Photo: Chuck Burton/AP

It must've been something in Dan Gilbert's wife's turkey, stuffing, or cranberry sauce in Detroit. Whatever it was, it left the Cavaliers wearing cement sneakers most of the evening as they tryptophaned their way through a first half where Gerald Wallace, Stephen Jackson, and the Bobcat bench looked like they skipped Thanksgiving dinner altogether. The Cavaliers trailed by as much as 24 in the third quarter before waking up and cutting the defecit to just five in the final minute with fourth quarter lockdown stops. But, their own fourth quarter cold streak did them in as they fell seven points short in Time Warner Cable Arena tonight.

Shaq in action: After missing six straight games, Shaquille O'Neal returned to the starting center role. It was apparent early that the Cavaliers had a tough time getting O'Neal readjusted. In Shaq's last two games against Orlando and Miami, the Cavaliers were finally starting to get things figured out with Shaq. Those six games he missed have regressed things back to the early season struggles. In the second half, Shaq got more touches and a little bit more rhythm, but he missed a few easy buckets and his effect at the defensive end was not great. O'Neal finished with 11 points and 8 rebounds on 5-of-11 shooting in 30 minutes. I feel Mike Brown played O'Neal a little bit too much tonight, especially in the fourth quarter, but Brown continues to tinker with his rotations, particularly in crunch time. It's obvious in his nine man rotation (which does not include Delonte West), Jamario Moon and Anderson Varejao are the main options off the bench and Daniel Gibson and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are the second-tier subs.

Bobcat first half bonanza: The Charlotte Bobcats have shown since the addition of Stephen Jackson that they are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Both Jackson and Gerald Wallace have proven to be capable scorers in their careers, and with the #2 defense in the league as far as points per game, they don't need to light the world on fire offensively to compete. Tonight, however, they did just that in the first half. The Bobcats shot 58% percent in the first 24 minutes, but they used 30 points in the paint to fuel that number. It wasn't just that Wallace and Jackson that had things going for the Bobcats, but the duo did pour in 13 points each. The real thorn in the Cavaliers' side was the Bobcat bench, which poured in 28 first half points. Backup center Nazr Mohammed had 10 first half points, which I'm pretty sure is about 10% of his career total in points. In fact, the old Naz nearly outscored the entire Cavalier frontcourt of Shaq, Z, J.J., and Andy with the Cavalier foursome having the edge 11-10. D.J. Augustin and Flip Murray also gave the Bobcats a huge lift off the bench. The bench unit for Charlotte scored 34 points in all, with Mohammed scoring 13 points and grabbing 6 rebounds in 28 minutes, outplaying all of the Cavalier bigs. The two things the Cavaliers can pinpoint on the defensive end as issues are pick-and-roll defense (no surprise there) and points in the paint.

Flash of Delonte and Green: With Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon getting it taken to them by Jackson and Wallace, one would think Mike Brown would look to defensive stopper Delonte West. This didn't happen, though, until LeBron James picked up his third personal foul in the second quarter. Delonte checked in with 2:28 to play in the half, and to nobody's surprise, he looked out of place and ineffective. It's apparent that the trust level with Delonte is at an all-time low right now. Sadly, the lights are on, but nobody's home, at least nobody who can play NBA basketball. As a result, Mike Brown went with rookie Danny Green late in the third quarter when he needed to sit LeBron to keep him from picking up his fifth foul in the third. Green played the last 45 seconds of the third and about a minute and a half in the fourth. In his short time, he grabbed two rebounds and scored a putback on one of those rebounds. I've been clamoring for us to see a bit more of Green, especially considering the Delonte drama. I don't expect anything consistent, but it's nice to take a look at what we have on the end of the bench occasionally.

LBJ and Mo carrying the load: It was a two-man show for the Cavaliers tonight, and that was part of the problem. The Cavalier pair scored 47 of the team's 87 points, and shot a combined 20-of-39. Other than Shaq and his 11 points, no other Cavaliers scored more than eight points. When the Cavaliers are firing on all cylinders, you can expect at least four and probably five guys in double digits. The bench did contribute 24 points, but Anthony Parker was shutout and J.J. Hickson had his second straight back-to-earth performance, scoring just 5 points with 1 rebound in 20 minutes.

Fourth quarter stoppers: The Cavaliers carried one thing over from their period of Shaqlessness, their fourth quarter defensive stopping power. The Cavaliers held the Bobcats to just four fourth quarter buckets in 17 shot attempts and 12 points overall. The only problem was the Cavaliers couldn't put the ball in the hole themselves when it mattered most. The Cavaliers cut the lead to just seven with 3:41 to play, but the Cavaliers missed shots from LeBron, Mo, and Moon along with two Williams turnovers. If just one of those shots had fallen, it would've cut things to a two possesson game with plenty of time remaining. Instead, the Cavaliers only got to a two possession defecit with 26 seconds left. After a Flip Murray split at the line, James and Williams each missed three pointers to cut it to three in the final seconds. Combined in the fourth, LBJ and Mo shot just 1-for-9 after shooting 19-for-30 in the first three quarters.

Are you kiddin' me (again)!: My, oh my, it's been a rough couple of weeks for LeBron James in the officiating department. Tonight, it was two first half offensive fouls that soured the King into foul trouble, picking up his third foul in the second quarter and his fourth foul in the third quarter. Also, official Joe Forte, as Brian Windhorst pointed out, had four up in the air calls that all went against James. Those so-called "star calls" are becoming fewer and more far between, and James is getting visibly frustrated as he's not getting even a fraction of the calls he is used to getting. I've never seen LBJ take it to the rack so much and not get foul calls, but that's what's happening the last five or six games. The fewer calls LeBron gets, the less dribble penetration he creates, the harder it is for the Cavaliers to win; it's as simple as that.

Fallout from Shaq's return: Several people (Parker, Hickson, Moon) struggled tonight in Shaq's return, but the shots were certainly there for the taking (and making). Cleveland hit just 6-of-28 three point attempts, that's a 21 percent clip. There's two messages there. The first is that the Cavaliers took way too many threes, 20 is about the normal ceiling for three attempts. The next is that by taking that many shots from the outside, the Cavaliers neglected to attack the basket as much. When the Cavaliers don't attack the paint with Mo and LeBron, they are very beatable if their threes are not falling. Even when Shaq is scoring just 10 points, he helps space the floor for the shooters, he protects the paint, and he helps the rebounding. The Cavaliers won the battle of the boards 46-35, but the points in the paint were disappointing tonight.

goes to: Mo Williams. Mo was the only reason the Cavaliers weren't down 25 in the first half and 35 in the third quarter. He shot very well in the first three quarters, but he struggled in the fourth. Mo was 10-for-20 from the field, but just 2-of-8 from three point range, scoring 22 points, grabbing 4 rebounds, and dishing out 6 assists. One thing that has definitely improved from last year are Mo's assist numbers. But, with 40 minutes played tonight, perhaps Mike Brown needs to worry about Mo's minutes as much as he worries about LeBron's.

Team Grade: D

With 16 turnovers, 21% three point shooting, 53% free throw shooting, and only 14 assists, it's a recipe for Cavalier disaster, not to mention Charlotte's 54% shooting in the first three quarters. The Cavaliers didn't take the Bobcats seriously for the first two and a half quarters and good teams do not let you recover from that.

Now, the Cavaliers have a very tough second game on a back-to-back at the Q versus the vastly improved Dallas Mavericks.

All for one. One for all.

Kirk

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