DISAPPOINTING: Cleveland Cavaliers COLLAPSE Against Portland Trail Blazers | Is This ALARMING?

DISAPPOINTING: Cleveland Cavaliers COLLAPSE Against Portland Trail Blazers | Is This ALARMING?

On today’s show, if Monday was a step in the right direction for the Cavs, Wednesday was two steps in the wrong direction for the Cavs. We’ll talk about what went wrong in the loss against Portland, how they can fix it, and really what they need to do in order to turn things around. That’s all straight ahead on today’s edition of Locked on Cavs. You are Locked On Cavs, your daily Cleveland Cavaliers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. your team every day. Hi everybody, my name is Danny Cunningham and I cover the Cleveland Cavaliers over at my Substack, the Inside Shot, and you’re listening to another edition of Locked on Cavs, which is a part of the Locked On podcast network, the number one sports podcast network in all of America. You can find this show anywhere you get your podcast, Apple, Spotify, or YouTube as well. If you’re watching right now, do us a favor, hit that thumbs up button for us, click subscribe, and hit that notification bell so you don’t miss the latest lockdown cavs content. Today’s episode brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use the code locked on NBA. That is L O C D O NA for $20 off your first purchase. Again, with Game Time. The Cavs on Wednesday night lose to the Portland Trailblazers 122 to 110. And this I think is a disappointing is the word that comes to mind. Like I think that this is maybe not the worst loss of the year for the Cavs. I think that might just be on Sunday considering they had lost three straight games. Uh, I think Sunday’s game is still the worst loss for the Cavs against the Celtics, but this is a more disappointing loss, I think, considering what we saw from this group on Monday. And yes, the team they beaten the Pacers on Monday, not a very good team, but guess what? The Blazers aren’t a great team either, right? Like, this is a Portland team that came into Wednesday night 8 and 13. They played in Toronto the night before. Um, it was the second night of a backto-back for them. anytime a Western Conference team comes east has a second night of a backto-back, especially when they have to fly internationally, right? Like when you think that you go from Canada to America, it just adds another step in the process. And those types of trips are often difficult for teams. And the Blazers were the team, and I think that the reason why this is disheartening or or disappointing, whatever you want to call it, is the Blazers were the team that had more energy, right? And this has been the common theme for the Cavs seemingly all season long. And all of their losses tend to for the most part follow the same blueprint. Sometimes they’ll have a good start. The Cavs had a very good start in this one. They were up 15 to7 early in the first quarter. They hit their first four shots. They hit their first three threes. They looked really good. They were playing good defense at the start. Like this looked like, okay, the Cavs are going to have energy. They’re going to build on Monday night. This is going to be a game that the Cavs look like the Cavs. That is what I was thinking as I was sitting inside my in my seat inside Rocket Arena on Wednesday. I thought, “Oh, this is going to be the Cavs. Like, the Cavs are finally turning it on. They’re turning it around. This is what they’re going to look like.” And then from that point forward, they just fell apart. They were terrible. They were not good offensively. And I think some of that is self-inflicted. Some of that is they missed shots that I do think were good and I think they can live with. Like they took too many threes in this game. 52 three-pointers I think is still too many for them. And some of them I think came at some very ill-advised times. But overall, like I don’t think that their offensive process was bad. They lost this game on the defensive end of the floor. And they lost this game because their perimeter defense was a complete nightmare. Portland in this game had 76 points combined between paint and at the free throw line. They went to the free throw strike 39 times. They were 34 of 39 at the line. And were all of those good calls? No. Do I think that Zack Zarba and his officiating crew got a little bit whistlehappy and some of those fouls were a little soft for my liking? Yeah, I do. I don’t think that this was the best officiated game. And I I also don’t think that like were the Cavs overly physical. No, they were certainly not to me physical to the point where they could have been whistled for this many fouls. But that’s kind of the hand you’re dealt and you have to find a way to play through it. And the Cavs couldn’t do that. And I don’t think and when you hear, oh, they had 76 points combined between free throws in the paint. They had 42 points in the paint. You’re instantly going to think, at least the way that