginning of the game. Miles and the Cavaliers allowed Wade to go by them for easy points in the paint. Wade scored 12 of his 20 first half points in the paint. The Cleveland interior defense was perforated with several holes in the first half as Miami scored inside easily.

When asked what the team needs to do to slow down Miami's offense at halftime Cavalier assistant Coach Brett Brielmaier said it is important to “turn them into jump shooters this half.” And that is what Cleveland did, They gave up only 46 points in the second half. Yet, it is obvious that Coach Brown has not been able to put his defensive stamp on the Cavalier team yet. Brown's staple is, guard the paint at all cost. Other indicators that this team is still defensively weak is shown by their, lack of focus, lack of intensity, lack of physicality, poor defensive rotation on a consistent basis, players double teaming players who don't have the ball, poor close outs on perimeter shooters, and interior defenders turning their back to the ball.

Some of the defensive problems are poor fundamentals, which should have been learned in grade school. This is why learning defensive principles at the NBA level is such a long process for this team. The Cavaliers loss to the Portland Trail Blazers was very entertaining as both teams scored at will in a up and down track meet of a game in Cleveland. The Cavaliers have played better at home lately because they play with more energy here. But once again as they did in Miami, the Cavaliers failed to understand the need to control the tempo of the game. If they played at their tempo and not the other teams tempo it takes that team out of it's rhythm because they miss more shots out of rhythm.

Portland is a high octane or fast paced team fueled by several good shooters and scorers. Cleveland's objective should have been to slow this team down a bit, which is easier said than done. If it is to be done ball possession is key, which not only means limiting turnovers, but controlling the rebounding battle. Not only did the Cavaliers lose the rebounding battle 56 to 44 they allowed Portland 18 offensive or second chance rebounds. To slow the Blazers down also meant that once again the ball should go inside early and often to Bynum and Thompson. Attacking inside first then outside if the inside players don't have a good shot.

Again that that did not happen, even though Bynum did score 13 points, he only took 12 shots. Thompson was seven out of eleven for 15 points. While the perimeter players Irving, Waiters, and Jarrett Jack took 22, 19, and 14 shots respectively, most of them on the perimeter. Which means the Cavaliers tried to out run a running team that lead the league in scoring. While the Cavaliers scored 116 points it was more or less fools gold because they were only deceiving themselves into thinking they can win by scoring a lot of points. The Eastern Conference, lead by Miami and Indiana, is a Conference were teams rely on their defense to keep other teams off the scoreboard and to create more offense for themselves. That is the only way teams will win in the Eastern Conference, you have to beat them at their own game not try to change the game.

So what we have learned from those two games against Miami and Portland shows that the Cavaliers have the talent to score with the elite teams, but they need to learn how to use that talent to their advantage to win. Though their offense it is not being conducted properly it is ahead of their defense. What is most disconcerting though is their reliance mainly on their offense to win.(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)