Cleveland Cavaliers’ Embarassing Loss Against Nets Suggests Problems
The Cleveland Cavaliers suffered a bad loss against the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, which speaks to the team’s larger issues.
In all my years of covering the Cleveland Cavaliers, this is easily the most frustrating 50-win team I have ever witnessed.
Wasn’t this supposed to be a team that was the equivalent to the “Big Three” of the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat? Wasn’t Kyrie Irving going to take the next step with Kevin Love and become a force that has never been seen in Cleveland? Wasn’t LeBron James supposed to be the unheralded leader of the team and bring the best out of everybody?
These are questions that most fans have asked all season long, and they have yet to be answered clearly. Once again, the Cavaliers got embarrassed by a lower-tier team in the conference.
The Brooklyn Nets are 20-51 and have been out of the playoff race for almost two months. They’re a team that is currently rebuilding after buying out the contract of Joe Johnson and firing former head coach Lionel Hollins.
The Cavaliers are now 50-21 and fighting to keep the No. 1 spot in the Eastern Conference with the Toronto Raptors right behind them.
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For whatever reason, they cannot shake the lethargic efforts against bad teams. They were coming off a back-to-back against the Milwaukee Bucks, but they were 10-6 off of those games. From start to finish, they were lost on both ends of the floor. Irving wouldn’t stop shooting three-pointers as he went 1-for-8 from there and only 6-of-22 overall (27 percent).
He seems to be regressing the most as he can’t seem to get out of playing isolation basketball instead of being a pure point guard. Even worse, his 1-on-1 defense is almost nonexistent. According to NBA.com, he ranked 140th in the NBA in isolation defense, with the opposing player scoring 43 percent of the time on him. It’s certainly an issue, and it’s concerning with only a few weeks to go before the postseason begins.
Love had a tough game as well. He went 0-for-5 from three-point range and 5-for-14 from the field (35 percent). He’s been even more inconsistent than Irving has this season. In some games he looks like he’s back to his Minnesota Timberwolves days, and then with others, he looks lost and disinterested.
Instead of playing on the elbow, which he hasn’t done in almost a month, he’s went back to playing as a stretch power forward and it has hurt the Cavaliers more than it has helped them.
I wrote about the defensive stats of Irving which were very unimpressive, however, Love’s are even more worrisome. According to NBA.com/stats, in his defense in the post among opposing centers and forwards, he ranks 493rd in the NBA. Opposing players are scoring on him at a 45 percent rate.
Interior defense continues to still be the biggest issue with this team, and it showed on Thursday. Brook Lopez had 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting (53 percent) and had a clear path to hole almost every time. Timofey Mozgov and Love were no match for him, nor was Tristan Thompson.
I’ve mentioned for several months how the Cavaliers needed to address the interior defensive issue by trading for Tyson Chandler of the Phoenix Suns, but they figured that Mozgov would turn it around — and he hasn’t.
The acquisition of Channing Frye was a great move, but they still should of used the available trade exception or a piece that we had to get a defensive presence inside. Opposing teams are having their way in the paint knowing that they won’t get any type of consistent resistance from Cleveland’s forwards and centers.
James had the best game of everybody with 30 points. When I watch this offense, I feel like I’m watching Mike Brown coach this team all over again.
This was where James would dribble the ball to the top of the key with everybody standing around, and with the shot clock winding down, he would find an open player on the perimeter to hit a three-pointer. If they made it, great, but if they missed it, it led to long rebounds and opposing teams cherry-picking throughout the game.
I see no difference in this offense except the players. Is it because head coach Tyronn Lue isn’t being clear and assertive enough about it, or do the players have no interest in running a transition offense? Only they know.
There is only about three weeks until the playoffs start. The team is showing more regression than they are progress. They must do some soul-searching, and find it within themselves to produce some kind of consistency because as of right now, It’s hard to see this team even making the Eastern Conference Finals with their efforts.
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They have another chance against a bad New York Knicks team on Saturday to find it, but a loss will just send the team further back.