I think a lot of people think about it, you are instantly going to think, well, that’s got to be a problem with the bigs, right? Like they missed Jared Allen in this game. I’m not going to say that they didn’t miss Jared Allen, but this was not on Evan Mowgli. Evan, I thought, played pretty well in this game. He had five blocks. I thought he was good defensively. Um, I thought he was good offensively, too. I think he could have been a little bit more aggressive, but like he had 23, 10, five, five and two. I This was not an Evan Mobley issue. This was an issue on guys on the perimeter not being able to defend. This was an issue. Jaylen Tyson did not have a good defensive game for as good as he has been lately, and he has been very good lately. He didn’t have a good night. And that’s going to happen with young players, but Donovan Mitchell didn’t have a good defensive night. Darius Garland, I thought, was pretty bad defensively. Like everybody the Cavs, DeAndre Hunter did not move well that early in this game. Everybody that the Cavs put out there on the perimeter to defend struggled. And that is why the Cavs lost this game. They lost this game because when they miss shots, which I said they made their first four, they made their first three threes of the game. They went one of their next 14 three from three. When that happens with this team, they always let it affect the other end of the floor. They always when they go through slumps offensively and right now because of who they’re missing, they’re going to be more prone to go through those offensive slumps. Darius Garland doesn’t look like Darius Garland yet. I don’t believe that’s going to be the thing forever. I think that once we get past this week and Darius gets a week underneath him where the Cavs really don’t play, I think that’s when he’s going to start to turn the corner. And I think that’s okay. like of everybody right now, given what Darius has gone through physically, I don’t think his struggles are a big deal. But I do think that when you’ve got his struggles and you don’t have the gravity from other guys that you’re used to having, it becomes a big issue for the Cavs because right now that’s where the Cavs do miss guys like they miss Sam Merrell, they miss Max Struce, they miss those guys a lot in terms of what they can create offensively and when the Cavs struggle offensively, they let it affect their defense. I think part of the reason why they look so good defensively early on in this game was one, they had the proper energy. Like they came out with this game and had the energy they needed to have and they started off good offensively and then they struggled a little bit offensively. Like when the bench went in, the offense kind of fell off a cliff and the defensive energy went away because they let struggles on one end of the floor impact them on the other end of the floor. We’ve talked so many times over the past years about avalanches, right? And how the momentum can snowball and it can lead to like the good defense leads to great offense and great offense for them traditionally has led to pretty good defense, too. And they can string these stops together and they can string points together and just overwhelm teams. Well, they can overwhelm themselves in a negative way when they string together bad offensive possessions or maybe not even bad offensive possessions, but empty offensive possessions because I do think there’s a difference. Like they had some possessions offensively on Wednesday night that were very bad. They had some offensive possessions that were terrible. They had some other offensive possessions like you know what that’s a pretty good shot from a guy that you want taking a pretty good shot and it didn’t go in and that happens. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad possession. Like Donovan Mitchell went three of 13 from beyond the arc on Wednesday night. He wasn’t great in this game. That’s going to happen. He’s been great all year. He’s had a couple of rough games. That’s going to happen. He still gave them 33 points. It just wasn’t necessarily a a vintage Donovan Mitchell performance, if you will. But they can’t let that type of thing affect who they are on the defensive end of the floor. That is the biggest problem because that affects their energy. and when their energy gets down, they’re not a very good basketball team. They’re a team right now that has gotten by on talent. The reason why they are 13 and 10 is because they have gotten by on talent and they’ve beaten for the most part the teams that they’re supposed to beat. Like I believe this is their first game that they’ve lost against a team that’s below 500. And that’s going to happen from time to time. I think that this is a bad spot for it to happen for the Cavs because they’ve not been playing good basketball and they needed a game like this to win. But they it’s they lost this game because they didn’t have the proper energy. And that has been the story of this team