LeBron James wants the Cavaliers to return from the All-Star break with more hunger.
Coach Tyronn Lue hopes to see more professionalism.
Kyrie Irving seeks more discipline, especially in the fourth quarter.
As good a note as the Cavs ended on with a Feb. 10 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Kobe Bryant’s Cleveland farewell, all is not perfect.
The Cavs still don’t know all the offensive sets of Lue, who replaced David Blatt on Jan. 22, even though they’re 8-3 under Lue’s direction. James’ 3-point percentage is .277, last among the 107 qualifiers on ESPN.com’s list and well below his career average of .337 before the All-Star break.
The stinger Kevin Love suffered in his surgically repaired left shoulder against the Lakers looked like a frightening moment for General Manager David Griffin, who scurried behind as Love left the court. Lue said Love will be fine when the Cavs resume play Thursday at home against the Chicago Bulls.
With 30 regular-season games remaining, there is plenty to like.
The Cavs are 38-14, three games ahead of the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference. Their victory total has been bested by only three teams — the Golden State Warriors (48-4), San Antonio Spurs (45-8) and Oklahoma City Thunder (40-14).
Irving’s maturation is accelerating. Matthew Dellavedova has proven more valuable than I ever imagined. Him sitting with a sore hamstring seemed to be a key factor in early February losses at the Charlotte Hornets and at home against the Boston Celtics.
Tristan Thompson is justifying his five-year, $82 million contract, especially considering the erratic play of center Timofey Mozgov.
J.R. Smith is keeping a lid on his emotions for the most part, even as he continues to get called for baffling fouls and wasn’t among the invitees for the All-Star Game’s 3-point shootout despite making the second most 3s in the league since Jan. 1.
In the past 36 games against the supposedly stronger Western Conference, the Cavs are 30-6, 16-5 this season.
But as the so-called second half commences, here are five things that worry me about the Cavs:
1. Lack of killer instinct in the fourth quarter.
It wasn’t just against the Lakers, when Bryant was fouled on a made 3-pointer and converted the free throw to cut the Cavs’ 22-point lead to nine in the fourth quarter. The Cavs rarely show the intensity to put a team away, to step on its throat, whether they’re facing one of the league’s elite or an also-ran.
Perhaps it comes from a flick-the-switch mentality, with the Cavs believing they have so much talent that they can win without maximum intensity for 48 minutes. There’s something to be said for saving themselves for the playoffs, especially James, who is 31. But such a tendency could carry over into the postseason, extending series or requiring starters to play more minutes than necessary.
2. Free-throw shooting.
The Cavs rank 26th in the league in this category, their .726 better than only the Houston Rockets (.705), Los Angeles Clippers (.689), Philadelphia 76ers (.680) and Detroit Pistons (.647). Of the regulars, the Cavs’ worst are Smith (.596), Thompson (.614), Iman Shumpert (.682), Mozgov (.710) and James (.717). Thompson has been horrendous for his entire career, but all five are below their career averages at the line.
Smith’s 138 percentage-points decline from his career average of .734 is the most drastic, followed by Shumpert’s 66, but improvement is vital. Mo Williams (.905), Dellavedova (.902) and Irving (.871) can’t take them all in the playoffs.
3. Mozgov’s hands.
My throw-a-shoe-at-the-television moment from the first half came when a rebound slipped through Mozgov’s hands in the final seconds on Feb. 5, setting up the Celtics for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in the Cavs’ one-point loss. James shot Mozgov a dagger look. My frustration was not born from fandom, but from Mozgov’s ineptitude and lack of focus. It was enough to make me check Twitter to see if his “Mittens” critic had weighed in.
To me, Mozgov’s struggles this season were Blatt’s biggest failure. Perhaps Mozgov’s confidence was damaged by his slow recovery from offseason knee surgery or the pressure to perform in the final year of his contract. But no one knew Mozgov better than Blatt, who first saw him as a teenager and coached him on the Russian national team. Mozgov is a fourth-quarter liability even more now than he was last season and could be traded by Thursday’s 3 p.m. deadline.
4. The isolation issue.
When you have stars like James and Irving on the roster, I can understand why they want to dominate the ball and try to win the game by themselves. But James saw from his first stint in Cleveland that dribble-dribble-dribble-shoot doesn’t bring championships. Lue is emphasizing a faster pace and ball movement. The Cavs generally do it for three quarters before bogging down. It makes it all the more amazing that the defending champion Warriors continue to put their egos aside and play team ball, even with a shooting star like Stephen Curry.
5. Chemistry.
The Lakers’ Bryant said Wednesday that forcing pieces to fit doesn’t work, that players can’t compromise and stop doing what they do best. But the Cavs still seem disjointed. Irving is coming on, Love falling off. Lue’s biggest challenge in the second half is figuring out how James, Irving and Love can operate together, where they need the ball to best showcase their skills.
The Cavs can’t wait until late March to figure that out. If they are to capture a championship they need to start clicking soon so they can operate at peak efficiency for the final four to six weeks before the playoffs begin.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.