NBA scores: Gordon Hayward crushes the Cavaliers and 3 other things we learned Wednesday night

Gordon Hayward’s buzzer-beaters sent LeBron James and the Cavaliers to 1-3, while three Western Conference teams continued their hot starts.

by Jason Patt

Nov 6, 2014, 1:12 PM UTC

Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

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NBA schedule 2014: Jazz beat the buzzer to drop Cavaliers to 1-3

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With his Cavaliers on the verge of falling to 1-3, LeBron James buried a corner three and then knocked down three free throws to tie the Jazz at 100 in the final seconds Wednesday night. But James' own heroics couldn't save the Cavs, because Gordon Hayward stuck a dagger in them at the other end with a buzzer-beater.

The game-winner capped off a dynamite performance from Hayward. The $63 million man finished with 21 points and seven assists while shooting 7-of-12, and he had several other highlight reel plays besides the buzzer-beater. Hayward gave James a taste of his own medicine by executing a superb chase down block (it may have been goaltending, but whatever), and the 24-year-old stonewalled the four-time MVP at the basket on a key late possession.

Of course, as thrilling as the win was for the Jazz, much of the focus will be on Cleveland. The Cavs are now 1-3 and could easily be 0-4 if not for a generous continuation call that went in their favor against the Bulls last Friday night. Many figured it would take time for the team to jell, but not many could have predicted it would look quite this bad.

It all starts with James, who hasn’t looked much like himself to start the season. He was better against the Jazz with 31 points, but he shot under 50 percent for the fourth straight game. His defense again left a lot to be desired, and he found himself on the ground on the final play.

Kyrie Irving bounced back after an exceptionally poor performance by scoring 34 points, but he didn't record a single assist. In fact, the Cavs as a team only had six assists on 30 made baskets. With so much talent on the roster paired with head coach David Blatt's innovative offense, it was easy to envision the ball whipping around for open shots galore, but that's simply not happening right now. There have been far too many possessions where the ball stops and players stand around, which results in tough shots and plenty of ugliness. Cleveland currently has a pedestrian offensive rating of 100.5 and is playing at the second slowest pace in the league, per NBA.com.

There were a host of other problems against Utah. Kevin Love had 14 points on 2-of-10 shooting, and the star power forward struggled down low against Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter. Dion Waiters was benched and had five points in just 13 minutes. The Cavs' bench in general outside of Tristan Thompson offered nothing, and an already thin group has been made even weaker with the injury to Matthew Dellavedova. With Blatt not trusting his bench, Irving played 45 minutes and James played 42, which isn't ideal for this early in the season.

All this being said, it's far too early to panic in Cleveland. It bears repeating that the Miami Heat started 9-8 in the 2010-11 season, and they recovered to finish second in the Eastern Conference and wound up reaching the NBA Finals. This Cavs team might not be as good as that Heat team, but the point still stands. There's just too much talent in place to not significantly improve on offense, and while the defense may never be really good, there's plenty of room to grow on that end as well.

So take your shots at the Cavs while you can, because things will turn around at some point.

3 other things we learned

The Warriors are the class of the league thus far: The Warriors and Clippers got together for a rematch of last year's seven-game first-round series, and Golden State delivered quite the message in a 121-104 victory. The Warriors shot 58.1 percent overall, 15-of-25 from three and 20-of-20 from the free-throw line. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson continued to scorch the nets by combining for 47 points, while Draymond Green had 24 points and one solid taunt of Blake Griffin. Golden State is now 4-0, with three of the wins coming in blowout fashion. The fourth was a solid road win in Portland, and the Warriors face another big-time opponent in Houston Saturday.

The Grizzlies aren't far behind: Not to be outdone, the Grizzlies improved to 5-0 with an impressive 102-91 win on the road in Phoenix. Memphis got down early, giving up 52 points in the first half against the explosive Suns attack. The second half was a different story, with the Grizzlies tightening the screws up defensively to help turn things around. Memphis held Phoenix to just 39 points in the second half while scoring 56 points of its own. Marc Gasol has been playing like an MVP candidate to start the year, and he delivered again with yet another strong two-way performance.

Purple is the new orange: Two days ago, our very own Tom Ziller wrote about how the Kings could be the new Suns. Sacramento backed up that opinion with another awesome showing, this time laying the wood on Denver, 131-109. DeMarcus Cousins had 26 points and nine rebounds at the half, and he finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Rudy Gay had 29 points on 12 shots. The Kings shot 50 free throws. Reggie Evans even made a jumper, which means you know things are going really well. Who knows if this will last, but for now, the 4-1 Kings are a hell of a lot of fun. And up next on the schedule? The Suns.