because what happens is they will either start off strong. Their first quarters go always one of two ways. They either start off terrible and close out the quarter really well. We have seen that a number of times. We’ve seen that in wins, we’ve seen that in losses, right? Think back to the Milwaukee game where they’re down 13-2 early on and by the end they’re trailing 28 to 26 by the end of the first quarter. like they would close that quarter strong when they start terribly or they’ll start off very well like they did in the first quarter of this game where they were up 15 to7 and then they close out the first quarter terribly and they’re losing at the end of the first quarter on Wednesday night 36-33. Their first quarter goes one of two ways and that bleeds into the rest of the game because what this team is not capable of doing right now and I think this is probably the most frustrating part of the Cavs is that they’re not capable of being consistent for whatever reason. I think energy is a big reason why but it’s not necessarily something that can be quantified. Like there’s not one there’s not one constant thing that you look at and say, “Yeah, that’s why the Cavs are struggling right now.” They’re inconsistent all across the board. And I think it’s a big energy thing because we routinely like this loss followed the blueprint blueprint of a lot of losses where they will start off well and then they will give the lead back and then they’ll fall down big and they find a way to try and make it close. The Cavs went on a run where I think they cut it to seven in the fourth quarter. You think, okay, are they going to be able to do this? Are they going to be able to get over that hump? And they can’t. Like they find a way and they find the competitive spirit that they need. But the problem is the Cavs don’t play with that competitive spirit frequently enough. They don’t play with it consistently enough because if they did, they wouldn’t find themselves in a game where they’re trailing the Portland Trailblazers who are on the second night of a back-to-back, who lost to the Toronto Raptors the night before, who are without some guys who had a banged up Denny Aia, who had a banged up Donovan Clling in who, you know, honestly is just like a very mid team. they wouldn’t find themselves down by 18 to that type of team if they played with the right energy, even if they didn’t have a great offensive night in terms of shooting the basketball. And again, they miss guys on that end of the floor. And that I think you can’t necessarily debate, but even on an off night offensively, the defense is the thing that needs to be better. Like I look at this and say, yeah, they only scored 110 points and that’s not good enough. But for me, the defense is the biggest issue from this because the defense is something that I think the Cavs can do a little bit better job of controlling. They can’t always control if they make or miss shots. Sometimes you’re going to have bad nights shooting. That’s going to happen. The Cavs have had them more frequently than I would anticipate they should. Um, at some point I do think that will even out, but the energy is the thing that, and I believe I mentioned this on yesterday’s podcast, the energy is the thing that needs to be a non-negotiable for this Cavs team. They need to play hard frequent more frequently than they are. That’s the biggest problem. And they did not have particularly in the first half like that second quarter the basically the from the six-minute mark of the first quarter until halftime was really bad for the Cavs in terms of energy, in terms of effort, in terms of hustle, in terms of the intangibles. Like it’s all the things that you can’t necessarily quantify, but when the Cavs are getting beat as badly on the perimeter defensively as they have been, that’s the thing I point to. Like they only in this game gave up 17 fast break points to the Blazers, which is a little over their average, but like it’s not some terrible night, but Portland was seven of 10 on fast break opportunities. That’s not good for the Cavs. That’s incredibly efficient. The Blazers didn’t run a ton, but they were very successful when they did. That’s not a way you can live if you’re the Cavs. That is a problem that needs to be corrected. The energy needs to be corrected. And maybe this team is tired, right? Maybe they are. And maybe we’re overreacting, but things don’t feel right right now. And maybe they’ll get corrected. And I do think one of the important things that Donovan Mitchell brought up and it made me think of last year because there was a game last year where the Cavs lost in Detroit and I asked Donovan after that game and I asked Darius after that game too if they were concerned that the team was not playing its best basketball at the right time. And if you think back to last year, they had a four-game losing streak in the month of March. They had that 16game winning streak that ended um I believe against Portland if