Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 bad trends in their 6 defeats

3. Slow starts

If you played Mario Kart back in the day, you remember mashing the A button as the stop light ticked downward to green, hoping to perfectly time the light and blast off the starting line. But your over aggressiveness was often punished with a stagnate spinout to start the race. It’s a frustrating feeling that’s impossible to forget.

That’s how the Cleveland Cavaliers have felt nearly every game this entire season. Only three times have they lead after the first quarter. The Cavs are undefeated in those instances. But Cleveland is 1-6 when trailing after the first quarter.

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So there’s common denominator number one: The Cavaliers are playing their worst basketball to start games. Three times they’ve trailed by more than 10 points after the first 12 minutes, and their -4.9 point differential in first quarters ranks 29th in the league.

It’s so bad the bench is calling out the A-team. Dwayne Wade and Channing Frye each chirped displeasure following the loss to the Hawks, questioning the starters’ determination. That same report indicated that not just Frye, but most of the team was befuddled after Cleveland fell behind by 16 points after the first quarter.

When asked about the loss, Frye said, “Usually I don’t get in until the second half, so you have to ask one of them,” according to Cleveland.com.

Ouch.

In the Atlanta loss, bench players Dwyane Wade and Kyle Korver both scored in double figures, which didn’t help matters. The Cavaliers have to find a way to avoid sputtering out of the gate. Simply put, the starters need to play better. Otherwise, Lue must switch things up.