1-11-17 at Blazers

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Wrap-Up -- For almost any team in the East, a Western Conference road trip is going to take them to certain arenas where they’ve traditionally struggled. Unfortunately for the road-weary Wine and Gold, they wound up in two such gyms on successive nights.

Cleveland began the trip with wins over a pair of cellar-dwellers, but the sledding’s gotten tougher west of the Rockies – as the Blazers beat up a cool-shooting Cavaliers squad, 102-86, on Wednesday night at the Moda Center.

The consecutive losses are the first for Cleveland since dropping three straight in early December.

After falling on Tuesday night in Utah – where they had dropped six of their previous seven – the Cavaliers made a difficult trip to Portland – where they had lost five of their last six. Add the fact that it was their fourth game of the trip, the second game of a back-to-back and had arrived in Portland in the early hours of the morning after a winter storm hampered their flight in.

The Blazers faced similar travel snafus, so the Cavaliers didn’t have much of an excuse for Wednesday’s showing – as Cleveland shot just 34 percent from the floor and 30 percent from long-range (one night after posting similar numbers on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City).

The Cavaliers never quite found their footing on Wednesday night – trailing by a touchdown after one quarter, by eight at intermission and by as many as 24 in the fourth quarter. They’ve yet to win in either Portland or Utah during the second LeBron James Era in Cleveland.

LeBron led three Cavaliers in double-figures with 20 points and 11 boards, going 5-for-12 from the floor and adding four assists, a steal and blocked shot. With two games remaining on the road trip, James and three other starters sat the entire fourth quarter.

Kevin Love got off to a strong start in his return to the Pacific Northwest, netting all 17 of his points before intermission. But like most of the Cavaliers, the three-time All-Star struggled from the floor for the second straight night – going just 5-for-15.

Kyrie Irving was the only starter to play in the final period, but it didn’t help. Like Love, Irving struggled to find his range on Wednesday – going just 4-of-16 from the field for 11 points.

The Cavaliers were done in by one local kid and one player who’s proving to be a thorn in Cleveland’s side.

LeBron James tallies his 16th double-double of the season as the Wine and Gold fall to 28-10

Canton’s own C.J. McCollum led both squads with 27 points, going 11-for-20 from the floor, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. Allen Crabbe, who dropped 26 points on the Cavs in last year’s post-Christmas blowout in Portland, came off the bench to score 24 more on Wednesday – going 9-of-11 from the floor, 3-of-5 from long-distance.

Cleveland hasn’t tallied 20 assists in the past six games and that trend continued on Wednesday, with the Cavs dishing out only 14 helpers in the loss. Portland outscored the Cavs in the paint, 46-24, and forced 16 turnovers that led to 18 Blazers’ points.

Turning Point -- Wednesday’s contest began slipping away midway through the second quarter.

After a back-and-forth first quarter, Channing Frye’s triple got Cleveland to within four early in the second. But C.J. McCollum and Allen Crabbe began heating up just as the Cavs (aside from Kevin Love) began cooling down – using a 15-3 run to give Portland a 16-point edge with 5:39 to play in the period.

McCollum would hit a three-pointer to start the second-half scoring and the Wine and Gold would manage to get within single-digits the rest of the way.

By the Numbers – 7,098 … career assists for LeBron James, moving him ahead of Tim Hardaway for 15th in the NBA’s all-time list.

Quotable – Coach Tyronn Lue, explaining his squad’s recent struggles on the road …

”Schedule, Injuries, sickness, a lot of stuff. But that’s no excuse. We know what we’re doing and what we’re supposed to do. You’re not going to have assists if you’re not making shots, and if you shoot 34 percent, how many assists can you really get..”

Up Next -- With four games of their six-game trip now in the rearview mirror after falling to the Blazers on Wednesday night, the Cavaliers head to California for the final leg of the roadie. On Friday night, it’s a date with DeMarcus Cousins and the Kings at their brand new gym – the Golden 1 Center. After a much-needed two-day break, the Wine and Gold wrap up the trip on MLK Day with their first visit to Oracle Arena since winning the 2016 NBA Championship in June.

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Cool-Shooting Cavs Drop Second Straight

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#CavsBlazers Game Photos - January 11, 2017

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On a snowy Wednesday night in Portland, the Cavaliers will try to get back on track after an ugly loss to the Jazz on Tuesday.

