Live Thread: Suns @ Cavs

Fresh of a six-game road trip that ended with a complete thrashing at the hand of the Golden State Warriors, the Cleveland Cavaliers return to Quicken Loans Arena tonight for their second meeting of the season against the Phoenix Suns. With a 4-4 record over their last eight games, the Cavaliers have been struggling a bit, but a return home, combined with some practice time and a game against a Suns team that will likely finish fairly high in the lottery seem like the kinds of medicine that help these problems.

The Suns currently sport the third-worst record in the NBA behind the Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat, but are an older team than one might expect. Besides Eric Bledsoe—already 27 years old and with an extensive injury history—the Suns are paying big money to veterans Tyson Chandler, Jared Dudley, P.J. Tucker, and Leandro Barbosa, four solid players who would all be better off playing a bench role on a contender. Plus there’s Brandon Knight, currently in the second year of a five-year $70 million contract, and arguably one of the worst rotation players in the league this season. While they do have some intriguing young players in Devin Booker and T.J. Warren, the Suns would be best off fully embracing a rebuild if they want to return to NBA relevance any time soon.

To be honest, the Cavaliers can use a game like this tonight. They haven’t been playing well lately, and have several issues they need to work out. Their assists are down to just 16.3 per game in January after being over 22 in the previous two-plus months of the season. Meanwhile, they are turning the ball over 14.5 times per game in new year, which is over a turnover per game more than they’ve had in any previous month. They’re on their third starting shooting guard of the season in Iman Shumpert, and are adjusting to the addition of Kyle Korver, a dead-eye shooter who flourishes in offensive sets that the Cavaliers don’t typically use. Meanwhile, Kevin Love is dealing with back issues that will keep him out of tonight’s game, and the team still has just 13 healthy players on the roster.

As bad as all that sounds, the NBA season is a marathon, not a sprint. The Cavs have plenty of time to fix their game and put themselves in the best position possible to defend their title. That marathon continues this evening against the Suns. Be sure to tune in to Fox Sports Ohio at 7:00, and be sure to stop by and share your thoughts here at Cavs: The Blog!