I’m or maybe they beat Portland but it was a close game and then it ended shortly thereafter. But they had that 16game winning streak that ended and then they kind of went into a I don’t know that tail spin is the right way to term it when you win 64 games. I don’t know you’re ever in a tail spin but they went into a rut and I asked him about whether or not they needed to be playing their best basketball at that time of year. and he sort of downplayed it. But then tonight he said, “I would rather this happen in December than January, February or March.” And that’s true, right? Like the Cavs do have a lot of time to figure this out, but it happening in December is one thing, but happening in January is not as far away as it was in November. We’re getting closer to that, and that is why I think that things do feel a little off right now. They need to find a way to find the right energy. They need to find a way to play the right way. There’s still a lot of talent in that locker room. Like I look in that locker room when I am in there, I look at the the name plates on top of the lockers, right? And I do not think there’s a more talented group of basketball players in the Eastern Conference. But right now, it’s not a group that plays together. It’s not a group that plays the right way. It’s not a group that plays with the proper energy. And all of those things, if all of those things don’t happen, you can’t maximize the talent in that locker room. And that is the biggest issue with the Cavs right now. That is one of the things that does need to change and until that happens, I don’t know that anything else is going to matter. Like yeah, the Cavs are going to hit more shots on other nights and the one because of it. But I think ultimately they need to do all of those things that they didn’t do against Portland or else it’s not necessarily going to matter, right? You can be better offensively, but that’s really just putting a band-aid on a pretty big wound. It doesn’t do much for you. Now, there is one thing that the Cavs either need to change or figure out. It’s not an effort thing. It’s not an energy thing. It’s a personnel thing. We’ll talk about it next right here on Locked on Cavs. But first, today’s show is brought to you by Robin Hood. What if sports were traded like markets? 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So Lonzo Ball did not play against Indiana on Monday. He was out sick. He did not play on Sunday either because the Cavs were sitting him on the front end of a backtoback because so he could play the second night of a backto-back with Darius Garland not playing the second night of a backto-back because he played the front end of the back to back and then he missed the game because he was sick. So maybe should get a little bit of grace for playing through sickness. Like I I get it. You know when you’re not feeling 100% not even like body-wise but when you are sick it tough to get through that. Totally understand that. But this isn’t like a just this game type of thing. So on Wednesday night, Lonzo Ball played 24 minutes for the Cavs. He was one of nine from the floor and one of eight from three. He did have seven rebounds, which is something he does do very well and is something that I think he deserves credit for and is important to the Cavs considering they’re not a great rebounding team. So I will give him credit there. I thought defensively was he great? No. I thought he was okay and he did not turn the ball over although he only had two assists in this game. But what is important with Lonzo is the offensive end of the floor because he is not somebody who gets to the rim ever. And I know I talked about this on yesterday’s podcast comparing him and Craig Porter Jr. because I’m at the point now and Craig only played in this game 10 minutes. I didn’t think he was great, but I think it would have been better for the Cavs if he would have played more than Lonzo did. like maybe they win this game if that’s the case. I don’t know. But Lonzo never gets to the rim. So he did take an attempt in the paint in this game which moved him to he missed it and it moved him to six of 14 on the season inside the painted area and that is obviously a not good percentage and that is obviously a very low volume which is a problem because the Cavs right now are taking too many threes. They took 52 three-pointers in this game, which is a number that is certainly too high. I don’t know how many too too many it was. I think 45 is probably where you would want to be if you’re the Cavs. Maybe a little bit lower than that. But when you’re not getting to the rim frequently enough, that number is going to balloon because, and to be fair, it’s not like they’re replacing those rim attempts they should be getting with mid-range jump shots. The fact that they’re replacing them with three is better than that. But I would rather see those attempts at the rim. And Lonzo doesn’t get to the rim. He does not get to the basket. Um if when he gets