The Cleveland Cavaliers have not started hitting on all cylinders yet, but you wouldn’t know that from their won-lost record. The wine and gold currently sit at 11-4, with only two teams having lost fewer than them, the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers, who both sit with three defeats. A look deeper into the Cavs record makes it more impressive.
Cleveland has played eight of their 15 games on the road, and with six wins away from "The Q", they have more road wins than anyone else. Only Orlando, Dallas, and Phoenix have matched the half dozen road victories recorded by the Cavs.
Still, watching the team play, they don’t seem to have the same cohesiveness they had last season when they had a league best regular season record of 66-16.
You have to remember that coach Mike Brown is trying to fit several new players into the rotation, and will kind of have to start over again tonight when Shaquille O’Neal returns to the lineup after missing six games with a shoulder injury. He will likely have to make another adjustment when and if Delonte West’s game is back to the same level as last season.
The team has played very well in first quarters of games lately, but stuggles in the second quarter, allowing teams to get back in games. Perhaps getting Zydrunas Ilgauskas back with the second unit will stop this from happening.
Late in games, there seems to be too much LeBron James dominating the ball. The King has to go back to the style of game he plays early. If you didn’t know better, you would think LBJ is playing for a contract. He seems to be trying to score more often instead of playing the type of team game he is noted for. James can score at will, but the team probably plays better when he is scoring less and getting his teammates involved.
At this point, the Cavaliers are the only team in the Eastern Conference elite that has played more road games than at home. That bodes well for them as the season progresses. They also own wins at both Orlando and Miami, two of the better teams in the conference. When the Cavs start playing with more togetherness for all 48 minutes in a game, they likely will be in contention for the #1 seed in the East when the playoffs start.
And they will be a better basketball team than they were entering last season’s playoffs.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 