The Cleveland Cavaliers suffered one of their worst losses of the season Sunday night up in Detroit as they got beat up badly in the fourth quarter and bowed down to the lowly Pistons 115-105. The Pistons were 11-37 coming into the game. This new and improved Cavs team was supposed to run away from the Pistons, but they never could shake them and got outscored 31-17 in the last quarter.
There were many reasons for this complete collapse by a Cavaliers team, but the team couldn’t hit any shot from the outside, missed too many free throws in the second half, and their head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, again didn’t play his bench or rotate players very well. He put in aging Rajon Rondo in the fourth quarter in place of Dean Wade and that backfired horribly as Rondo couldn’t hit the side of a barn with his jumper.
Even though Wade was playing great defense like usual and had a good game going, scoring 14 points by going four-for-five from three-point range, the coach still replaced him with Rondo. There were some other bizarre moves by the Cavs coach. Where was Kevin Love? And what about Lamar Stevens? Both have been, if nothing else, motivators to a very young team that is still trying to find its way.
There are so many questions for the week ahead. There’s been a lot more sudden media attention given to the Cavs this past week. With that comes pressure to perform. This iteration of Cavs have never been in this situation, nursing a winning record at 30-20 and expected to win from this point forward. The loss to the Pistons, though a very bad one, can be forgotten if they can come back and win Monday night against the New Orleans Pelicans.
On paper, the Pelicans aren’t much better than the Pistons. So, there should be a win in store for the Wine and Gold. But the game is played on the court and if Cleveland is stuck in reading their own headlines, then this season could go south in a blink of an eye. Let’s hope not and with that, let’s ask a few more questions.
#1: Can the Cavs win the Eastern Conference?
Coming into the Pistons game, the team was only a game-and-a-half back of first place. The NBA season is long. They’ve gotten through 50 games with 32 more to play.
With the inexperience and youth of this team being on full display in their loss Sunday night, I’d say the chances are more likely that the team gets into the playoffs more at the seven or eight seed, with a play-in situation at this point to see if they get in ultimately.
The pressure of the spotlight is likely too much at this time for the team to overcome. In years ahead, that probably won’t be such an issue.
Many national outlets have jumped on this nice turnaround by the underdog Cavaliers this season. While that’s nice for fans of the team to see the team in the spotlight, it’s going to put enormous pressure on the team the rest of the way.
These players are so young. Some haven’t hit 21 yet. The ups and downs of being 21 years old can be tough in itself. You add in the added pressures of trying to win at a game that requires skill, patience, and effort and you can see how that pressure can add up and take a toll on the team.
Striving to win the Eastern Conference is likely too much for this time right now to claim, but in a year or two, that goal might be attainable. I’d say hit the brakes on any more talk of winning it all. Let’s hope this team can win a playoff spot first, and that’s still far from being a guarantee at this point.
#2: Will the Cavs be active at the NBA trade deadline?
There have been rumors of the Cavs being interested in various trades, especially involving trying to bring in another guard or wing player that can create for themselves, and for teammates seemingly as well. With Cleveland being without Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio due to injury, the team is reportedly eying some other players around the league that might be on the trading block.
The problem is that the Cavs have built such a strong team now that seems to fuel itself off of that team chemistry. Do you really want to try and mess with that if you are the Cavaliers management and coaches?
Most of the players on the team are playing well right now. The team has a few players coming off the bench like Cedi Osman and Dylan Windler that might be attractive to other NBA teams, and the Charlotte Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, Milwaukee Bucks and San Antonio Spurs have reportedly expressed interest in Osman, to that point.
Whoever would replace these players wouldn’t want to mess up that team chemistry, assuredly. It seems like it’s a very touchy subject and I’d rather the team stay away from any trades, personally. We’ll have to see what transpires leading up to the Feb. 10 trade deadline, anyway.
#3: Are we giving Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff too much credit for the team’s success?
There’s a lot to coaching a basketball team. I’ve written several times before about my doubts on if Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff is the right guy for the squad.
Obviously, winning helps, and the team has been doing more of that this season than in the recent past, but I still have suggested I have my doubts on Bickerstaff’s knowledge when it comes to his bench and his rotation of players during games.
The game Sunday against the Pistons was just another reminder to fans who are trying to look at this team objectively that maybe we need to hold the celebration and “free pass” for Bickerstaff. His historic track record doesn’t say he’s an All-Star coach. He’s honestly just a very average to sub-average coach.
When he subbed Rajon Rondo in late into the game it was a terrible move because the team had nobody in the game who was a good outside shooter other than Darius Garland. Dean Wade was subbed out for Rondo. No, Wade isn’t a go-to scorer but he’s one of the best defenders on the team. The game is going down to the wire and you’re taking out defense.
There have been too many times, where given certain situations in games, Bickerstaff never seems to have a good “feel” for the game. Good coaches have a “feel” for the game and I’m still waiting to see that from Bickerstaff.
I give a lot of the credit to the Cavs players for playing together as a team and learning on the go. Yes, Bickerstaff should be given some credit for putting a unique starting five where the team is using a tall lineup of three big men including Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and Lauri Markkanen (when he’s not injured). But I’d give even more credit to players like Kevin Love, who is probably having more influence on the players.
And where was Love in that fourth quarter? Why wasn’t he subbed in late? In many of these games, I’m scratching my head wondering what Bickerstaff is thinking?
Is he seeing the tendencies of the players? Is he trying to get a better “feel” for his team?
Most nights, I don’t think he is doing those things, and that’s worrisome.