two two feet in the paint, it almost feels at times like he panics and wants to pass the ball. Like he wants to he he to me plays like somebody who is so focused on making the right play for others that he can forget to that sometimes the right play is for himself. And we have seen this with Dean Wade passing up shots in the past and we will talk about him in a second too. But overall, I just look at this and say he either needs to start getting to the rim more or he cannot be as big of a part of the Cavs as we all thought he would. And I talked all summer about how I thought this was an awesome pick for for the Cavs because and I still think the idea of what Lonzo Ball could be is exactly what the Cavs need. Ideally, he’s a good defender. He is a very good passer. He I think is one of the best passers in basketball. I’m not going to take that away. He’s a good ball handler. He’s a very good, I think, pressure release guy. But if he’s going to shoot 27% from beyond the arc, which is where he is at right now, he’s not playable. Because when he is part of lineups that feature himself, who’s shooting 27% on threes, and Dean Wade, who is not much better, shooting 28% on threes. That’s a really tough place for the Cavs to be offensively. And if he’s not making those threes and he’s not getting to the basket, yes, is he setting up teammates at times? Sure he is. But he’s not providing anything individually offensively. And that is a big problem for the Cavs because when they don’t have Darius Garland out there, when they don’t have Donovan Mitchell out there, yes, he can be a good table setter, but they need somebody in the back court that can score. And he has not been capable of doing that so far this year. so far to date this season of guys that have played in at least 15 games and are taking five or more three-pointers a game. So, like this is a big group of players, but I wanted to factor out because there are a couple of guys that have played like two games and taken 10 threes and that that’s not fair to anybody to include them. But of guys that have played 15 or more games and take more than five three five or more three-pointers per game, Lonzo Ball is the second worst three-point shooter amongst them. That 27%. The only player who is shooting a worse three-point percentage again on five or more threes per game is Shaden Sharp who went to a five from three against the Cavs on Wednesday night. That’s the only player that is having a worst at least I guess we’ll call five threes a game medium volume. the only player having a worse medium or higher volume three-point shooting season than Lonzo Ball. And as far as Dean Wade, who does not shoot threes as frequently as Lonzo, he’s shooting just over three point three threes per game. He’s shooting 28%. Which is also very, very bad. When you think of guys that are shooting at least three three-pointers per game and have played in 15 games, Dean Wade is also near the bottom of the list. Lonzo’s worse, but Dean Wade is also not great. That is something that is really hurting the Cavs right now is that those guys are missing shots. And I think the more frustrating thing with Lonzo than the percentage is it feels like they come at big moments too. He had one where he shot in transition and you knew he was not going to make it and that could have cut Portland’s lead down to five and it it felt like at the time, okay, I don’t know that this is a good idea. like you can kind of sit there say, “Oh, no.” when he took that shot because you you just have no confidence that he’s going to make it with how poorly he’s shooting right now. There was another one and it was one where you can’t knock the guy for taking a shot. I don’t remember who the defender was, but whoever was defending Lonzo Ball fell down and Lonzo took the shot and that’s the shot you have to take. But you just kind of have the feeling there’s not really much of a chance this is going in because he’s been shooting the basketball so poorly. And if he’s going to continue to shoot like this, and maybe it was just like he was sick tonight, but this isn’t a tonight thing. This is all season. I don’t think he can play 25 minutes a game. I think that at that point, it’s making the Cavs so much easier to defend. And I don’t think that the other things that he does provide are outweighing the fact that he’s not individually creating any offense for himself. Because Craig Porter Jr., is he as good of a passer as Lonzo? No. Is he as good of a defender as Lonzo? No. But he does provide the rebounding. I think Lonzo provides. He’s not as big as Lonzo, which does hurt them, but offensively, he’s a much more individually efficient player, and that’s an important thing. And I think you’re kind of getting to the same point with Dean Wade. And right now, they’re not as deep there because Larry Nance is out, Max Streus is out, Sam Merrill is out. Like, they just don’t have the wing depth that they need. But Dean, if he’s going to shoot 28% when the