After a dismal 126-113 loss to the Denver Nuggets, Lebron James cut a frustrated figure as his team once again failed to keep the momentum from their last victory going. James who isn’t one to mince words was quick to point out the lack of toughness from individuals on the Cleveland team especially on defence. The Nuggets led for much of the game and even opened up a 22 point lead – the largest lead of the night – in the fourth quarter thanks to some lacklustre defending when it was most needed.
“It ain’t about a group, it’s about individuals,” James said. “We’ve got to be more, just do more. It ain’t about no group. You can’t preach toughness, you’ve got to have it.” “I had opportunities where I could have been better,” James added. “Um, one thing about it, I always bring toughness to the game, I know that. That’s for sure.”
James has a point. The Cavs currently rank at no. 22 in the league in Defensive Rating allowing opponents score 110.0 points per 100 possessions – last year’s title winning side only gave up 104.5. The last time their defense was this bad was in 2010-2011 before Lebron came back home and seemingly instilled new habits. Yet, it seems old habits die hard. It seems Cleveland are switching off on defense and then hoping their offense bails them out as they’re currently at no. 3 in Offensive Rating.
Rotations on pick and rolls have been incredibly sloppy and a flurry of injuries have not allowed the Cavs get into any sort of rhythm on defense. It’s been beyond just unacquainted defensive schemes however, there has been a dearth of effort on individual defense that has carried over into the team’s numbers. They have already let opponents score 110 points or more twenty-five times this season and 120 points or more, eight times. For a team that’s looking to defend its title, Cleveland doesn’t seem to be doing the right things on the court during the regular season that suggests they will post a solid title defense even if they find a way to win in the East and get back to the NBA Finals.
“It starts with the coaches but the players gotta look at themselves in the mirror too. They gotta be more physical, they gotta bring a physical presence and they’ve got to take pride in guarding their man.” Lue said after the loss.
It took a miracle and a half to win the title last year in such an improbable manner that stunned everyone yet this year may require much more if they don’t pick up the slack. They beat the Golden State in a tense Finals rematch on Christmas day in Cleveland after going down by as much as 14 (Kyrie hitting yet another shot over a Warrior player to win it) and this may give them some confidence that they can hang with the best when it matters. If the NBA finals is a rematch of last year as predicted, they can at least draw on recent positive memories of defeating the Warriors but they must sort out the weaknesses on defence first. The last team to win the championship with a defence ranked outside the top 10 was a Kobe-inspired Lakers team in 2000-2001 who had the second ranked offense.
As the regular season winds to a close, and teams as well as star players get locked in preparation for the postseason, the right habits on offense and defence are more than just saying the right things in a press conference. There are still a few spots in both conferences up for grabs and teams are trying to make a final push for a playoff spot. Further up the playoff ladder though, teams are angling for home court advantage as they make to get in better seeds. It didn’t seem likely that the Cleveland Cavaliers would be in this type of discussion in the run-in but with just 12 games left to play, the Cavs are just a game ahead of the Celtics for the top spot out East that most pundits pencilled in as a sure thing even before the season began.
“When you get beat like this, I mean, (Denver is) a good team, they played hard, they run a lot of good stuff,” Lue said. “But they’re still a team that’s fighting for the eighth spot. We’re the No. 1 team in the East. We gotta play better and we understand that. We got our butts kicked today, and it starts today. We gotta be better.” “Coaches we gotta be better, but players they gotta be better too. They gotta be tougher. Gotta be more urgency, and it comes from all of us. They got 3-point shots, they got points in the paint, they got offensive rebounds. They got whatever they wanted. And we gotta be better than that.” he added.
Lebron has been harping about how they need to “improve” if they want to go back-to-back but at this point, it’s more than just getting more players on the payroll or increasing the luxury tax, the current players need to start getting into the right motions that can carry over into the playoffs. It’s not a question of if the Cavs can defend their title, the more apt question is can the Cavs defend at all?