Cavs Live To Fight Another Day

The Cleveland Cavaliers live to fight another day.

It took two virtuoso performances, one from LeBron James, the other from Kyrie Irving to get it done, but there will be a Game 6 of The NBA Finals on Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

Some people will pooh-pooh the win, because of the absence of Draymond Green due to suspension, but the wine and gold got it done, basically because two of their stars carried them to this point.

And one last comment on Green. He was not suspended for the altercation with James on Friday night, he was out last night because of repeated incidents throughout the playoffs. Whether it is fair or not, those were the rules set forth by the NBA.

Now, back to the game.

The Cavs played a lot of isolation basketball last night, and it worked because they were making shots. When Irving makes 17 out of 24 attempts, then playing that way works. The problem is, when he shoots 8 for 20, it doesn’t look good.

Tyronn Lue’s squad was tied at halftime at 61, but we had a good feeling because they survived an onslaught of three point shots by Klay Thompson, who scored 25 points in the first half.

Even though Thompson was on fire, Cleveland didn’t allow any of the 12-1 or 16-2 runs that Golden State is famous for putting on its opponents. For every Thompson make, either Irving or James answered.

As for the officiating, Golden State still shot more free throws for the game, hitting 19 of 26 compared to the Cavaliers’ 14 of 23, and when you consider six of those attempts came from the deliberate fouling of Tristan Thompson in the third quarter, you can see the Warriors still received the benefit of the doubt from the refs.

As hot as the home team was in the first half from behind the arc, they were cold after halftime, winding up making 14 of 42 for 33%. Green’s absence could be a reason for that because he is such a good passer, and can also make threes. Our guess is the Warriors will shoot better on Thursday.

With Green returning for Game 6, the Cavs are going to need contributions from others. JR Smith was the only other Cleveland player to reach double digits last night, with 10 points.

Lue will need one of these three players, Kevin Love, Iman Shumpert, and/or Channing Frye to step up and make some shots on Friday.

Frye didn’t play last night, and the other two combined for just six points. There is no doubt Steve Kerr is going to attempt to stop the two guys who hurt his team last night, so someone needs to step up.

Although Love will be hammered today in the media (because that’s what they do, he’s the whipping boy), he was plus 18 last night, so even though he didn’t have a big game, he didn’t screw anything up either.

We understand that’s setting the bar low, but the fact is Love isn’t a good match up against the defending champs. However, he is a major contributor against everyone else.

This is redundant, but the Cavs will need to lift their game to an even higher level to win Thursday and force a game seven in Oakland. Fortunately, they will have two full days of rest before the next game.

No team has ever come back from down 3-1 in The Finals. That doesn’t mean it is never going to happen. That’s what the Cavaliers have to hold on to.

One Loss Shouldn’t Cause Concern

You really didn’t think the Cleveland Cavaliers were going to go 16-0 in the playoffs, did you?

That is why the Cavs’ 99-84 loss to Toronto last night doesn’t have us wringing our hands with despair.

After all, Cleveland still has a 2-1 series edge, and they didn’t do anything as damaging as losing the home court advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The wine and gold shot 35.4% from the field in game three, and we believe most teams that shoot as poorly from the floor as Tyronn Lue’s squad did, would come to the same fate.

It is well documented that Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love shot a combined 4 for 28 from the floor last night, and we would bet that won’t happen again during the rest of the playoffs, let alone this series.

The Raptors were playing their first conference finals game in the history of the franchise, and they were up to the challenge, and their fans were rightfully excited for the team’s premier foray to the NBA’s final four.

There was a lot of emotion in the building and the Cavaliers didn’t diffuse it early in the game.

Love missed some shots early and seemed hesitant to be more active offensively, and Irving missed some contested drives to the hoop in the first quarter as well, but he seemed to take the Raptors’ bait, and continued to try to get to the basket by going through four Toronto players instead of moving the ball and letting someone else have open looks.

“Bad” Kyrie made his first appearance of the playoffs.

