NBA scores 2014: Cavaliers hit new low with blowout loss to Pistons and 3 things we learned

A blowout home loss by Cleveland, a big night from Corey Brewer and the rest of the action from Sunday in the NBA.

Dec 29, 2014, 2:00 PM UTC

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

It didn't take long after a disappointing Christmas Day performance for the Cleveland Cavaliers' season to hit a new low. With Kyrie Irving sidelined and LeBron James looking limited by a leg injury, the team blew a double-digit first-half lead and completely fell apart after halftime in a 103-80 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night.

On an all-around disappointing night for LeBron, who limped to the locker room at halftime but didn’t miss any action, he summed up the current situation in Cleveland briefly:

#Cavs LeBron James: "Right now we are not very good. In every aspect of the game"
— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) December 29, 2014

The Cavaliers may not have an alarmingly bad record, sitting fifth in the Eastern Conference at 18-12, but expectations haven’t been met a couple months into the season. The loss on Sunday was particularly bad, coming at home against a struggling team that recently released its highest paid player.

Even if the Pistons are more talented than their record would indicate, it’s hard to categorize what happened in Cleveland as anything but a meltdown. The Cavaliers actually led this one, 32-17, a minute into the second quarter, only to lose any semblance of rhythm and crater during the final 30-plus minutes.

There are rough stretches -- like the ones we’ve seen from Cleveland throughout this season as its worked to implement a fresh system with a new group of players -- and then there’s allowing Detroit to outscore you, 86-48, during the final two-plus quarters of a game.

Prior to Sunday night, the Pistons had won six games all season, with a combined winning margin of 30 points. On one night in Cleveland, the team nearly matched that total despite trailing by 15 points roughly a dozen minutes into the action.

It all makes James’ frustration reasonable to see, particularly as he contributes to the team’s issues. The four-time MVP struggled in 32 minutes against Detroit, finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists but an ugly 5-of-19 shooting performance coupled with seven turnovers.

That was just the third time LeBron played fewer than 35 minutes in a game this month, and it’s becoming increasingly possible the team starts to consider limiting his playing time at some point. James has mostly played quite well in December, hitting a season-high 52 percent of his shots, but it’s hard not to wonder whether he’ll be fully prepared for a big postseason run come the spring.

The rest of the Cavaliers also struggled, with the exception of Tristan Thompson. The team's new starting center may not be able to completely replace Anderson Varejao and it's undeniable the Cavaliers need help defensively in the middle, but Thompson recorded 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting and 11 rebounds in 37 minutes on Sunday night. If he can provide that efficient scoring and rebounding on a nightly basis, figuring out the rest of the frontcourt situation will become a lot simpler for Cleveland.

For now, the Cavs find themselves battling injuries and treading water in the standings. Even if things will surely get better with Irving back in the lineup and some more time to adjust to Varejao’s absence, home losses to flailing Detroit in late December probably weren’t part of the plan.

3 other things we learned

’Melo’s knee remains a problem. It’s becoming clear that Carmelo Anthony’s knee soreness won’t simply be an early chapter in a long season. A day after piling up 45 minutes in an overtime loss to Sacramento, Anthony was unable to play in the second half of a 101-79 loss to Portland. The all-star forward has already missed several games this season due to the knee issues, and coming on the second day of a back-to-back, he wasn’t able to go the full four quarters without succumbing to the pain.

As much as New York needs 'Melo to stay competitive this season, the club also badly needs its star player to be healthy in the long run given the contract he signed during the summer. If that means being cautious, it may be time for the Knicks to start managing Anthony's minutes more aggressively if they want to avoid worsening the situation. From indications after the game against the Trail Blazers, it appears that may be happening:

Fisher also not sure if Melo will play on New Year's Eve against Clippers.
— Jonah Ballow (@jonahballow) December 29, 2014

Anthony has appeared in 13 of 15 games this month and played at least 42 minutes in five of those contests. Only Jimmy Butler and Trevor Ariza have played more games with 40-plus minutes this month.

Corey Brewer is fitting nicely in Houston. Most of the chatter surrounding the Rockets recently has focused on the addition of Josh Smith, but Houston's trade for Brewer earlier this month has looked good early on. Playing in just his third game with the Rockets, Brewer went off for 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 6-of-8 from three, as the team lost in San Antonio, 110-106, on Sunday night. The veteran wing has taken advantage of the spacing provided by his new teammates and is averaging 16.7 points on 58 percent shooting (65 percent from three) in his brief time with Houston.

Kyle Lowry needs to make the All-Star Game. A year after Lowry was arguably the league's biggest all-star snub, the Raptors point guard is making it borderline impossible to repeat that mistake. Lowry torched the Nuggets in a 116-102 win on Sunday in his latest masterpiece, recording 30 points on 20 shots, 11 assists and seven rebounds in 38 minutes of action. His numbers have been fantastic all season, but over the last three games he's taken things to another level: 29.7 points, 7.0 assists, 5.3 rebounds and just 2.0 turnovers per contest. While Lowry is currently fourth in fan voting among East guards, trailing behind John Wall, Dwyane Wade and Irving, it's hard to imagine he'll get snubbed a second year in a row.

Play of the night

Serge Ibaka has developed into a pretty good three-point shooter, hitting 39 percent of his attempts this season while averaging nearly four per game. Clearly that emerging confidence is bordering on straight up swagger at this point, because nobody could look more impressed by that made three than Serge right there. He probably can't challenge the true King of Swag, though.