Overall, the Cleveland Cavaliers have lost nine in a row and haven’t won a game since Feb. 1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves 100-98 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. So what happened?
The Cavs started the season 3-0, which included a victory over the Philadelphia 76ers (who currently have the best record in the Eastern Conference). Joel Embiid was not in that game, but it was an impressive win, anyhow. Then they went 2-3 on an early-season road trip at the Indiana Pacers, at the Atlanta Hawks, at the Orlando Magic (X2), at the Memphis Grizzlies, and at Milwaukee Bucks, which was decent.
In the middle of January, the Cavs swept the new-look Brooklyn Nets. So, it looked like the Cavs were possibly ready to break into the lower level of the playoff teams seeded in the six to eight range.
Unfortunately, it seems like that strong start by Cleveland was a mirage as they just went 0-5 on their recent Western road trip at the Phoenix Suns, the Denver Nuggets, the Portland Trail Blazers, LA Clippers, and at the Golden State Warriors.
So what the heck happened to the Cavs?
First of all, the injury bug bit the team hard. The team has had to utilize several different starting lineups because various players have been getting injured which messes with the rotation. Kevin Love has also missed nearly the whole season to this point due to him reaggravating a high-grade right calf strain in that Philly game, which has really made things tougher on the Cavs recently, in particular, as I hit on.
Cleveland will be missing Larry Nance Jr., who could seemingly be out for most of March yet because of a fractured left hand as well, for one.
Nonetheless, Collin Sexton seems to have been the only constant throughout the season as he’s put up good performances for the most part. Most notably of course was his 42-point performance against the new-look Nets on Jan. 20, in which he poured in 22 points in the two overtime periods combined to power the Cavs to a W.
Now Sexton isn’t going to be an All-Star game starter, but in theory, he does have a chance at being an All-Star reserve. If Sexton does make it to the Eastern Conference All-Star team, that would be a small victory for the Cavs, though it wouldn’t seem likely at this point.
In any case, sometimes it takes young teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers longer to fully develop into something special. But at the same time, you don’t want to risk wasting a talent like Sexton.
Whatever mojo the Cavs had in the beginning of the season has completely vanished and they need to figure out how to get it back. We’ll ultimately have to see what happens in regards to the expiring Andre Drummond, who is sitting from this point in his remaining time with the Cavs, and in terms of reported potential trade partners/those with interest and/or via possible buyout, you can view those here.
Circling back, though, in a general sense, the Cavs haven’t had a winning record since 2017-18 and that was also the last time Cleveland made the playoffs. Coincidentally enough, that was the last year LeBron James was on the roster.
Since then, the Cavs have been a high lottery team that’s coincided with two seasons filled with L’s, and one that’s seemingly gotten away.