However, we will write this off as one bad game, and after the dominance the Cavs have displayed for most of the post-season, they are entitled to a off night.

Now, it’s Tyronn Lue who has to make some adjustments instead of trying to come up with counters to what he thinks the opponent will come up with.

We would guess Lue will try to get Irving and Love some easy looks early, so they can get the taste of game three out of their mouths as early as possible. No doubt, LeBron James will help provide them with those looks.

Defensively, the wine and gold need to slow down DeMar DeRozan early. He had his mid-range game going in the first half, although JR Smith was in good position defensively for many of those attempts.

As for Bismack Biyombo, who had the game of his life Saturday night with 26 rebounds, Lue said it best. The Cavs’ coach said the Raptor big man had a lot of boards because Cleveland missed a lot of shots.

However, they need to continue to make open shots difficult for Kyle Lowry and Terrence Ross, because if either can get their three point shot down, it could make game four a difficult proposition.

To be blunt, the Raptors played perhaps their best game of the playoffs and the Cavaliers played their worst, and the outcome was still in doubt halfway through the fourth quarter.

And even if Toronto can hold serve and win Monday night, two of the next three games will be at Quicken Loans Arena.

Relax, it’s the playoffs. It’s not supposed to as easy as it has been thus far.

LeBron James and his crew will play better in game four. And Irving and Love will not shoot 14% for the entire game.

Playoffs Start, Kyrie Playing Much Better

Over the last few weeks of the regular season, the Cleveland Cavaliers had problems playing consistently, even within games.

They also seemed to play better without Kyrie Irving in the game.

He monopolized the ball, endlessly dribbling, and hoisting bad shots when he couldn’t find a way to the basket and the shot clock was running down.

The biggest problem though was his shooting. His marksmanship from three point range had dropped 10% from a year ago. He was prone to games where he was shooting more than 20 times per game and barely get over 20 points.

We thought if Irving was on your team in a pickup game, he wouldn’t be much fun to play with.

However, he seemed to change all of that once the playoffs started.

With the Cavs on the brink of a first round sweep of the Detroit Pistons, Irving’s game has returned to where it used to be. In fact, Friday night, he may have played his best of the season.

He was patient, yet aggressive if that is possible.

He looked to score early in the possession, and if something wasn’t there, he didn’t continue to dribble, he moved the ball and got it back.

And he hit the dagger shot with less than a second left on the 24 second shot clock with a corner three.

The former first overall pick is hitting 52% of his shots behind the arc in the series, and is making 46.8% of his two point shots as well. His effective field goal percentage 56.5%.

He still isn’t much of a playmaker, ranking third on the team in assists (behind LeBron James and his backup at the point, Matthew Dellavedova), but he’s only had four turnovers.

And after all of the angst about how the “Big Three” doesn’t fit well, and doesn’t play well together, all three of them are averaging over 20 points per game: Irving at 26.3, James (23.0), and Kevin Love (21.3).

Both Irving and Love have also played much better defense in these games vs. Detroit. Love was put in a couple of one-on-one situations with Piston point guard Reggie Jackson late in game one, and forced a couple of bad shots.

Irving has held Jackson to 45.2% shooting from the floor, and he has taken just three free throws in the series, obviously the forays into the lane are being minimized.

Now, we understand the Pistons are the 8th seed, and obviously will be the weakest opponent the Cavs will play in the playoffs. It only gets tougher as you move on.

But as we have said all year long, the wine and gold’s primary opponent all year has been themselves, and in judging them based on how they have played since the post-season has begun, they have stepped up the quality of basketball.

The Cavs still need to continue to improve defensively, particularly in the first half of games. Tyronn Lue has done a great job of making adjustments at halftime, because the defense has clamped down in the second half.

As the playoffs go on, you cannot have a poor first half defensively because you might go into the locker room down double digits instead of down five, like in game one in Cleveland.

But the Cleveland Cavaliers appear to be in playoff mode, and it helps that Kyrie Irving has stepped his game up.

There were many in town concerned about his play over the last two months.

