The Cleveland Cavaliers played like a turd sandwich in Portland last night, which is fitting since yesterday was Election Day. I don’t want to rehash the gory details of the game any more than I want to hand count voting ballots (Kirk handled that bit of dirty work), so in lieu of that, I want to look at two good plays that happened during the Cavs loss to the Blazers.

Maybe there were more than two, but I don’t want to examine too closely, because I don’t want to find out that there weren’t. Bright side, people.

3:30, 2nd quarter

LeBron James passes on a layup opportunity to set Shawn Marion up for an easy bucket. This is important because Matrix had just blown a layup that he should have made. It had just happened, moments earlier.

If the Blazers had rebounded that first miss, then Marion would have run back on defense feeling bad. He might not have touched the ball for another possession or two. He might have gotten in his own head and allowed himself to drift. This sounds silly, and I’m not suggesting that Marion is any kind of head case, but confidence matters in sports, just as it matters in everything. If you mess up, there’s a chance you’ll get rattled.

It could be coincidence that LeBron made this pass. Maybe he wasn’t thinking about Marion’s mindset. But two minutes later, Kyrie Irving was in a similar situation and took it up himself instead of dropping it off to Tristan Thompson. It wasn’t a bad play—Kyrie drew a foul—but he could have set a teammate up instead.

Kyrie going to the hole generally leads to good things, so I can’t get mad at him for trying to finish. But that first pass is the sort of play that LeBron makes. He is a preternaturally gifted passer, and he has enough understanding of basketball and people playing basketball to appreciate the value of such plays. You play a little harder with guys who set you up for bunnies.

LeBron will make more of these passes this season. Because passing is contagious, the rest of the team will make them, too. It’s hard to believe this when everyone is jacking up contested 20-footers and shooting 37%, but it will happen.

I believe this. I hope this.

7:19, 4th quarter

Portland’s Damian Lillard beats Cleveland’s Dion Waiters into the lane. Lillard leaves his feet. He’s off balance and unlikely to shoot, so there’s no sense in the help defender—in this case, Anderson Varejao—leaping at him. Andy holds his ground, Kyrie helps out, and instead of LaMarcus Aldridge getting an easy dunk, he is forced to kick it outside to Batum. Aldridge gets it again, and Andy draws an offensive foul. The Cavs get the ball back, and Love hits a three on the ensuing possession.

The Cavs will need to replicate these plays if they want to be a good defensive team, and a good team period. This play did not happen because of scheme as much as savvy. Andy and Kyrie made two of the hundred split-second decisions that players must make during a game.

Now, this is far from perfect defense. Dion getting beaten is a bad start, and Kyrie is visibly lost before getting back to the man in the far corner. But the initial help was solid, and one would hope that the recoveries will get better with time.

The speed with which these decisions need to be made is why chemistry is so important. If you’re thinking about whether or not you should rotate, or whether or not you should double team, or whether or not you should jump, then you’re already screwed. By the time that thought has processed, your teammate is collecting the made basket. These Cavs may never be great defensively, but they’ll be loads better if they can play with more urgency and less hesitation.

♦♦♦

Focusing on these couple good plays may be foolish when there were so many bad ones. Ascribing meaning to the good ones and ignoring the bad may be more foolish still. The good plays could just be random occurrences that happen during a basketball game.

But I choose to be optimistic. Part of this is due to my nature, and part of this is due to the Cavs having some of the finest basketball talent there is right now. They certainly didn’t look like the finest talent last night, but I believe that great basketball players figure out how to play with each other, just as great musicians do.

This is not to excuse the Cavs’ performance. They need time to figure each other out, yes—we’ve known this from the start—but that’s no excuse for a crappy effort. They did not play hard or well against the Blazers for more than a few minutes at a time. Not playing hard is a basketball sin.

Other teams are going to play hard against the Cavs. Other fans are going to root hard against the Cavs. All the bad feelings we had for Miami and their fans, the rest of the league now has for us.

But remember, remember, that this is November. This was the new Cavs’ third game. We can panic if this happens in February, but this is not February. Halloween was last week. The playoffs start after Easter.

Just like the politicians we elected yesterday, the Cavs are in their honeymoon phase. Let’s not pee in the champagne just yet.