Benched

The Cavaliers match up with the team they hope to one day become on Sunday in Oklahoma City. They'll enter the contest with a 2-4 record that should be flipped around to 4-2 if not for the less than stellar play from their bench.

Saying the Cavs reserves have been terrible doesn't do it justice. Outside of Daniel "Boobie" Gibson and Tyler Zeller, the team has gotten next to nothing from anyone outside of the five starters.

A blown 26-point lead comes after the bench couldn't hold leads at Milwaukee and looked overmatched against the Bulls and the Clippers.

Sure this team could use one more piece via next year's lottery, but seeing how well the top seven in the rotation have played only makes these losses all the more frustrating.

Byron Scott has no choice but to continue to roll the dice with different combinations off the bench in hopes that they begin to click. Bringing Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao back in too early in the fourth cost them the game late as Irving looked exhausted while bent-over in the corner in the final minutes.

With such a young team this season is going to be full of huge swings of momentum from game to game. Unfortunately too many winnable games will continue to be lost no matter how well Irving and Dion Waiters play together if production from the bench doesn't pick up.

I'm looking forward to a showdown with the Thunder tomorrow night. Waiters proved in the win over the Clippers that he savors the opportunity to go up against the best and I expect a good showing coming off Friday night's collapse at the hands of the Suns.