Sizing Up Cavs Vs. Pistons

The Cleveland Cavaliers open the post-season Sunday afternoon at Quicken Loans Arena against the Detroit Pistons, and it doesn’t figure to be as easy as last season’s path to the second round.

As you well remember, the Cavs swept the Boston Celtics a year ago, in a series most known for the Celtics’ physicality. We all recall losing Kevin Love for the balance of the playoffs after his arm was pulled out of its socket by Kelly Olynyk.

We say it won’t be as easy because the conference as a whole is better. Boston was a below .500 team (40-42) in the 2014-15 season, and this year, the Pistons are 44-38, which would have given them the 6th seed a year ago.

That said, the two teams do have some similarities. Both are playoff newcomers, it has been since 2009 that Detroit has been in the post-season, while the Celts were very young a year ago.

Both squads are led in scoring by their point guards. Reggie Jackson leads the Pistons with an 18.8 average, and both Kyrie Irving and Mo Williams (when he was starting at the beginning of the year) had problems containing Jackson.

However, he is just a 35% shooter from behind the arc, so logic dictates that Cavs’ defenders make him knock down a few shots from outside and take away the drive initially. That will be something to watch early in the series.

Unlike Boston though, the Pistons have a dominant presence inside in Andre Drummond, who averaged 16.2 points and 14.8 rebounds per game. Detroit ranked second in the NBA in offensive boards throughout the season, so it is incumbent on the Cavs to limit the guys from the Motor City to just one shot.

Drummond’s achilles heel though is his free throw shooting. Making just 35.5% of his tosses, it is very likely we will see a lot of deliberate fouling on Cleveland’s part to force the big man to the line, or perhaps to the bench.

It is hard to see coach Stan Van Gundy keeping Drummond on the floor in a close game because of this problem.

Still, it seems like Drummond could be a factor if Tristan Thompson cannot handle him on the boards. We know Thompson is terrific on the glass as well, but the Piston is better.

And because Thompson isn’t really an offensive threat, it leaves Drummond free to contest shots around the basket, meaning the Cavs better have their perimeter game working.

When Channing Frye is in the game, he should get some open looks because Drummond doesn’t want to play outside.

This makes Lue’s handling of Timofey Mozgov more curious. The big man will be needed in this series and in a potential matchup with Toronto in the conference finals

Mid-season acquisition Tobias Harris has been very good for Detroit since coming over from Orlando, but he pales in comparison to LeBron James, who will be his match up.

As usual, the Cavs biggest opponent in this series will be themselves. If Irving and Kevin Love are scoring, it opens things up for JR Smith, and those four can put up 100 points between the quartet.

They also need to move the basketball and lock themselves in on defense. If they don’t forget that is their recipe for winning, it should be a short series.

But make no mistake, these Pistons have some weapons which have been problems for the Cavaliers. If they don’t pay attention to detail, Detroit could steal a game or two.

Road Back To Finals Will Be Tougher For Cavs

With the NBA playoffs starting this weekend, the common verse being sung by local fans and both the local and national media is the Cleveland Cavaliers should win the Eastern Conference and return to the NBA Finals.

Why? Because they have LeBron James and he will raise his game in the post-season to another level.

And? Because the Cavs have a very talented roster and eventually they will put everything together.

And?? That’s about all they have.

That’s worrisome from our point of view. And an awful lot to put on the shoulders of James, although the way he has played over the last month shows he may still be the best basketball player in the world, despite the Stephen Curry enthusiasts.

Look, this isn’t last season, when the top seeded team was the Atlanta Hawks, a team without a lot of playoff success in the past, and not a physically overwhelming roster.

The East is much better in 2015-16, making the Cavs route back to The Finals, much more treacherous.

In short, the wine and gold need to have their act together starting this weekend, which is tricky because they seem to be playing in a fog over the last month.

Yes, yes, they played well last night against Atlanta. It showed once again how good this team can be when they are clicking on all cylinders, but what happens when some adversity gets in the way, such as the opponents’ defense taking something away.

