The Cleveland Cavaliers suffered a 23-point home loss against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday, a loss that can be described as puzzling, shocking and even unprecedented in many ways.
According to Elias Sports Bureau research, the 23-point loss by the Cavaliers is the worst loss by a LeBron James team in his career against a team with a winning percentage below .300 at least 20 games into the season. His previous worst loss was by 18 against a 7-17 Knicks team back in December 2007.
The Cavaliers' loss against the 6-23 Pistons is the third-worst loss of James' career in terms of opponent winning percentage entering the game at least 20 games into the season. According to Elias data, the worst team a LeBron squad lost to was in January 2009 when the Cavs lost to the 6-25 Wizards.
Worst Home Loss
LeBron James Career
It's the worst winning percentage for an opponent that a LeBron team has lost to at home (minimum 20 games into the season).
The 23-point loss for the Cavaliers is the fourth-worst home loss of LeBron's career against any team. In his four seasons with the Heat, they never lost by more than 20 in a home game. This season, the Cavs have already lost twice at home by more than 20.
James was 5-of-19 from the field with seven turnovers. The only other time in his career that he shot less than 30 percent from the field and committed at least seven turnovers was against the Bulls in January 2009.
What happened to the Cavs?
After an eight-game win streak, the Cavaliers were 13-7 and it looked like they had figured things out to a degree. Since then, they're just 5-5, with only one win against a team over .500 during that span.
Over their past 10 games, the Cavaliers rank 27th in the NBA in defensive efficiency. During that span, they rank 28th in field goal percentage defense and 26th in 3-point percentage defense.
The Pistons made a franchise-record 17 3-pointers on Sunday against the Cavaliers.
The J-Smoove effect
Meanwhile, the Pistons are 2-0 since waiving Josh Smith with double-digit wins over the Pacers and Cavs. Compare that to their 5-23 record with Smith this season.
Since letting Smith go on Dec. 22, the Pistons have the second-most efficient offense in the NBA. Only the Raptors (117.1 points per 100 possessions) are slightly ahead of the Pistons (117.0) over the past week.
With Smith, the Pistons ranked 28th in offensive efficiency with 97.6 points per 100 possessions.
