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Cleveland Cavaliers: Back-to-backs will kill the Cavs

By Nathan Beighle

Milwaukee, WI - OCTOBER 20: Dwyane Wade #9 and Jeff Green #32 of the Cleveland Cavaliers talk during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on October 20, 2017 at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)
Milwaukee, WI - OCTOBER 20: Dwyane Wade #9 and Jeff Green #32 of the Cleveland Cavaliers talk during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on October 20, 2017 at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Cleveland Cavaliers might have their deepest team of the decade, but with their age, back-to-backs could be a silent killer for this team.

The NBA started the season earlier to prevent as many back-to-back games throughout the season. Although there are significantly fewer, the Cleveland Cavaliers might falter in the vast majority of them, just like they did against the Orlando Magic.

In the Cavaliers’ second game in the team’s first set of back-to-back games, they played the Orlando Magic at home. The night before, they beat the Milwaukee Bucks in the Bucks’ home opener in an exhausting 48-minute grind. In the end, the Cavaliers won by 19 points; although Giannis and his 34 points kept the Cavaliers on edge the entire duration of the game.

The following day, at home, the Cavaliers were blown out by a mediocre Orlando Magic team. With a final score of 114-93, four Magic players hit at least three triples and center Nikola Vucevic ended up with a game-high 23 points. Without Derrick Rose, the Cavaliers seemed lost, and this might be normal occasion moving forward.

Of the Cavaliers’ next four games, they have two sets of back-to-backs, and the latter part of those are against two of the East’s worst teams, the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks. Although Gordon Hayward went down for the season with a gruesome injury, the Cavaliers will still need a win the backend of these back-to-backs if they want to keep the East’s top seed. Come April/May, it will have been crucial that the Cavaliers jumped out to a quick start.

As the season moves forward, the Cavaliers, who are the league’s oldest team, might eventually start to slow down. It won’t be if the Cavaliers start to slow down; it will be when. The Cavaliers do not have a player in their rotation under 26. They start four players that are at least 29, and all five are at least 27-years-old. This team, while talented, is aged.

At this point, there is nothing they can do about it. The Cavaliers have a deep roster, including Ante Zizic and Cedi Osman, who are 20 and 22 respectively. They can, however, get their young and raw players more involved. The Cavaliers have nine more back-to-backs this season, and those games will be the perfect time to deepen the rotation.

Must Read: Last year’s weakness could be this season’s strength for Cleveland

If this roster is going to go into the postseason at full strength, Tyronn Lue needs to find a way to rest his aged stars while winning games. Figure that out, and everything will be easier in Cleveland this season.