The Cleveland Cavaliers apparently have one significant weakness: playing mediocre to bad basketball teams. The Cavs got an opening night win over the Celtics where the final score was closer than the game really felt and then notched a blowout of a quality Milwaukee team on the road.
Since then the Cavs have gone 1-2 with the win being a 7-point comeback win over the Bulls (probably the NBA’s worst team), a to the Orlando Magic (who are spunky and might be better than expected, but still not what anyone would call a “good” basketball team), and on Wednesday, a road loss to the Brooklyn Nets who led the entire way.
The Nets, like the Magic, have been a pleasant surprise early this season with the effort they’ve played with and their propensity for playing close games, but with D’Angelo Russell out for the game, they had no business beating the Cavs (even with Dwyane Wade out). However, that’s what happened as Brooklyn improved to 3-0 this season at home.
Making the Cavs loss to the Nets even funnier (or sadder if you’re a Cavs fan) is that the prize of the Kyrie Irving trade with the Celtics was landing the Nets 2018 first round pick. While some anticipated Brooklyn to be slightly better, that still was expected to be a high lottery pick and some solid insurance for a possible LeBron James departure.
Now, while it’s still likely the Nets will be in the lottery, it’s no longer looking like a lock that it will be a high lotto pick, and the Cavs losing to Brooklyn certainly is the opposite of helping their cause, both in the short term and long term. Coach Tyronn Lue (who had a funny moment during the game when Trevor Booker entered the Cavs huddle) voiced his frustration about the entire situation after the game, blasting his team and saying that at this rate the Nets are going to wish they had the Cavs pick.
Ty Lue: "We're running around here worrying about getting the Brooklyn pick, they may want our pick."
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) October 26, 2017
It’s a great quote from Lue and one that, at present, is true. Now, no one expects this trend to continue, but the Cavs look like they have real issues beyond LeBron James (who makes up for a lot of them) and there are legitimate questions to be had about their defense especially.
In any case, the real loser tonight is the gentleman that showed up to the game in a custom Cavs jersey that said “Brooklyn Pick” on the back and then had to watch his team lose to the Nets.