After taking the first two games of their six-game junket, the Wine and Gold stumbled (again) in Salt Lake City, a place where Cleveland hasn’t won since LeBron James’ return. Tuesday’s contest was how the Jazz do it – gritty defense, timely shooting and a healthy dose of Rudy Gobert as the Cavs shot just 37 percent from the floor and 29 percent from long-range while turning it over 18 times.

If the Cavaliers want to wash the memory of last night’s game out of their memory, they’ll need a better performance than last year’s, when the Blazers caught a Cleveland team spent from a Christmas Day loss to the Warriors and handed them a 29-point thumping.

The current Blazers are coming off a big victory on Tuesday night in L.A., but like the Cavaliers, had travel snafus and didn’t arrive until early in the morning. Terry Stotts’ squad has been up and down of late, trying to rebound from a brutal stretch in which they dropped 10 of 11.

The last time these two teams met – on November 23 at The Q – they combined for 262 points. After rolling in during the early AM, another one like that would be pretty incredible.

The Blazers are probably hoping that Kevin Love couldn’t sleep on the tarmac during last night’s weather delay after what he did against them a month-and-a-half ago at The Q.

In that November 23 win, Love posted the most prolific scoring quarter in Cavaliers history and one of the greatest in league history – scoring 34 points in the first quarter. In that epic 12-minute performance, the three-time All-Star set the franchise record for points, three-pointers made (8) and field goals made (11) in a single period – finishing three points shy of Klay Thompson’s NBA record and finishing with 40 on the night.

On Wednesday he returns to his roots in the Pacific Northwest, where he played at nearby Lake Oswego.

Love – who struggled on 4-for-14 shooting on Tuesday night in Utah – will match up mainly with Al-Farouq Aminu. The seventh-year forward isn’t an offensive-minded player, but he can be a handful on the boards, as he was on Tuesday night in Tinseltown, leading both teams with a season-high 15 rebounds.

As many excellent point guard matchups as there are in the current NBA, the two battles that Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard wage every season is among the very best.

After dropping 32 points on the Nets and 27 more on the Suns to start the trip, Kyrie Irving hit a snag on Tuesday night in Utah – struggling from the floor on 5-for-18 shooting, notching his 27th 20-plus point game of the season, but certainly not the way he wanted to.

Irving notched 20 points much more efficiently in Cleveland’s November 23 win – going 8-for-15 from the floor with six assists. And if the Blazers remember Kevin Love’s outburst this year, they’ll definitely remember Kyrie’s gigantic 55-point outburst two seasons ago – going 11-for-19 from three-point range and canning the game-winner in a dramatic LeBron-less win in Cleveland.

Lillard was quiet that night – a rare occurrence against the Cavaliers. In eight career matchups against the Wine and Gold, Lillard averages 26.9 points per – topping the 30-point plateau on three occasions, including his big 40-point, 11-assist performance on November 23 in Cleveland.

Damian Lillard came into the league ready for stardom, but it took his backcourt mate, Canton’s own C.J. McCollum, a few years to find it. But Portland’s second-leading scorer has definitely done that – and he gives the Blazers one of the deadliest one-two punches in the league.

In his fourth year, the NBA’s reigning Most Improved Player has continued his ascent, and he comes into Wednesday’s matchup with the Cavs on a tear – averaging 30.4 points per over his last eight games. He has more 30-point games this season (9) than the rest of his career combined (and all eight of those were in 2015-16) and he and Lillard have had six games this season in which they each dropped 30-plus, going 5-1 in those contests.

If the Cavaliers have a shot at slowing McCollum down on Wednesday night, they have the right men for the job in DeAndre Liggins and Iman Shumpert – who’ve been very good on the defensive end, but have struggled from the floor of late.

Kyle Korver made his Cavaliers debut on Tuesday night in the hopes of remedying that situation, but he was understandably off his mark – finishing with just two points on 1-for-5 shooting.

Korver’s arrival bolsters a bench in need of a lift as the Cavaliers grind through a six-game, 12-day West Coast trip – especially considering Wednesday’s back-to-back after battling weather bugaboos. Korver’s resume says it all, and once he finds his rhythm will begin doing what he does best.

