Five-Star Review: The Cavs' defense will cure your offensive woes

THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS CAN REALLY PUT TOGETHER SOME COOL HIGHLIGHTS: The Cleveland Cavaliers really are quite impressive on offense at times. A big part of that is just having LeBron James on your side because he can turn any situation into an addition to the highlight reel. His speed, power, and skill set just sets him up for the spectacular and his understanding of angles and his ability to anticipate what will happen next also adds to the entertainment value. 

His patience in this transition score against Ty Lawson allows him to get the easy dunk against a much smaller player:

Then in transition, LeBron can show off his passing ability by putting a little extra mustard on that bounce pass crosscourt to Shawn Marion, who kicks it over to Kyrie Irving in the corner from the open 3-pointer:

And of course, the Kevin Love outlet pass off a made free throw for the And-1 is just an absurdly fun bit of basketball. 

And yet...

AND YET... THE DENVER NUGGETS END UP WINNING FAIRLY EASILY BECAUSE THAT DEFENSE IS NOT GOOD:  A Denver Nuggets team that went into this game looking like a complete mess in the first nine games of the season with their 2-7 record and the 21st ranked offense in the NBA. Not to mention, they had the 26th ranked defense heading into a road game against the Cavaliers, and the Cavs' defense is so bad and inconsistent that it cured the Nuggets for a night.

The big key was the combined play of Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo, the dynamic backcourt of Denver that has struggled to put together consecutively good games so far this season. Lawson had 24 points and 12 assists in probably his best game of the season so far. He broke the defense down constantly, brought them into the paint, and found teammates for easy buckets after the Cavs' defense was scrambling. Afflalo was a terror early and finished with 23 points 8-of-17 from the field and 4-of-8 from 3-point range.

Denver moved the ball really well because the Cavs' defense just couldn't scramble and recover enough. The Nuggets had a season-high 25 assists and executed in the half court all night long.

For the Cavs, the Big Three of Love-LeBron-Irving combined for 62 points (on 20-of-43 shooting), 14 assists, and 24 rebounds. The rest of the team had just 35 points on 14-of-36 from the field with the majority of that coming from Dion Waiters' 20 points. They've got to even it out. 

THIS DUNK EXCHANGE BETWEEN GERALD GREEN AND JEFF GREEN WAS FUN:  The game between the Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics was incredibly entertaining if you're not looking for world class defense. Part of the fun of it all was the ability of both teams to attack the basket, which was personified perfectly in this exchange of dunks between Gerald Green and Jeff Green in the first quarter.

First, you had Isaiah Thomas tossing up the lob to Gerald Green in transition for the fun finish:

Then a couple possessions later, Jeff Green was able to take the ball on an errant Eric Bledsoe pass all the way for the big one-handed dunk:

THESE BEHIND-THE-BACK ATTEMPTS FROM ERIC BLEDSOE DIDN'T GO GREAT:  You saw Jeff Green take away that poor behind-the-back pass attempt by Bledsoe, but let's take a look at that possession for the Suns' guard. It wasn't the only behind-the-back pass he screwed up on that play:

He really wanted to drop off a behind-the-back pass to somebody and just had to hope a teammate was around to grab it.

YOU CAN PROBABLY MAKE THE ARGUMENT THAT BLEDSOE MADE UP FOR IT LATER: This turned out to be the winning shot in Phoenix's 118-114 road victory over the Celtics, thanks to Avery Bradley consistently proving he's a shooting guard instead of a point guard:

This came after Jeff Green made a huge play in transition to give the Celtics a lot of life in trying to win this game.

Again, this game was a lot of fun.

THE DALLAS MAVERICKS ARE THE OFFENSE OF THE FUTURE: Everything we wondered about the San Antonio Spurs' offense last year during the playoffs and everything we wondered about the Cavs' offense going into this season is exactly what we're getting out of the Mavs' offense so far. Sure, their numbers are a little skewed after blowout victories over the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves the past week, but the offense is still absurd outside of those games.

They came into Monday night's contest with the top rated offense in the league at 115.0 points per 100 possessions, the second best effective field goal percentage at 54.2 percent, and the second best net rating at plus-11.4 points per 100 possessions. They've also been the best first half team in basketball with a plus-26.8 points per 100 possessions in the first 24 minutes. The second best first half team so far is the Golden State Warriors and they have a net rating of plus-16.9.

How did they do against a tough Charlotte Hornets' defense in the first half Monday night?

They got a lot of points in the paint and they got a lot of points from 3-point shooting. Overall, they lit the Hornets up for 67 first half points and it helped them cruise to an easy victory. This Mavericks team isn't even really hitting 3-pointers yet (middle of the road for percentage) and they're this good on offense. 

This is getting scary for the rest of the NBA.

THE MIAMI HEAT ROOKIES ARE HIGHLIGHT MACHINES:  The revolution is televised and a lot of it consists of Miami Heat rookie James Ennis making incredibly athletic plays to pump up his team. He's good for one big athletic play a game, at least. In the Heat's 95-83 victory in Brooklyn over the Nets, Ennis got the lead pass from Shabazz Napier and was able to dunk home after a double pump to avoid Alan Anderson's last gasp at defense on a play in which he missed the shot and forgot to get back.

Another really fun play involved Napier as he flat-out lost Deron Williams and had him spinning around like a kid trying to make himself dizzy in a department store.

Just be sure to ignore the fact that this ended up being a turnover on the pass.

