The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to make the playoffs this season, of that there is almost no doubt. However, the team that was always a lock for the conference finals and a favorite to make the Finals now has some serious questions to answer before anyone is willing to put confidence in their abilities to make it four straight Finals appearances.
The Cavs’ recent losing streak has seen them drop nine of their last 12 games, falling to 27-18 with only a half game lead on the Heat for the third seed (and 1.5 games over the Wizards). Defense has been the biggest issue for Cleveland over the past month, as they’ve returned to being one of the league’s worst defenses after seemingly righting the ship after a similar stretch of awful play on that end to start the season.
Saturday night’s 148-124 loss to the Thunder was the best example of how terrible their defensive effort has been, as they managed to lose by 24 despite scoring 124 points themselves. Oklahoma City got whatever shots they wanted, whenever they wanted in a pitiful defensive display from Cleveland.
After the game, LeBron seemed to be at a loss for how to fix things right now, noting that it wasn’t just one thing to fix but more like five things, and they had some “searching” to do to find a way to get better. James was then asked about the playoffs, and the King channeled his inner Jim Mora to offer up a miniature version of the famed “Playoffs?!” rant, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
“Playoffs? We can’t even start thinking about that, not the way we’re playing right now,” James said. “We could easily get bounced early in the playoffs if they started next weekend. Haven’t even began thinking about the postseason.”
James is absolutely right about them being in trouble if the postseason started next week, but luckily for the Cavs it doesn’t and James knows this very well. The Cavs are in trouble in January, but they do have three more months to figure things out. They might need help and there are questions about the front office’s willingness to give up what’s necessary to get that help, but if nothing else they’re having lots of conversations about trade possibilities.
In any case, any team with LeBron James is going to still be the biggest threat in the East and if they can make improvements on the defensive end like they did in November, the Cavs will be in good shape in the conference. However, if those defensive improvements don’t come and this slide continues, I look forward to LeBron going word for word with Mora and asking if they can even win a game.
