The Cleveland Cavaliers are in the thick of the postseason picture at 27-19, and after a fruitful Western road trip where they won five of six games, Cleveland split their games this week so far.
Some of those games were against teams missing crucial pieces on the Cavaliers’ road trip, admittedly, and the Brooklyn Nets were without Kevin Durant, who will be out for an extended period. It was also disappointing to see the Wine and Gold have an underwhelming performance in a 117-104 loss on Wednesday at the Chicago Bulls, who were without Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball.
Even still, the Cavaliers have far exceeded all expectations, as KJG’s John Suchan highlighted, and with how they’ve overcome a number of key injuries, COVID-19-related absences and such a brutal schedule in the first third of the season, they’re well-positioned.
It hurts still that Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio are both out for the season, and it’s logical that the Cavaliers are seeking additional perimeter help, of which Rubio’s expiring contract and picks could reportedly help acquire a quality piece, but the Cavs are in a good spot.
The Cavs have two potential All-Stars in Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, what looks to be the Rookie of the Year frontrunner in Evan Mobley, and their defensive activity, ball movement and timely perimeter shooting has me optimistic.
That being said, the Cavaliers do have a couple of areas where they need to get better the rest of the season, both of which can be considerably improved the rest of the year, I believe.
We’ll highlight those two areas here, involving one for the Cavs offense and defense the rest of the way.
Next up, we’ll touch on the defensive end first, in relation to a crucial aspect of the game Cleveland needs to step up.