MIAMI: It has not been a good three weeks for the Cavaliers, who have a losing record since Nov. 14 and have fallen out of first place in the East.
There are plenty of reasons why, but ultimately the Cavs are 5-6 in their last 11 games and fumbling at both ends of the floor. They’ve set season lows in scoring in two of the last three games, their defense has fallen apart and they’re still searching for more help around LeBron James.
Without James in the lineup Saturday, they scored just 84 points against the Miami Heat when Kevin Love failed to lead them. The only healthy and active max contract player managed just five points and eight rebounds in 22 rather unproductive minutes. He shot just 2-of-11 and was a non-factor most of the night, then didn’t take much responsibility for it afterward.
Asked if he has more responsibility on him when James isn’t playing, Love said he didn’t know.
“I know it is a hell of a thing to go into overtime [Friday] night, get in late, but we picked up the energy better in the second half,” Love said. “Things will just get better as the season progresses.”
The issues the last few weeks supersede Love. They’ve fallen from a top-10 defensive team to a bottom-10 defensive team in both defensive field-goal percentage and defensive rating. Teams are shooting nearly 46 percent against them in the last 11 games.
“We’re not defending like we were,” Matthew Dellavedova said. “We can’t let our offense dictate our defense. So it starts with getting backing in transition and trying to get our defense set.”
The Heat shot 66 percent in the first half Saturday in their 99-84 win and dropped 34 points on the Cavs in the first quarter, tied for the most they’ve surrendered in a quarter this season.
“We gave an effort, I don’t know if it was a smart effort or the type of effort we wanted,” Smith said. “The other guys [reserves] got in there and did what they were supposed to do. The way they played is the way we should’ve been playing to start the game.”
The standings don’t matter much in December, other than to reflect the vast improvement in the East this season. The Heat at least temporarily surpassed the Cavs for the top spot in the East. The Indiana Pacers were an overtime loss at Utah on Saturday from dropping the Cavs to third.
With the season at the quarter point, there are 10 teams in the East with winning records. This from a conference that routinely sends a team with a losing record to the playoffs. The gap within the conference is narrowing and the Cavs are noticing.
“We definitely aren’t obviously playing well right now,” Dellavedova said.
“But I think if we can just get back to defending, that will take the pressure off our offense, hopefully allow us to get a couple easy baskets and then everyone feels good again and we can hopefully get back rolling.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com.