One of the members of the “Big Three”, Kyrie Irving, is in a huge shooting slump, and when he doesn’t shoot, he is dribbling an excessive amount of time.

Kevin Love has been starting games scoring a lot, but then he seems to disappear, mostly because it seems his teammates forget he is on the floor.

JR Smith has become a consistent three point threat, but “consistency” is not a word usually associated with Smith.

Post scoring? Forget it, unless it is James doing it. Timofey Mozgov’s minutes are dwindling by the week, and Tristan Thompson’s best offensive play is getting a rebound on that end of the court.

Mozgov seems to be marginalized by Lue, which we aren’t sure is a good move, because the Cavs will need him, particularly against Detroit and Toronto.

Iman Shumpert has struggled with his shot all year, although he is out there for his defensive ability. Matthew Dellavedova looks like a guy who needs a few days off before the playoffs start. His shot seems to have taken a siesta as well.

The other question is how will Lue handle himself in the playoffs. We said this a year ago with David Blatt, but the post-season is really the measure of coaching in the NBA because adjustments are needed to fit your opponent.

Can Lue make the tactical moves needed to offset what other teams are doing to Cleveland both offensively and defensively?

This isn’t a knock on Lue, we just don’t know if he can make the correct moves to counteract the other squad.

And he will be going up against some veteran guys with success in the post-season, guys like Stan Van Gundy, Frank Vogel, and perhaps the best bench coach in the league, Boston’s Brad Stevens.

Right now, based on the past several weeks, we have questions as to whether or not the Cavaliers can get back to The Finals, because it seems once again to be all on the shoulders of James.

There is no doubt he can carry the team there, but it doesn’t give the wine and gold much margin for error.

This we do know. It won’t be easy to return.

Kyrie’s Biggest Problem? He’s Lost His Shot

After Sunday’s 112-103 victory over the Charlotte Hornets, LeBron James proclaimed the Cleveland Cavaliers ready for the playoffs.

And with a 3-1/2 game lead over Toronto in the Eastern Conference standings and just five games remaining, the wine and gold’s magic number for home court advantage within the East is just three.

The guess here is the Cavs “big three” could see a lot of rest between now and the regular season.

The biggest concern for Tyronn Lue the balance of the schedule, besides making sure everyone is healthy is getting Kyrie Irving back on track.

Irving’s shot is off, although there is evidence that he is taking the “shoot your way of a slump” approach.

In the first 32 games, the former first overall pick was active this season, he took 20 or more shots just eight times.

In the last 17 games he has played, he has hoisted 20 plus field goal attempts seven times. And in total, he has fired 20 or more shots nine times in the last 23 games, dating back to the first game vs. the Lakers, when Kobe Bryant urged him not to lose his aggressiveness.

Shooting would be fine if Irving’s shot was going down, but he has only knocked down 33 of the 104 shots taken in his last six games (32%).

Not only that, but the former three point shot champion has made just a little over 30% from behind the arc since the beginning of March.

For the year, Irving is making just 31% of his threes. Last year, he made 41.5%.

The Cavs simply need Irving to regain his shooting eye if they want to get back to The Finals, because the road will no doubt be tougher this season with the Raptors challenging, and don’t sleep on the Boston Celtics.

Perhaps he is still regaining the strength in his leg after the dislocated kneecap suffered in last year’s championship round, and that’s the reason for his shot being off, but Cleveland needs the Irving who is a threat from outside.

That could be why Kyrie is forcing his way to the basket so much. His confidence in his shot has waned, so he is dribbling too much trying to get to the hoop.

On the other hand, he often takes a quick outside shot without the Cavs offense having an opportunity to run anything resembling an offensive set.

Irving is not a strong defender and isn’t exactly a willing passer, so if he’s not making shots, Lue has better options on the roster to play so the team performs better.

That seems like a slam on Irving, but it’s really no different than saying if Tristan Thompson wasn’t able to rebound well, he shouldn’t play.

We have joked that Irving not playing means better ball movement and Kevin Love will have a good game.

