Concerned Cavs Believe in ‘The Switch’
The Cleveland Cavaliers lost last night to the Chicago Bulls. The loss was understandable. The Cavs had a big game the night before against LeBron James‘ former team Miami Heat. With the extended All Star break and Kevin Love out with an eye injury, the Cavs’ motivation seemed minimal at best.
The loss is not a concern but the game brings up a concern that has been apparent a number of times this season: “The Switch.” Teams, and fans, often talk about teams “flipping the switch.” That switch is the team’s ability to turn it on and compete at a high level at any time. The ability to go from a walk in the park to a nightmare to deal with.
You will hear analysts on TV talk about it, you will hear players talk about it and even fans hope for it.
Yet I have a ton of concerns about the Cavs believing in “The Switch.” The Cavs are a young team full of talent but, outside of LeBron, have little experience playing high level, playoff level basketball. For them to believe that they can just flip the switch is arrogant, and we have seen it a number of times this season.
Last night we heard Charles Barkley talk about the Cavs thinking that it was just 1 game and that they could make it up. It was obvious that the Cavs didn’t not put forth full effort in a game against the team that most expected would compete with the Cavs for the Eastern Conference. Not showing concern in a game of that magnitude is arrogant.
Then there are the multiple games where the Cavs took a big lead in the 1st half only to see it slip away as they took their foot off the gas. Then when they have to you see them push hard to regain their lead in hopes of salting away a win. Much like the tortoise and the hare, the Cavs are the hare in this situation, the team often struggles against teams who are just steady.
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Instead the Cavs rev the engine of their fine, expensive sports car, red lining it, then to idle and back again. Just as that is bad for an engine it is bad for the young players on the team. Kyrie Irving, J.R. Smith, Timofey Mozgov, Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love do not have developed habits that allow for this kind of on/off effort. Instead they are building the bad habits of only trying when they want to.
That has to change. It needs to change. The Cavaliers are not experienced enough, haven’t work together long enough and don’t have enough wiggle room in their record to play this way. The San Antonio Spurs, the Miami Heat the last two years, the Shaq and Kobe led Lakers and Michael Jordan‘s Bulls all had the things that the Cavs currently lack, and cannot achieve this season.
Are you okay with the Cavs believing in “The Switch”?