The Cavs bench – aside from Channing Frye – has struggled from the floor through the first few games of the trip, including last night’s loss in Utah when they combined to go just 5-for-21 from the floor. Iman Shumpert, Kay Felder and Richard Jefferson are looking to rediscover their rhythm, while Frye – who’s posted 17 games this season in double-figures – has remained relatively consistent.

The Big Three did most of the heavy lifting through the first two games of the trip, but they might need their bench to provide a lift on Wednesday.

The Blazers bench is led by Evan Turner, who dropped 17 points on the Cavaliers in their November 23 meeting. And the Cavaliers know exactly what Allen Crabbe can do after he came off the bench to lead both teams with 26 points in last year’s blowout loss in Portland.

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KeyBank Five Keys: Cavaliers at Blazers

clejsykes

The Cavaliers begin the second half of their season-long six game road trip tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers. Tipoff from the Moda Center is at 10:30 p.m. (ET).

Cleveland leads the Eastern Conference in overall wins (28, 4th in NBA), winning percentage (.757, 4th in NBA), three-pointers made (472, 2nd in NBA) and points per game differential (+6.3, 4th in NBA), while ranking 2nd in the East in three-point percentage (.387, 3rd in NBA) and points per game (109.8, 4th in NBA).

CAVS TO DON ALT WINE JERSEYS
        From where to catch all the action to Wednesday's game notes, Cavs.com has you covered.

Get into the conversation with other die-hards.

The Wine and Gold aim to bounce back as they dropped their first game of the road trip, a 100-92 loss on Tuesday night in Utah against the Jazz.

LeBron James led both teams with 29 points, going 10-for-20 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc – adding six boards, five assists and a game-high four steals.

Cleveland will need a total team effort on Wednesday night as they - along with the Blazers - play their second game in as many nights.

Portland (17-23) crushed the Lakers, 108-87, last night in Tinseltown. CJ McCollum topped the 20-point mark for the eighth straight game with a game-high 25 points for Portland, which beat the Lakers for the 10th consecutive time. McCollum's backcourt mate, Damian Lillard scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half.

The Blazers dynamic duo hopes for another solid performance against the Cavaliers, a team that has beat them in three of the last four meetings including a 137-125 defeat in the two teams' first matchup in Cleveland on back on November 23rd.

Radio: WTAM 1100, 100.7 WMMS, 87.7 La Mega

For live in-game updates, follow @cavs, @CavsJoeG, @CavsFredMcLeod, @MrCavalier34, @CavsJMike and @chones22 on Twitter.

Status Update: (Cavs) - J.R. Smith, (Right Thumb Fracture, Out), Chris Andersen, (Right Knee ACL Tear, Out)

Status Update: (Trail Blazers) - Al-Farouq Aminu, (Left Calf, Out), Festus Ezeli, (Left Knee, Out)

In the first meeting between the two teams this season, Cleveland poured in 137 points, which is the most points scored in regulation by any team at Quicken Loans Arena and the most points the Cavs have scored since 4/9/92 (141 pts vs. Charlotte). The Cavs also tied a franchise record for most points in a quarter with 46 in the 1st quarter.

In addition, Cleveland set a NBA regular season record for threes made in a half with 16 and also finished with a Quicken Loans Arena record 21 treys (regular season).

Kevin Love, who grew up in Oregon, finished with a Cavalier career-high 40 points, going 12-20 (.600) from the field and 8-12 (.667) from deep, eight rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes. In the first quarter, Love scored the most points in the opening period in NBA history and second most in any quarter, pouring in 34. He also broke a franchise record for threes in a quarter with 8 and field goals made with 11.

Wednesday's showdown marks the final matchup between the two teams this regular season.

After a day off, Cleveland travels to Sacramento for a Friday night matchup with DeMarcus Cousins and the Kings before closing out the junket with a heavyweight battle against the Warriors on MLK Day in Oakland. VIEW FULL SCHEDULE

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#CavsBlazers Game Preview - January 11, 2017

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1‑11‑17 at Blazers

Cool-Shooting Cavs Drop Second Straight

#CavsBlazers Game Photos - January 11, 2017

KeyBank Five Keys: Cavaliers at Blazers

#CavsBlazers Game Preview - January 11, 2017