The point is that LeBron James’ outside shooting percentage declining, and Iman Shumpert not shooting well, the Cavs need consistent shooting from three point land to stretch the floor.

Right now, only JR Smith, Love, and Matthew Dellavedova (as long as he is spotted up) provide bona fide threats from outside.

Channing Frye is a specialist. If he’s not hitting shots, we doesn’t get much time.

That’s why it is so important that whatever is ailing Irving’s shot gets cured before the playoffs begin.

We can live with the weaknesses in his game if he’s not scoring by taking a heavy volume of shots.

Going forward though, to become a truly elite player, Irving needs to be more of a team player and a better defender.

But the shot is the thing that has to get fixed. And as soon as possible for the Cavs.

Can Cavs Put It Together Before Playoffs?

The NBA playoffs are less than a month away, but it feels like the Cleveland Cavaliers are further away than that from competing for an NBA title.

There are many people confident that the Cavs will put it all together before the post-season begins and they will march through the Eastern Conference and get to The Finals for the second consecutive year.

We are not one of those people.

Shortly after Tyronn Lue took over as head coach of the wine and gold, we wrote about how the Cavs had to get mentally tougher as a team in order to win a title.

After more than 30 games with Lue at the helm, the Cavaliers still seem to be shaky in terms of attitude.

There are several reasons for these thoughts:

The Constant Clunkers It seems like this team can’t play more than three good games in a row without following up with a simply horrible outing.

The home loss to Memphis and a terrible performance on Thursday against a bad Brooklyn team are just the two latest examples.

Perhaps they are bored and looking towards the playoffs, but it feels like it happens too often. What’s worse is the coaching staff doesn’t seem to have an answer.

Over-reliance On The Three Ball In the loss to the Nets, the Cavs went 9 of 37 from behind the arc. That’s 24.4%.

When Cleveland loses these days, it is usually because they are not making their threes, so they’ve become a live by the three, die by the three type of team.

The Cavaliers rank 9th in the NBA in three point shooting percentage 35.7%, taking the fourth most in the league.

However, when they aren’t going in, the team doesn’t seem to have or better yet, look for another alternative. They just keep chucking them up from deep.

That would be fine if they didn’t have players who have other options. Both LeBron James and Kyrie Irving can take the ball to the hoop with anyone in the league. And Kevin Love can score in the post and has a solid mid-range game.

JR Smith is also versatile offensively even though he is best known for his long range marksmanship.

When the three ball isn’t falling, the wine and gold have to try another attack.

Defense Or lack of it, we should say. Since Lue took over and wanted the Cavs to play at a faster pace, the defense has suffered. And in the playoffs, you have to be sound at the defensive end.

Too often, Cleveland defenders allow opposing point guards to get into the paint which causes the big men to cover up for them, which in turn, allows their men to get lay ups and dunks.

If that singles out Kyrie Irving, then so be it. He simply has to do a better job keeping his man in front of him.

Which brings us to…

Kyrie Irving Irving has always been a scorer, but he’s becoming a major ball stopper. We don’t have a problem with him scoring, it’s the way it’s being done.

Mostly, he stands around the outside dribbling looking for a lane to drive to the basket. When the defense doesn’t allow that, it creates bad, long range shots to beat the shot clock, and fast break opportunities for the opponents.

Irving needs to move the ball, and then move without it to get open, and then get it back. That would seem to alleviate both problems.

Improvement in these areas would make us feel better about the Cavaliers’ chances.

Do they have the talent to get back to The Finals? Of course. But, the East is better, so without shoring up these areas, it will be difficult to get back.

Analyzing Kyrie

For most of the last two seasons, basketball fans in Cleveland have focused on two players when things have gone bad for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

However, David Blatt is no longer the team’s head coach, and although Kevin Love’s value is still misunderstood by many who claim to know the game, the spotlight has been deflected from him recently.

More and more people are taking a look at Kyrie Irving.

There is no question that Irving, the first player taken in the draft in 2011, is uber talented, and also a highly decorated player.

