Cleveland Cavaliers: D struggles continue as Hawks have a field day

A competitive first half for the Cleveland Cavaliers saw them go into the locker room down by four against the Atlanta Hawks, but then the wheels fell off again.

The second half was a different story as the Atlanta Hawks (a team pegged to win 24 games by Action Network), handed the Cleveland Cavaliers a dreadful loss and a home debut that Kevin Love and the team will look to forget soon.

From the beginning of the third quarter, it was explicit: the defense was dreadful. After thinking of a few sentences to sum it up, I realized Tristan Thompson said it best, per Basketball Insiders’ Spencer Davies:

Indeed it was embarrassing.

The troops in Wine and Gold are miles from a top-15 defense in the NBA and in the early going, per Second Spectrum, their defensive rating was fifth-worst in the league going into Sunday night’s contest.

Trae Young had a field day, dropping 35 points, including six of the 22 Atlanta three-pointers, to go along with 11 assists.

The Cavaliers failed to keep up with Young and the Hawks, as they would only connect on 10-of 22 from behind the arc after halftime.

There is no excuse for this lackluster performance by a team that was leading by double figures at one point in the second quarter and, at some point, defensive struggles will become an even bigger issue.

When scoring machines such as Kyrie Irving and Victor Oladipo step into the Quicken Loans Arena knowing their assignment for the night, Rodney Hood, Cedi Osman, and others should be tasked with guarding the superstars. But before they can worry about that, the Cavaliers must look to defend home court against young teams with no superstar and, frankly, no identity.

Sure, it’s late October, and basketball has been back for less than a month, but there is always room to improve, and Sunday night’s game proved that the Cavs have plenty.

Kevin Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers will have the next few days off before suiting up on Wednesday against the Brooklyn Nets for the last of a quick two-game homestand.