CLEVELAND – The first three minutes were all it took to see where things were heading.
The details would change along the way. The shortcomings that would keep the Rockets struggling just to stay within single-digits and a puncher's chance were not always the same. But the Rockets immediately showed a lack of something – intensity, focus, determination – that would be impossible to overtime.
The first four possessions of the game all ended the same. Turnover. Turnover. Turnover. Turn-over. Along the way, they would give up straight-line drives, second-chance shots and points off turnovers until the Rockets could do no more that delay the inevitable until the Cavaliers pulled away, 117-108, for the Rockets second loss in as many nights since their five-game winning streak.