The Cavaliers’ free fall continues after being blown out by the Thunder

The defense looks atrocious.

There’s no sugarcoating this loss. There’s nothing the Cavaliers, LeBron James or head coach Tyronn Lue can say that will make things better. This loss can’t be set aside. They were punished by the Thunder, 148-124, and were never really in this one.

They’ve lost 10 of their last 14 games with two wins by a combined five points over the Magic and a three point win over the Bulls. It’s January, but it’s a bit late for the Cavaliers to still be figuring things out.

The Cavaliers were the third-worst defense in the league going into Saturday afternoon’s game, and it didn’t get any better. They finished the game with a 134.2 defensive rating. Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Steven Adams, and Carmelo Anthony all combined for 113 points on a combined 64.5 percent shooting — that’d be good for the third-highest point-per-game average in the NBA.

The worst part? It wasn’t just effort for the Cavs. They tried to play their way back into the game on both ends of the court, but they just couldn’t. That’s not a great sign for a team with championship aspirations.

Their transition defense was atrocious once again

The first rule of playing defense in transition: pick up the ball. The Cavaliers just couldn’t do it. Westbrook found multiple lanes to easily work himself to the rim after Cavaliers’ misses.

The Cavs allowed him to dribble deep in the paint for finishes while the defense was still trying to match up. Look at them fail to get a stop here on a two-on-three fast break.

There were even points where they let him grab a rebound and go coast-to-coast for easy finishes. Westbrook literally skips down the lane after grabbing a rebound here.

Isaiah Thomas is small, but he doesn’t even attempt to slide his feet to get into position for a Westbrook drive. That isn’t the ideal matchup for the Cavaliers, but they’ve still got to make it work.

They couldn’t control the paint either

The Cavaliers can’t defend on the perimeter, but their biggest flaw might be their lack of a defensive presence in the paint. They don’t have a rim protector and can’t stop players from driving inside like on this play.

George got a step on James and had an easy passing lane to the corner. This is beautiful offense for the Thunder, but it’s mostly a result of the Cavaliers being unable to contain the ball. Tristan Thompson’s contest was way too late by the time it got there.

Thomas hasn’t helped at all

He’s given them somewhat of a scoring punch, but his defense has been atrocious — even in a small sample. We can’t pin all the Cavs’ defensive woes on Thomas, but when he was on the court against the Thunder, the team had a 151.6 defensive rating.

Thomas has been a -16.5 with a 119.0 defensive rating overall this season. He hasn’t fit in at all and is still struggling to find his way on the offensive end. The Cavaliers have a problem on their hands because they can’t afford to keep him on the bench, but he’s also a major liability when he’s out there, just like he was with the Celtics last season.

The Cavs still aren’t a finished product, but it’s January. They’ve still got time to figure things out. Thomas has only played seven games, and the coaching staff can still find ways to hide his deficiencies.

James always has another level he can get to in the postseason, but this time, that might not be enough. At this point, it looks like they don’t have many options outside of shaking things up with a trade if they want to improve the team.