Cavs can't shoot straight, but they're still offensive

SAN ANTONIO -- Those Cleveland Cavaliers sure do know how to light up a scoreboard.

There hasn't been this kind of destruction of fiberglass since Godzilla punched his arm through a skyscraper window.

Only Dennis Rodman's face has cracked more backboards than the Cavaliers did in an 85-76 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Everywhere LeBron turns, Bruce Bowen is in his face. (Getty Images)

They put an NBA championship round on TV and a soccer game broke out. Bet this was the one time you wish you didn't have HD, right?

The offense of the Cavaliers is one of the more stunted, discombobulated and inept in recent championship history. Seriously, this might be the worst Finals squad since the New York Knicks, and that team shot so many bricks by the time they were done the poor backboards looked like the surface of the moon.

And King James? Mr. LeBron Jordan himself? He was 0-for-7 in the first half with four points. He finished a mediocre 4 of 16 for 14 points and it took a flurry of late 3-point baskets to give him even that modest stat line.

So pass the butter.

The Cavaliers might already be toast.

The 85-76 San Antonio victory at the AT&T Center was about one thing: The Spurs' outstanding defense on a Cleveland team that already plays offense in black and white.

"I was pleased with our defense," said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, a regular quote machine. "I thought that after our long layoff we maintained our team defense."

This is why San Antonio will win the series. The Spurs play defense as if their lives depend on it and Cleveland has only one big-time offensive threat to scare the Spurs.

LeBron Jordan had two and three guys in his face all night, hands waving, bodies bumping. He was helpless. The Spurs were not going to allow James to beat them. They made the right decision to allow other Cavaliers open shots, banking they could not consistently make them.

And they couldn't.