He was the Rookie of the Year in 2012, the All Star MVP in 2014, USA Basketball’s player of the year, and last year was named to the third team All-NBA squad.

He may have the best ball handling skills in the league, and can seemingly get to the basket anytime he wants to.

But for many of the basketball cognoscenti, there is something missing.

First of all, it’s Irving’s effort and ability on the defensive end of the floor. As Coach John Wooden once said there is no excuse for a good offensive man not to be a good defensive man.

The same quickness that Irving uses to get to the rim on a nightly basis can certainly be used to stop his defensive assignment.

The second problem is his tendency to show off his handle. He loves to dribble.

After Irving scored 33 points in a win over Dallas on Wednesday, he was being praised by some because “someone has to score”, but meanwhile his teammates were said to be upset by his monopolization of the ball.

The guard’s big hoop in the last two minutes came from giving up the ball, and getting it back on a pass from JR Smith as he cut to the basket.

Meanwhile, Dallas came back from a 20 point deficit because Irving dribbled the shot clock down to expiration and then had to take poor percentage shots.

There is no doubt the Cavs need him to score, but it can be done by giving it up and moving without the ball to open spots where his team can find him.

Players are human. They don’t like to go up and down the floor without ever touching the basketball. It is understandable that professional players are frustrated playing with a ball dominant player, especially when the coach and the best player on the team stress that style of play.

The other issue with Irving is that he doesn’t seem to be improving as a player.

His shooting percentage hasn’t gotten appreciably better since entering the NBA ( career high 46.9% as a rookie, now 46.2%), nor has he become a better passer (5.4 assists as a rookie, career best 6.1 in last year without James, now 4.5).

His player efficiency rating (analytics!) was 21.4 as a rookie, peaked at 21.5 last season, and is now at 21.0). Here is how that stacks up against other in their first five seasons–

Stephen Curry: 16.3, 19.4, 21.2, 21. 3, 24.1
Damian Lillard: 16.4, 18.6, 20.7, 23.3 He is now in his fourth year.
Derrick Rose: 16.0, 18.6, 23. 5, 23.0, hobbled by injuries since.

We picked these players for the following reasons. Curry and Lillard are players compared most to the former Duke standout, and Rose was also a one and done player, while the others played more college basketball than did Irving.

While Irving started out better than the other three, he hasn’t taken the step up in his game that the other three have. The Cavs need him to take that next step because he is that talented, and LeBron James is getting older.

Irving is the one who needs to “fit in”, and stop listening to a player like Kobe Bryant, who tells him to be more aggressive.

He needs to remember that in Bryant’s first three championships, he was NOT the best player on those teams, Shaquille O’Neal was.

The Cavs need him to win, but he needs to share the ball, and get it back to score. Oh, and to pick it up on the defensive end too.

He can do all of that. It’s just a matter of actually doing it.

Love Needs Kyrie To Help Him “Fit In”

As the Cleveland Cavaliers season continues to befuddle basketball fans around town, we pause to remind everyone that since the beginning of last season, supporters had two whipping boys when things didn’t go well.

David Blatt was one of them, and he was fired half way through the 2015-16 schedule, with a record of 30-11 on the season.

So, now to falls on Kevin Love to be the problem whenever anything on the Cavs doesn’t go well.

Our belief is that Love is a very good NBA player, one that the coaching staff and his teammates still haven’t figured out how to use to the best of his abilities.

We will concede that the former UCLA standout misses too many wide open looks from beyond the three point line, but he is not as bad of a defender as is purported, that is as long as he isn’t asked to guard centers.

Our comment when fans tell us Love needs to go, or the Cavs should trade him after the season is over is too say that the power forward isn’t being used right.

After Tyronn Lue took over as coach, he made the comment that he wanted Love to get touches at the elbow, where he had been successful at Minnesota, but there hasn’t been much evidence of that.

Sure, it has been used from time to time, but not on a consistent basis.

It appears from watching games and listening to post game press conferences that LeBron James understands that Love can contribute and is important to the team, however, the third member of the “Big Three” doesn’t seem to feel the same way.