Cavs are fully healthy, he can’t play. like he’s not providing enough stuff elsewhere to justify being a guy that’s supposed to be a 3 and D guy and shooting under 30%. That’s not a realistic thing for the CF staff. That’s not a realistic thing for any team to have. Like on this game on Wednesday night, I thought in the second half Kenny Atinson should have played Tyrese Proctor who did not play in this game over Lonzo Ball because that’s how bad the Lonzo Ball offense was. And yes, like I said, he was sick. I get it. But it’s been an every night thing. Like this has been a constant thing. And I think that that is a tweak that the Cavs either need to figure it out. And I do think like Lonzo’s shot is extremely flat. So I think that is something that needs to change. There needs to be more arc on his shot from beyond the arc. But if this doesn’t get fixed, I don’t know how long the Cavs can drag this out. I understand not wanting to give up on this because I like the upside is there. If he if he is a good three-point shooter, if he shoots 10% better from three, eight% better from three, it changes the Cavs in a big way. Like, it’s a really good thing for them. But if he’s shooting this percentage, if he’s going to shoot 27%, you can’t play him. You can’t play him at that point. Um, and the other thing that I do want to talk about is I said this week we’re going to learn a lot about the Cavs. And I think we have learned a lot about the Cavs and there are two more games that at this point I just think they need to get through. And I’ll tell you why I think that next right here on Locked on Cavs. But first, today’s show is brought to you by Game Time. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. That’s a long time ago. I was born, but some of you might not have been. And with 48 teams for the first time ever. Yeah, biggest World Cup ever in history. Going to be massive. But let’s be honest, getting tickets to the World Cup usually the tough part. That’s why the Game Time app is clutch because it’s finally giving fans a real advantage when it comes to snagging seats to whatever match they want to be at. With Game Time, you can track price drops in real time. Get alerts when great seats open up and buy tickets the moment they hit the app. It puts the power back in your hands and makes going to the World Cup realistic instead of impossible. This is potentially a once in a lifetime opportunity for you. Getting to the World Cup should be a big deal when it finally begins. 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That is Lok Ced NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply. Again, download the Game Time app, make an account, use code lockdown NBA, Loca, for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go game time. Thank you again for making this edition of Locked on Cavs your first watch on YouTube. If you’re watching right now, do us a favor. Hit that thumbs up button for us. Click subscribe. Hit that notification bell so you don’t miss the latest from us here at Locked on Cavs. And the Cavs need to get through this week. They’ve got two games left. They play on Friday against the San Antonio Spurs who have been playing very well without Victor Webama who I imagine will not be playing on Friday and without Stfan Castle who might play on Friday. But at this point, I would be a little surprised if he plays on Friday. And then they have the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, who may or may not have Jimmy Butler. He got hurt in a game on Tuesday night and will not have Steph Curry, who the team said is not traveling on this road trip that the Warriors begin tonight, I believe, in Philadelphia. And they just need to survive these games. Do I expect them to win both of them given the way that they’ve played? No, I don’t. I would anticipate that over these next two games they’re going to go 1-1 which would bring their record to 14 and 11 25 games into the season. That is what nobody anticipated. I did not think they’d be at this pace. This is I think a very underwhelming and very disappointing start to the season. So I think that getting through these games is important because what’s on the other side of it when you look ahead of the schedule? The Cavs play on Saturday against Golden State. After that, they don’t play again until next Friday in Washington. And I think this break is a very, very important thing for this Cavs team. The Cavs will go Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday without playing a basketball game. They will have the opportunity to rest, which is important. They will have the opportunity to practice, which is important. They will have the opportunity to figure things out. It might be some time for this group to do a little bit of soularching along the way, too, because they still have time. As Donovan Mitchell said in the locker room on Wednesday night, they still have time to figure this out. They’ve got a lot of basketball left to be played. And