Cavs suffer embarrassing loss to depleted Grizzlies

After all the cryptic tweets, the public call-outs, the coaching upheaval, and the griping about mental toughness, the Cleveland Cavaliers still don't seem to have found the missing ingredient.

Cleveland could hardly have asked for a more favorable matchup on Monday night, playing at home - where it held a record of 27-5 - against a brutally banged-up Memphis Grizzlies squad that was on the second night of a back-to-back and dressing the minimum eight players (none of them named Gasol, Randolph, or Conley).

Maybe that was the problem. The Cavs didn't seem to take the Grizzlies' patchwork C-team seriously until it was too late. They played a sluggish, sloppy, disengaged 45 minutes before a last-ditch comeback attempt came up short in an embarrassing 106-103 loss.

The Cavs were beat out for loose balls and beat off the bounce. They couldn't contain dribble penetration or protect the rim. They struggled to generate open looks and launched wayward jumpers even when they did. They couldn't get on the same page, and continually made careless, avoidable turnovers. All told, they coughed the ball up 25 times - a season high. The Cavs have talked endlessly this season about needing to be hungrier, but the Grizzlies could've eaten them under the table on Monday.

Those Grizzlies. Even amidst eulogies about the Grit n' Grind era, even after losing their anchor for the year, even after suffering two losses to the plainly awful Phoenix Suns within a week, they keep plugging away.

Not a single player who started for them on opening night was in uniform Monday. Only two players who even saw the floor on opening night - Tony Allen and JaMychal Green - suited up. But the Grizzlies lost to the Cavs by 30 on opening night, so maybe it was for the best.

Allen, returning from a seven-game absence due to a knee injury, was at his Grindfatherly best. He drove to the basket relentlessly, pestered the Cavs with the tenacity of a mosquito, and seemed to have his hand in every passing lane. He scored a season-high 26 points, handed out four assists, and ripped five steals.

Green was no less impactful. The undrafted, second-year forward went for 16 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, four steals, and two blocks, handling the LeBron James assignment with aplomb and registering a game-high plus-16 rating. Mario Chalmers and Lance Stephenson chipped in 17 points apiece, while Vince Carter rode his old-man post game to 15 and sunk four clutch free throws down the stretch.

The Grizzlies' resilient octet earned the right to self-apply this nickname.

And yet, the story here is still the Cavs - who are now 14-7 since firing David Blatt, after starting the season 30-11 under him. Tyronn Lue talked about getting the team to play faster, but on Monday it allowed the plodding Grizzlies to dictate the pace and drag it through the mud.

The Cavs still have a comfortable cushion atop the Eastern Conference. They're still the overwhelming favorites to win the East a second straight year. But it's a bit disconcerting that some 20 months after James - he of the "beautiful mind" - announced his intention to bring a championship to Cleveland, the team still seems to lack the strong identity, or the requisite defensive intensity, or the general cohesion of a championship squad.

Whatever coded tweets come out of Cleveland tomorrow, they're unlikely to fix what's ailing the Cavs.