This game was the truth!
Just as we were dependant on IT last year to produce the majority of the offense, we demand from Kyrie to do the same this year.
Sure Big Al is nice complementary big, better than most.
Tatum looks talented.
JB improved his shooting.
But they demand the orchestrator and the backups can't bring it.
Smart is not the one, he just isn't an enough of a threat to score, to keep the defense honest. He scares no one, neither with shooting nor driving the ball (no explosion, poor touch on floaters).
Rozier has the explosion, but less vision than Smart. He is a good backup PG, but not a dynamo.
However, there is no reason to be down about all of this.
Once and whenever he returns, Gordon Hayward will help us a lot. Whether as a weakside threat, as a go-to scorer when Kyrie in on the bench, or simply to put other (role players) guys like JB and Tatum in their more natural, preferred offensive hierarchy.
Our record is already well above expectations. We are just facing some truth about this rosters (some players) limitations.
P.S. I don't agree that CBS was poor this game. What can you do when your starting PG is out and others turn it over 15 times in the 1st half.