Think about it, how many times do we ever see Kyrie Irving find Love, or really James for that matter, on the court?

Many writers have written about a “disconnect” between James and Irving, but the latter seems to be playing his own game a lot.

Look, Irving is supremely talented, and we are not suggesting that the Cavaliers should trade him. He is simply too good of an offensive force, although we can all agree he needs to work harder on the defensive end of the floor.

However, if anyone needs to make adjustments on the court, it is Irving not Kevin Love, and it is Irving that needs to start getting Love involved, and not just standing on the perimeter waiting for open threes.

We have before that when Lue said upon getting hired that he wanted to play Love with the second unit to make him the focal point, that the role should go to Irving, who wants to play that way anyhow, and is very effective at doing it.

After all, James and Love appear to be able to play together, and it doesn’t seem that LeBron and Kyrie have high chemistry on the court together.

We see Matthew Dellavedova finding James on cuts to the hoop all the time, do you ever see the same with Irving?

If the Cavaliers are going to get back to The Finals, they need an improved Kyrie Irving and a more efficient Kevin Love.

That can happen if the two can learn to play off each other on the offensive end, and Irving stops playing the one on five style he is becoming more and more enamored with.

The only problem with Kevin Love is that the Cavaliers are putting him in the best position so he can help them the best.

Maybe he can’t fit in because of the talents of James and Irving, but wouldn’t it be nice if the latter at least attempted to make it work better?

Cavs Still Seem To Lack Toughness

The Cleveland Cavaliers fired David Blatt on January 22nd with a record of 30-11. This means Tyronn Lue has now been at the helm for roughly six weeks, and the wine and gold have a 14-6 record with him at the helm.

What, if anything has changed?

The most obvious thing is the scoring is up. Cleveland has scored more than 110 points in half of the games with Lue as the head man, while they did the same just nine times in Blatt’s 41 contests as coach.

On the other hand the defense seems to have slipped. The Cavs have allowed more than 100 points in 11 of Lue’s 20 games at the helm, compared to only 17 in the 41 where Blatt was running the show.

Some of that is due to the faster pace the Cavaliers want to play at, but there is no question that the defense, particularly on the perimeter, has taken a step in the wrong direction.

And the other question that needs to be answered is whether or not Cleveland is better off playing faster. Based on the won-lost record, the answer appears to be no.

The one thing that we thought Lue wanted to change with this team was some toughness, making the players accountable for what occurred on a game by game basis.

That is still a work in progress.

In the last couple of weeks, we have seen Kyrie Irving remove himself from a game due to a bout with bedbugs in an Oklahoma City hotel, a deplorable effort without LeBron James on the road against Washington, and several players complaining about the need for “an enforcer”.

This has to drive Lue insane.

The odd thing about the Irving issue was the team did rally and despite having only eight players available scored a huge win over the Thunder, one of the league’s best teams.

But it doesn’t say a lot for Irving’s toughness that he took himself out, especially with Mo Williams out with a knee issue and Matthew Dellavedova on a minutes restriction due to a balky hamstring.

Put this together with Irving’s seemingly indifference on the defensive end, and you have a problem for the head coach and the organization.

It didn’t help with the giant egg laid against the Wizards. Let’s face it, even without James on the floor, Cleveland has two “max” players in Irving and Kevin Love, so to get blown out is inexcusable.

Particularly when the effort seemed to be lacking, something JR Smith addressed to the media after the game.

However, the weirdest issue is the players bringing up the loss of Kendrick Perkins in the off-season, someone who barely played when he was here.

That made us sit back and think the players need to just shut up and play. They seem to be worried about things that could and have gone wrong, rather than having the mindset that they are very talented and should be able to win a title.

The team did take a positive step on Saturday when they fell behind against Boston early, but then overcame the deficit to win the game going away, and against a quality opponent.

Maybe this could be the thing that pulls this team together and pulling in the right direction.

On the other hand, someone might get a hangnail tonight, and the wine and gold will focus on that.