the story of a team is not written in December. The story of this team was always going to be written in April and May and June. And we will be writing that story in April, May, and June whether the Cavs are there or not. But in order for them to get there, they need to figure this out sooner than late. As he said, you know, it’s okay to have these struggles in December, but once you kind of get to January, February, March, you want to have things figured out. And the Cavs might go through other ruts in the season, but they’ve not shown us what they’re capable of yet anywhere near consistently. And I think that the next 10 days, and I think that these couple of games and what the energy looks like in them is going to be an important thing to track. And I still believe we’re learning a lot about this team because we have learned over the course of this week that they know there’s a problem which the first step to fixing a problem is knowing that you have one. So I do think if you want to spin this positively, you can in that aspect. But I think the rest of this month, as I said on yesterday’s podcast, the rest of this month is going to tell us everything we know we need to know about the Cavs. How they play Friday and Saturday is important. Win or lose these games. And like we we could talk about what Portland did or didn’t do against the Cavs. I don’t think that matters. I don’t think that this result says anything about Portland. I think this result says so much about the Cavs. I didn’t think the result on Monday said anything about Indie. I thought it was all about the Cavs. Same thing with Boston. Same thing with Atlanta on Friday. I don’t think any of that I don’t think it matters what the Spurs do or don’t do against the Cavs. I think it matters how the Cavs look. I think on Saturday, it doesn’t matter what the Cavs or it doesn’t matter what the Warriors do or don’t do against the Cavs. It matters what the Cavs do and don’t do. And I think that they need to figure that out. And the fact that over the next 10 days, they only have three games is a break they desperately need. I think they need to get healthier. They need to get Sam Merrill back. They need to get Jared Allen back. They’re still not going to get Max back for a while. They’re not going to get Larry Nance back for a few weeks still, but they need to get as healthy as they can be right now. And I think if they do that, if they figure some things out, maybe do some soulsearching, as I said, over these next 10 days, this stuff is all fixable. Like, it’s not a this is not an issue where it’s just like, you know what, this Cavs team is not as talented as we thought. I don’t think that’s the case. Like, they still have a lot of talent. And I don’t think anyone really questions that. What I think is fair to question is why is their effort level not where it should be? Why is their focus level not where it should be? Why do they look like a team that is just sort of skating through the regular season when they haven’t earned anything as a postseason team? Yeah, they won 64 games, but they didn’t earn anything last year in the postseason. Have they gone to the conference finals or the finals? I think this would be pretty explainable. They didn’t do those things. They need to figure out why they don’t have that hunger and they need to find a way to find that hunger over the next 10 days. I think they’re a vital 10 days and they’re going to tell us a lot about what is going to happen in the spring with this Cavs team and I really think that is an important thing to follow and I will have you covered right here every single step of the way. So that’s going to do it for today’s edition of Locked on Cavs. Thank you for making this your first listen and thank you to those of you that make this show your first listen every single day. You can find us anywhere you get your podcast. That means Apple, that means Spotify, that means anywhere else as well. So, please, as we get out of here, hit that thumbs up button on YouTube, click subscribe, and hit that notification bell so you don’t miss the latest lockdown Cavs content. I will be back tomorrow talking more about the Cleveland Cavaliers.

On Thursday’s edition of Locked On Cavs, Danny Cunningham dives into the Cleveland Cavaliers’ loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night in which the team once again lacked focus and hustle. Danny talks about the lack of perimeter defense that cost the Cavs and allowed the Blazers to find their way to the free throw line repeatedly. He also dissects the poor performance of Lonzo Ball and Dean Wade, particularly in their attempts from beyond the 3-point line. Finally, Danny talks about the rest of this week and how it can serve as a turning point for the team – one way or another – for the rest of the season.
Check out Danny’s Substack, The Inside Shot: https://theinsideshot.substack.com/
Email the show: LOCavsmailbag@gmail.com
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