From day one, everyone—LeBron James, David Blatt, fans and media alike—knew the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers were in for quite the learning process.

Few thought the curve would be quite so sharp.

The Cavs dropped their fourth straight game Saturday night, succumbing to the streaking Toronto Raptors, 110-93. The loss, which dropped LeBron and Co. to a frightening 5-7, was Cleveland’s second worst of the season to date.

It might not quite be rock bottom. But for a team who entered the season awash in weighty expectations, it has to feel too close for comfort.

Lou Williams turned the Cavs to tatters, notching a career-high 36 points on a night when Toronto’s backcourt troika—DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry being the principal two—combined for a staggering 79 points.

Once again, Cleveland’s defense proved porous to the point of absurdity, allowing the slashing Raptors unfettered forays to the rim.

In their seven losses this season, the Cavaliers are yielding an opponent offensive rating of 108, per NBA.com (media stats require subscription). Making matters worse, Cleveland’s anemic offense has registered at a woeful 95 in those seven games—a net deficit of 13.

In a recent piece for Grantland, Kirk Goldsberry tries to pinpoint precisely what it is that’s ailing the Cavaliers D. The conclusion: For all the hype and hoopla surrounding his acquisition, Kevin Love may be most to blame for Cleveland’s horrendous numbers to date:

Whether by design or by default, the Cavs now depend on Love’s interior defense — and thus far, their man in the paint has really struggled. This season, 51 NBA players have faced more than six shots per game near the basket. On that list, Love ranks 49th in opponents’ field percentage. Opponents are making 63.6 percent of their shots inside of five feet when Love is nearby.

But here’s the thing — this isn’t new. Love was among the least effective volume rim protectors in the league last year, too. Like it or not, he is who we thought he was, and any team leaning on Love to help protect the paint will be exposed. The good news is that of the team’s three primary rim protectors, the other two are pretty good. The bad news: Neither of those guys play nearly as much as Love.

Any sound system—be it on offense or defense—should at least be able to mask a career liability. That, as it stands, is the principal task facing Blatt: to devise a defensive scheme that accentuates his team’s strengths (intelligence and experience) while shielding its weaknesses (bad footwork, poor habits).

At times, Cleveland’s offense has looked every part of the merciless machine we all believed was there for the building. That they’re only 12 games into their grand experiment should only bolster the Cavs’ confidence on this front.

Sadly, that logic also works in the opposite: The more foes begin to study Cleveland’s cavernous D, the more they’ll be exposed. Unless, of course, Blatt and Co. can right the ship—either by holding Love and others accountable, or by devising a different scheme altogether.

The good news? Seventy games is more than enough time for Cleveland to rebound. Particularly given the basketball brains and brawn at hand.

The bad news? We’ll let the King field that one.

Saturday’s blowout should be as much about Toronto’s impressive ascendance as it is Cleveland’s sorry swoon.

Should be, if it weren’t for that tried and true trait of humans everywhere: Given the choice between a ballet and a train wreck, we’ll watch the latter 11 times out of 10.

Around the Association

A Treat of a Texas Two-Step

Call it a clash of similar opposites. On the one hand, you had the Dallas Mavericks, the early-season sweetheart with the savory offense and enough balance to fix the budget. On the other, the Houston Rockets: top-heavy but heavenly on O in their own right.

Something had to give. In this case, it was the Mavs giving James Harden pretty much everything he wanted.

The bearded hero finished with 32 points in a nail-biting (and surprisingly low-scoring) 95-92 win for the home Rockets, who snapped their two-game skid minus the services of one Dwight Howard. It was an individual performance cast in stark contrast to the comparatively gestalt Mavs, who boasted no fewer than eight players with six points or more.

With Houston offering no answer to Tyson Chandler down low, Harden took matters into his own hands  (which we can only assume also have beards). It's something he does, apparently:

It’s early yet, but color us intrigued by a potential Houston-Dallas playoff matchup. Neither team is perfect, and both carry their fair share of flaws. But there’s enough beautiful basketball between them—in theory as well as practice—to make any basketball fan drool.

The Kids Are Alright

Hey, remember that time Anthony Davis looked totally human when he notched 18 points on 7-of-17 shooting in a blowout loss to the lowly Denver Nuggets? Like, Friday?

The Unibrow clearly caught your barbs, as evidenced by his career-high 43 (to go along with 14 boards) in the New Orleans Pelicans’ 106-94 win over Gordon Hayward (31 points) and the Utah Jazz.

Seriously, at what point does the U.S. government pre-emptively make the cloning of Anthony Davis illegal? Or the first step in a policy of world domination, depending on your persuasion.

Elsewhere in the world of basketball wunderkinds, Andrew Wiggins tallied 29—also a personal best—in leading the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 113-101 loss to the Sacramento Kings. We say “leading to a loss” because the Wolves are so battered and bruised we half expect them to be starting Jesse "The Body" Ventura by no later than next week.

Even the scowl-surly DeMarcus Cousins couldn't help but be impressed.

Who Says the Center Cannot Hold?

The NBA has been so guard-oriented for so long it’s hard to remember—let alone appreciate—the center-dominated era that came before.

Those nostalgic for the days of peerless post play were given quite the respite Saturday night, with Nikola Vucevic and Chris Bosh combining for 65 points and 27 rebounds in the Miami Heat’s 99-92 win over the Orlando Magic.

Bosh we know about—he’s been around the NBA block so many times they named all four streets after him. But it’s Vucevic whose double-double exploits and ever-expanding offensive game have many wondering whether we might be bearing witness to the birth of the league’s next truly great center.

In Melo We Trust

Everyone knew the New York Knicks would struggle under first-year head coach Derek Fisher. A bevy of new faces, a steep triangle learning curve—there are built-in excuses aplenty for 2014-15 being a season deferred for the Knicks.

Everyone except Carmelo Anthony, perhaps.

Anthony continued his nylon-shredding ways Saturday night, tallying 25 points on a crisp 10-of-20 shooting (including 3-of-7 from deep) in a 91-83 New York win over the lowly (read: 0-13) Philadelphia 76ers that was much more one-sided than the score might suggest.

Over his past five games, Melo is averaging 28.7 points on a blistering 61 percent shooting, including a straight-up silly 58 percent from distance.

Knicks fans the world over are bound to wax worried over Anthony admitting he’s been playing on a sore knee since the first game of the season (via ESPN New York). And while resting Melo could soon become a strategic long-term necessity, you can forgive the 'Bocker faithful for not wanting to be deprived of stretches like this—the tear-bringing beauty of watching one of the best in the business do his thing.

Way to Earn That Coin, Gord-o

We as fans tend to smile a little wider whenever we see our hardwood heroes truly sacrifice their bodies, be it by barreling into a defender thrice one’s size or searing knees and elbows for the sake of saving a possession. It speaks to a kind of inherent moral compass within us all—the idea that these athletes do and should care as much as we do.

This is not one of those times.

Caged iguanas fake more effort than Gordon Hayward and Joe Ingles just displayed.