Isaiah Thomas scored 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting (0-for-4 from deep) with five rebounds and three assists in the Cavs’ 120-88 loss to the Rockets on Saturday.

This isn’t the greatest line but the important part is that the tempo was there.  Thomas was getting to his preferred locations and the offense looked better than it has to date.  Defensively, despite Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson pointing out Thomas’ effort plays, admonishing the criticism he gets, and then pointing out the rest of the Cavs loafing on defense — there are still some very loud and bad basketball analysts riding him for his return from a major hip injury.  It’s big time buy low season here folks, in both fantasy and reality.  LeBron went for 11 points, nine boards, nine assists, two steals and one block, and he needs to stop mailing it in before anybody should expect the Cavs to do anything.