7:39AM Thursday
March 14, 2013

The Cavaliers have a virus that has infiltrated nearly the entire team. It has caused nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea, a-veritable Pepto-Bismol antagonist that has plagued the team for some time now. No, I'm not talking about the flu that has stricken Tyler Zeller, Dion Waiters, Daniel Gibson, and trainer Max Benton among others. The sickness that I'm recalling is the third quarter basketball from the wine and gold. For the third straight game, the young Cavaliers came out of the locker room at half utterly disinterested and nearly catatonic. The Grizzlies sprung a 10-0 run to open the half on the Cavs, and it gave them the lead for good in this game as a 3-point halftime lead was erased and replaced by a Memphis-controlled second half where the Cavs' fourth quarter magic wasn't enough this time to pardon their third quarter crimes.

In that pesky third quarter, the Grizzlies relied heavily on their center Marc Gasol, and he rewarded them with 5-of-6 shooting ...