Cleveland Cavaliers Must Play Better

After a huge win against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost back-to-back games against the Atlanta Hawks. Is it too late for this team to get back to its championship ways?

The Cleveland Cavaliers need to play better … period.

For years I’ve mentioned how the Cavaliers have been the biggest Jekyll and Hyde team in the NBA. At times they look like world beaters, but they’ve also looked like the worst team to ever play in the league.

Friday and Sunday were two days of the latter.

On Friday, the Cavs were up six on the Atlanta Hawks during the third quarter, but then Atlanta went on a run and it was too much for Cleveland to overcome.

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The worst part about the loss was that the Hawks starters were all out due to rest. They lost to their mediocre bench. Mike Dunleavy was able to get revenge on the Cavs by scoring 20 points and going 4-for-5 from three-point range.

He was lucky to even hit the backboard when he was playing in Cleveland.

Atlanta players were getting anything they wanted inside the paint as well as open three-point attempts. Tristan Thompson was out with a sprained thumb, but I doubt he would have made a difference defensively against the Hawks.

Mike Muscala has been the second-coming of Larry Bird for the Hawks in the last two games. He scored 25 total points and was 3-for-3 from three-point range. The Cavs had no answer for him.

However, Friday was just the beginning.

For most of the game Sunday, the Cavaliers had the lead on the Hawks. They finally looked like their old selves.

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They had crisp ball movement, played effective interior defense against Dwight Howard and Paul Millsap and limited their turnovers, which has been a huge issue with this ball club.

The fourth quarter is where everything changed. The score was 93-67 entering the final period.

The Hawks started it out by going on a 9-0 run, and well, you know the rest. Cleveland had six turnovers in the quarter and once again they forgot how to play defense. It seems like every time the Cavs play against Tim Hardaway Jr.–even going back to his days with the New York Knicks–he has hurt them.

He always sets the tempo and it happened again on Sunday. This team is incapable of closing teams out. Whether they have a five- or 30-point lead, they are clueless.

There were a lot of questionable calls down the stretch on the Cavaliers. LeBron James fouled out in overtime and Kevin Love almost joined him.

The officials also missed an important call on the tie-up of Kyrie Irving by Kent Bazemore and Millsap. Both players were clearly out of bounds and the official swallowed his whistle.

The fact of matter is that it shouldn’t have came down to officiating.  Most teams that have a lead that significant close the game out. They don’t allow it to come down to critical calls down the stretch.

James, Irving and Love can blame officials for the outcome, but they have nobody to blame but themselves and their defensive ineptitude. It was another bad loss to an average team.

The Hawks have talent, but compared to this Cavaliers club, it’s not even close.

Coach Tyronn Lue isn’t without blame in this, either.

General manager David Griffin has assembled one of the deepest teams in the NBA and Lue is only going five deep within his rotation. Iman Shumpert is a complete shell of himself compared to last season.

He’s turning the ball over more and is failing to bring the defensive intensity that he did last year. But Lue still plays him anyway over players such as Derrick Williams and DeAndre Liggins–who was released on Sunday.

They aren’t the final answers to the team, but they add more production than what Shumpert is giving.

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Unfortunately, it’s too late for Lue to figure out his rotation with the postseason only a week away.

I think Channing Frye, Kyle Korver, Richard Jefferson, Shumpert and Deron Williams are what Cavs fans will see for the remaining two games and into the playoffs.

They’ll fill the roster spot vacated by Liggins, but they won’t see much time. There’s just so many questions with so few answers.

The worst thing that could have happened to the team was Andrew Bogut going down. His overall game is still what the Cavaliers need–a defensive rebounder, screen-setter, pick-and-roll/pop player and a shot blocker.

They thought they had their backup for Thompson with the signing of Larry Sanders, but he’s going to need a full training camp in order to get back into NBA shape. He gets pushed around and his timing is off.

That leaves them with the same issues at center they’ve had all year.

Williams has also been a disappointment. I was pushing for the Cavs to sign him the first chance they got to back up Irving, but thus far he’s been terrible.

He’s slow, can’t defend and can be a turnover machine at times.

Lue has tried to experiment with Williams and Irving out there, but even playing off the ball, he’s not producing.

It’s just been a frustrating, tough second half for the Cavaliers.

The one thing that gets to me even more than the losses are fans who think they will automatically turn it on in the playoffs.

The issues that the Cavs have been suffering all of this second half aren’t going to disappear in the postseason, but there are fans that have convinced themselves that they will.

I understand that when you have James, the odds skyrocket in your favor, but he’s shown that he needs consistency from his teammates as well, and he has struggled at times.

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His careless turnovers, ill-advised three-point shots that lead to long rebounds and laziness on defense can’t be ignored.

I don’t see how all that is going to change in a week. Yes, they struggled towards the end last season, but it was never this bad.

They weren’t making costly turnovers in key moments or just ignoring their defensive assignments like this club has been.

This team is in trouble–and it’s too late to fix any problems at this juncture.  I’m not saying they won’t go deep in the playoffs, but it’s hard to see them making it back to the NBA Finals playing like this.

The Eastern Conference is tougher than it was last year. The Washington Wizards, Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors smell blood in the water and feel like they have a shot–especially after Sunday’s game.

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I hope I’m wrong and the Cavaliers do have this proverbial “switch” they can turn on, but it’s not looking good … and with only two games left, this team is what it is.