NBA schedule and results: LeBron James returns, but Cavs lose again

DeMarcus Cousins got his sixth and final foul here:

That is a flop to end all flops, and it hurt threefold: Cousins lost the Kings possession with less than a shot clock to go in a tie game, he had to sit for what ended up being an overtime affair, and he ended up one assist short of a triple-double.

If anything, I give young Dante Exum credit for acquitting himself pretty well here, even though Stephen Curry made the basket:

Steph’s gonna mess with you. The best you can do is avoid lunging, keep yourself in the picture, and hope he misses. He didn’t -- and usually doesn’t -- but the ankles stayed intact. That’s a win.

John Wall put a little extra telekinesis on this inside-out dribble:

Basketball is much easier when you can freeze a defender with your Jedi mind tricks.

Must be nice to jump from the edge of the paint, shift away from a defender as if you’re going to curl a reverse layup, then come back to the same side of the rim for a two-handed dunk. K.J. McDaniels can fly.

(Via @talkhoops and Comcast SportsNet Philly)

One of these tricycle race competitors looks an awful lot like ... oh, yeah, that’s Jeff Gordon:

You know, talent driving a stock car wouldn’t necessarily translate to tricycling skills, but ... well, apparently it does. Jeff Gordon corners like a champ on that thing, at least with a little scootin’ help from his butt. But yo, isn’t the point of a tricycle race to make big people compete on small vehicles? I wanna see if Gordon’s still got it on a child-sized bike.

The Cavaliers have been dreadful on both sides of the ball without James, with the offense and defense operating at close to league-worst levels. The defensive struggles shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise given how poor Cleveland has been on that end over the course of the entire season even with James, but the dreadful offense is shocking considering the presence of Love and Irving.