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Cleveland Cavaliers at bottom of East, Time to Worry?

       


 LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers suffered their fourth straight loss of the season tonight to the Indiana Pacers. This of course following losses to the Knicks, Pelicans, and the Nets. This puts the Cavs in 13th place in the East behind teams such as the Sixers and the Heat. Coming into the season, many wondered what the loss of Kyrie would do to the team. After adding players such as Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, and Jae Crowder, it was assumed the Cavs would continue their winning ways this season. So far, that has not been the case. Lebron no longer has a consistent second man to rely on to put up big numbers. The fact of the matter is, this Cavaliers team is old. On offense, Wade and Rose look well past their prime, J.R. Smith looks washed up, and to top it all off, Tristan Thompson left the arena on crutches after injuring his leg. Defense though, is really where this team as struggled so far. They are allowing the sixth most points per game. The Cavs just can't seem to get on the same page and even after having a meeting in which they aired their frustrations the other day, things didn't seem to look much better tonight.
      All of this poses the question, is it time to worry about the Cavs? The answer is yes. The NBA is an offensively driven league. The issue with the Cavs is they haven't been able to put up enough points offensively in order to make up for the poor defense. Offensively, the Cavs have been right in the middle of the pack with the 14th most points per game. That is not enough to make up for their weakness defensively. Now, it is still early, and Isaiah Thomas is on the bench as he recovers from his hip injury. Thomas is still far off from returning though and many wonder how long it will take for him to adjust to the Cavs offense and if he will return to his former All-Star form. Without Kyrie, Lebron is being asked to do more offensively in his 15th season. Last year, Lebron could take longer rests during games and Kyrie was there to continue scoring. This year Lebron does not have that luxury. The Cavs need to figure out how to score on offense when Lebron is off the court or else they risk burning him out.  The role players surrounding Lebron need to start making a greater impact on both offense and defense. If not, the Cavs have a long road ahead of them.


- Gboy (@gboyitaly)

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