Kasler: Bad and mostly good of Cavs' win

As early regular season games go, the Cavaliers' 100-93 win over the visiting Charlotte Hornets on Sunday was notable for the fourth-quarter lineup Tyronn Lue trotted out -- and stuck with -- until the final horn.

Here are a few postgame quick takes, including “the good” and “the bad:”

1. J.R. Smith sat out with an injured ankle. Mike Dunleavy started in his place and was at best a non-factor. At worst, frankly, Dunleavy was a liability.

2. In 17 minutes, Dunleavy shot 1-of-6 from the field and missed all three of his open 3-point attempts. He only managed to grab three rebounds and didn’t hand out an assist. The best way to describe Dunleavy’s play? If I hadn’t been purposely focused on him, I’d have barely noticed his time on the court. '

3. With the game very much still hanging in the balance, Lue went with a fourth-quarter lineup that did not feature a single minute from Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving or Tristan Thompson. What, you might ask, does such a lineup look like? How about LeBron James, Jordan McCrae, Richard Jefferson, Iman Shumpert and Channing Frye?

4. This odd lineup began the quarter well. And then they continued to play well. And then they simply played well until there was no more game left to play. I assumed at a couple of points during the final frame that Lue would insert Love and Irving, at least, to close it out. But Lue channeled his inner-Phil Jackson -- he of the “let’s see if this group can figure out how to win on their own” random strategy -- and it flat-out worked.

THE GOOD

1. Love. He had a dominant first half scoring 17 points on an economical amount of shots. He added 11 rebounds and four assists, though he didn’t score a point in the second half.

2. Frye.  Given Smith’s absence, it’s fair to say that the Cavs don’t win this game without Frye’s long range marksmanship. He made 7-of-15 from the field and 6-of-12 from deep.

3. Shumpert. Shump remains a train skidding off the rails when he tries to create off the dribble, but there’s no denying that his outside shot is world’s better than last season. He is shooting with confidence and a really nice-looking stroke. On Sunday, he chipped in 15 points off the bench and shot 3-5 from three.

4. LeBron in the fourth quarter. James spent much of the first three quarters with something of a tepid interest in this game. In the second quarter, Spencer Hawes – yes, Spencer Hawes – blew by a flat-footed James on his way to the hoop. And in the third quarter, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist overpowered James at the rim. But in the fourth, James rose to the occasion as he’s done over and over, leading a group of far-down-the-bench players to the win.

5. Lue. He is as close to immune from scrutiny as one can be after what the Cavs accomplished last season under his guidance. But I’ll admit, I thought he was making a totally avoidable mistake rolling with James and a crew of bench guys for the entire fourth quarter. Turns out, he still has the golden touch.

THE BAD

1. Dunleavy. He’s just not offering anything right now.

2. Free throws. The Cavs ended the game 8-of-15 from the line. Thompson futilely led the way making only two of his six attempts from the stripe. Probably just a blip but worth noting.

3. Backup point guard. Lue gave rookie Kay Felder a little bit of run (five minutes) and the diminutive sparkplug made a superb drive and kick to Frye for a three in closing out the first quarter. But in his other time on the court, he looked like a rookie. That’s not a criticism but more the impetus of a mantra that may build as the season wears on – the Cavs are probably going to need a reliable backup point guard to repeat this year.

4. Referees. Not terrible today but still a few inexplicable calls. Early in the game, Love was called for a loose ball foul a good two seconds after he secured a rebound and had already sent an outlet to James. And for the Hornets, the refs bailed the Cavs out of an inbounds play with only 1.6 seconds on the clock, whistling an off-the-ball foul against Jordan McCrae.

5. Kidd-Gilchrist’s jump shot. MKG actually had a nice game – 11 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists – but, wow, his shooting form is just abysmal. I know this is a widely accepted fact. I’m noting it less to pile on the guy and more to accentuate how talented and tenacious a guy must be to make it to the NBA with a shooting form that gets 7th grader’s cut from the middle school B team.

FINAL THOUGHT

It will be difficult for Cavs’ fans to not be spoiled this year. For example, I thought the Cavs defensive effort on Sunday was poor. At one point, I wrote down “Cavs defensive philosophy seems to be to wait for Charlotte to miss shots; it’s not working.”

Only . . . it was working – the Hornets shot just under 38 percent for the game. Which is a great defensive effort, of course, but I perceived it as the opposite simply because the bar is now so high for this team.

Gotta’ remember to enjoy the ride and savor the greatness. LeBron can’t play forever, I don’t think.