INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — Another loss to the Golden State Warriors on Monday will not ruin the Cleveland Cavaliers' season.
But even Cavs coach David Blatt acknowledged that a victory against Golden State and/or the San Antonio Spurs this season was preferred.
"You're going to play these teams sooner or later, and you definitely want to go into a series having known that you've played them well during the season and that you got what it takes to beat the team," Blatt said Sunday.
The Cavaliers are 0-2 against those teams this season, losing to Golden State on Christmas and San Antonio on Thursday. If this season plays out as it's going, Cleveland will play either team in the Finals.
But there is a bigger concern than victories against the Western Conference powers inside the practice facility in suburban Cleveland. The Cavaliers' 28-10 record with the third-easiest schedule in the league has disguised offensive flaws.
Cleveland is No. 5 in offensive rating, scoring 105.4 points a 100 possessions. But dig deeper and it is clear the Cavaliers have struggled offensively against teams with winning records. The Cavaliers:
- Shot 41.5% in the second half and scored 99.1 points per 100 possessions in Thursday's loss to the Spurs.
- Scored 83 points per 100 possessions in the loss to the Warriors.
- Scored 97 points per 100 possessions in two games against the Miami Heat.
- Scored fewer than 100 points per 100 possessions against the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets.
"At times we have been less sharp, and we have been perhaps guilty of looking too far ahead and getting ahead of the process," Blatt said. "You've got to respect the process.
"The NBA season is a long, arduous, challenging season. And if you don't respect the process of going out there each day and locking in on what's really important and staying consistent, you can very quickly find yourself in a deep, deep rut."
Guard Kyrie Irving's return to the lineup in December after his knee injury suffered in last season's Finals has altered some of that offensive flow, and forward Kevin Love's role in the offense has declined.
Love's usage rate (the percentage of a team's offensive possessions that player uses) has dropped from 21.8% before Irving's return to 17.1% in the games since then.
Some of that was expected, because Irving is going to get his share of possessions. But the Cavs need to do a better job of integrating Love into the offense with Irving and LeBron James on the court. Love was forgotten during a stretch of the Spurs game, and he needs to be more than just a high-priced decoy.
Part of that is on James, Irving and Blatt to call and run plays that involve Love. The Cavs have posted impressive offensive numbers, especially against the Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Hawks and Indiana Pacers, and they have been good with Love on the floor in the last month.
But they need to start posting those kinds of numbers with more consistency against high-quality opponents. That's why this stretch — not just the games against the Warriors and then the Spurs on Jan. 30 — is important for the Cavs. Cleveland is coming off a decent 5-1 road trip and is entering an important stretch of the schedule.
As Blatt noted, "We don't have many run-of-the-mill games in Cleveland. We seem to have to always be out there at the top of our games. Now that's easier said than done, but we have to be on point. We know it, certainly against a great team like Golden State."
The 37-4 Warriors enter the game trying to avoid their first losing streak of the season after Saturday's road loss to the Pistons.
"It's a great test," Irving said. "It's two great teams playing against each other. It's what everybody wants to see. The media is going to continuously talk about it, and they should. It's great players all the way around. Going to be a great game."
Last season Cleveland began playing its best basketball at about this time, and the next month leading up to the All-Star break will start to reveal who the Cavs are.
Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt[1].
References
- ^ @JeffZillgitt (twitter.com)
