Cleveland Cavaliers: Defense Is Offensive Against Chicago Bulls
The Cleveland Cavaliers lost their third game in a row on Friday against the Chicago Bulls, 105-111. What are some of the issues plaguing the team, and what can be done to fix them?
That’s now three in a row.
The Cleveland Cavaliers lost on Friday against the Chicago Bulls in one of the more frustrating games of the losing streak. The loss to the Milwaukee Bucks was irritating, but this one was just bad.
Taj Gibson looked like the second coming of Karl Malone the way he was scoring. Kevin Love nor Tristan Thompson were anywhere to defend him or box him out on the glass. Even worse, Rajon Rondo finished with a triple-double, and that included 11 rebounds.
Rondo is 6-foot-1!
Cleveland was also outrebounded 49-33.
What has happened to the Cavaliers in these last three games? They went from being almost dominant on team defense to letting the opposition get anything they want inside and outside.
Dwyane Wade looked like his old Flash days with the Miami Heat, penetrating to the basket with no resistance.
This has became the epitome of a three-point shooting team. I felt like I was watching a Mike D’Antoni coached team these past few games — lots of offense, but little to no defense. That wasn’t how the Cavaliers won a championship in June.
They won with tough defense, a balanced attack, and energy. This has been embarrassing. The Cavaliers were outscored 78-60 in the paint. The Clippers also had the advantage on Thursday, winning the inside battle 30-18.
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The Cavs just don’t have the size or aggressiveness inside to matchup with opposing centers and forwards on a nightly basis. Opposing teams don’t have to worry about the perimeter defense from LeBron James, Iman Shumpert or J.R. Smith anymore.
They’ve exposed the biggest weakness on the team, and have been relentless. Turnovers have been another one of the numerous issues of the Cavs.
They turned the ball over 20 times compared to the Bulls 12. James had eight of them, which is a season high. The energy, fire and effort in the team has disappeared. They’re playing like they’re satisfied with one title.
James said it best in his postgame interview to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com, “The honeymoon is over.”
A ticked off LeBron James: "The honeymoon stage is over. There's your headline ... We got to man up. Everybody"
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 3, 2016
The World Series and talk show appearances, music videos, and all the stuff that comes with winning a ring is fun, but once October hits, it should be time to focus on getting another championship.
If every player doesn’t have that attitude or goal coming into a season, then that team is in trouble.
The Cavs can beat the Toronto Raptors on Monday, and all will be forgotten. But if they play as they have the last three games, and lose four in a row, there might be a problem from within that we don’t know about.
Next: 2016-17 NBA Power Rankings: Week 6
It’s not time to panic or call the season, but no Cavalier fan should be happy with the performance of this club, and deserve a better effort overall.