After the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ last loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday in blowout fashion, the Wine and Gold appear to be suffering from some post-All-Star Weekend blues.
Cleveland entered the All-Star break having lost their last two games, but overall were arguably the biggest surprise of the entire league. Cleveland had an up-and-coming All-Star guard in Darius Garland and the tremendous “Tower City” tandem of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
What was most impressive about the Cavaliers position in the Eastern Conference at the All-Star break is that they were there despite dealing with their fair share of injuries.
While the All-Star break came at an excellent time for the Cavaliers, as they appeared in need of some time off to rest and recharge, however, the Cavs have seemed to be rusty in the games following the All-Star break as they failed to hold onto their first-quarter lead against the Detroit Pistons and then fell behind against the Washington Wizards before mounting a fourth quarter comeback.
Then in their last two games, Cleveland fell behind both the Minnesota Timberwolves and Charlotte by 20+ points before mounting comebacks in each game but ultimately fell to both the T-Wolves and the Hornets.
Until Wednesday night’s game, the Cavaliers were missing a key piece of their lineup, as Garland was still dealing with a lingering back injury. Cleveland has also been without Caris LeVert since the All-Star break concluded.
Cleveland’s newest acquisition was brought in to add a scoring element to the Cavs lineup/rotation, and his absence has been noticeable.
With the Eastern Conference playoff race razor-thin, a prolonged slide by the Cavaliers could have them fall to the play-in tournament. Nonetheless, despite the recent struggles, there have been a couple of standouts from the Cavaliers past two games.