It’s been a rough couple of days for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They came up short in their highly-anticipated Finals rematch against the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day, then followed that up with a humiliating 105-76 blowout loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday. A clearly-frustrated LeBron James didn’t really have any answers when asked about it after the game. Via Fox Sports Ohio:
“Throw it in the trash,” James said. “Throw it in the trash. [There was] nothing we did good tonight beside the third team came out and played as well as they could, but throw this one in the trash. We have to learn from it, and we have to watch some film for sure, but throw it in the trash and get ready for Phoenix.”
Still the Cavs, who have a four-game advantage over the surging Atlanta Hawks for the No. 1 spot in the Eastern Conference standings, have plenty of reasons for optimism. They recently got both Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert back in the lineup, marking the first time Cleveland’s roster has been at full strength since the opening round of last season’s playoffs.
James acknowledged that working those two back into the rotation has likely played a role in what he’s described as a lack of rhythm on the part of the Cavs of late. But they should be able to mitigate that some, as five of their next seven games are against teams at or below .500 for the season. That should buy them some time to try and regain some of that amorphous and elusive rhythm James keeps talking about before they face their next two big challenges: the Spurs in San Antonio on January 14, and then another showdown against the Warriors at home on the 18th.
(Via Fox Sports Ohio)