IT MIGHT BE TIME TO START WORRYING ABOUT THE HORNETS' OFFENSE: The Charlotte Hornets went into this game as the fifth worst offense in the NBA and ended up scoring just 80 points on 40.0 percent shooting against a mediocre Mavs' defense. Kemba Walker didn't do much on offense, Al Jefferson couldn't get shots to fall as he went 3-of-12 from the field, and Lance Stephenson is struggling to put together any kind of consistent production on the offensive end.

Gerald Henderson was their best offensive player, which tells you all you need to know about that team's production Monday night.

THE ORLANDO MAGIC CLOSED OUT THE DETROIT PISTONS LIKE A VETERAN TEAM:  With 8:02 left in the fourth quarter, Andre Drummond got a big dunk plus the foul against Channing Frye. The Detroit Pistons' center converted the free throw and brought his team within one point at 88-87. It looked like the Pistons might be able to build up a bit of a rhythm and some confidence against a very inexperienced Orlando Magic team.

And yet, the Magic just clamped down on the Pistons, despite being on the road, and convincingly closed out this game. Over the final 8:02 of this game, the Pistons would go on to score just six points while the Magic put up 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Six of those buckets were assisted. Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic took over by combining for 13 points. Overall, they combined for 49 points.

The Pistons, on the other hand, had more turnovers (three) than made shots (two) over that final 8:02 of the game. They made just 15.4 percent of their shots with Drummond getting another And-1 conversion and Brandon Jennings knocking down a 3-pointer with 2:50 left. Orlando didn't just slam the door on Detroit; they made sure their hand was in the way too so the Pistons had something to remember them by.

THE MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES WERE NOT HOSPITABLE TO THE HOUSTON ROCKETS:  To be fair to the Houston Rockets, this was going to be a really tough back-to-back for them no matter what. Before Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook went down with their respective injuries, the Rockets were looking at a back-to-back in Oklahoma City and then traveling to Memphis to face the Grizzlies. Even without Russ and KD in OKC, the Thunder made it a very ugly game for the Rockets and had one of the most physical competitions we've seen all season.

They got the win but they had to turn around right away and play arguably the best team in basketball right now. Everybody has tough back-to-backs throughout the course of a season, so you can't blame the schedule. And as Trevor Ariza put it, the Grizzlies just kicked their butts:

I'm not sure if the Rockets were too tired to compete, but the Grizzlies made sure it wasn't a contest regardless of the freshness of this Rockets' roster. Memphis jumped all over them early and didn't just grind out a tough victory. They obliterated them on offense by making 53.5 percent of their shots. They also took advantage of 21 turnovers by scoring 31 points off of them. Seven different Grizzlies' players scored in double figures with four of those guys coming from the bench.

The Grizzlies are 10-1 now and look unbeatable at home. 

ANTHONY DAVIS JUST DOES THIS ONCE OR TWICE A GAME NOW:  He's officially good, in case you were wondering.

Also, not many people have blocked a LaMarcus Aldridge jumper in their lives. In fact, it's only been done by three people since the beginning of last season: David West (no seriously), DeAndre Jordan, and Anthony Davis. Davis did it again tonight (he's the leader in this weird statistical category with three now) and then blocked a quick shot by Damian Lillard right after he swatted away Aldridge's attempt.

AND YET, THE PELICANS CAN'T FIND A WAY TO PULL OUT THIS GAME:  A 34-13 fourth quarter by the Portland Trail Blazers gave them the victory over the Pelicans. Now, the Blazers are a better team and they were at home, so they should end up winning this game. But the Pelicans were in position to pull off the upset on the road and just played stupid basketball down the stretch. 

In the fourth quarter, New Orleans was just 4-of-24 from the field. Jrue Holiday went 0-of-9 in the quarter and Anthony Davis only had five shots (made two). Overall in the game, he scored 31 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and had three assists, three steals, and three blocks. But they never went to him down the stretch, aside from a couple of random possessions in which he couldn't really do anything. Holiday and Tyreke Evans decided to monopolize the offensive possessions and the Blazers put the hammer down on them. 

Is it they don't feel they can run a play to get Davis the ball in an advantageous position? Is it just Evans and Holiday being selfish? Is Monty Williams going to have a hot seat here pretty soon?

NO DERRICK ROSE? NO PROBLEM ON THE ROAD: The Chicago Bulls are not to be trifled with, even if they don't have their best player. They put the smack down on the Los Angeles Clippers, despite Derrick Rose sitting out once again. Jimmy Butler had a monster game with 22 points, eight assists, and six rebounds while Mike Dunleavy delivered some late daggers against his dad's old team. Perhaps this was an Inigo Montoya (look it up, kids) type of situation for Dunleavy Jr?

The Bulls also didn't have Pau Gasol at their disposal, but still managed to dominate the paint battle 36-24. Joakim Noah battled DeAndre Jordan all night and finished with 11 points, 16 rebounds, and six assists. The Bulls could not have put on a better display of offensive execution down the stretch either. Just basket after basket as the Clippers searched for answers that didn't reveal themselves. The Bulls are now 6-0 on the road. 

THE CLIPPERS NEED TO FIGURE SOMETHING OUT: They have absolutely no answer on the wing defensively. Butler joins the latest long line of wing players to obliterate them throughout the course of a game. Chris Paul isn't doing enough. Blake Griffin isn't doing enough. The defense can't get stops. And the bench/role players are non-existent unless Jamal Crawford is bailing them out. 

And even then...