3 reasons Cleveland Cavaliers continue to struggle against best in the East

The Cleveland Cavaliers played the Brooklyn Nets this past Monday night down at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Unfortunately, the Cavs dropped the game 125-117 after never fully recovering from a poor first half where they were down 65-49. The game is being highlighted for Cavs guard Darius Garland who poured in 46 points, but that production wasn’t enough to get Cleveland back in the game.

There are many reasons that this young Wine and Gold squad continue to struggle against teams like the Nets and other teams in the Eastern Conference that are usually at the top of the standings. With the loss Monday, the Cavs are now 22-13, still a very respectable record, but they are now the fourth seed. So why do the Cavaliers still have trouble with the best in the East like the Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets, and even a team like the Toronto Raptors?

No. 1 reason Cleveland Cavaliers continue to struggle: Inexperience

The Cavs are still very young and lack the experience that many of these other top Eastern Conference teams have. In the loss to the Nets, both their stars, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving,  knocked down 32 points apiece.

When your veteran stars can score more than half your points on a nightly basis, that’s usually a winning formula. While Garland did score 46 in the loss, the rest of his teammates couldn’t score much on the evening. Donovon Mitchell was next up with 15 points which was well off his 29.5 ppg average.

Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen were a bit off as well on the night. You add in that there are several players from Lamar Stevens, Cedi Osman, Isaac Okoro, and Caris LeVert who have little or no experience playing in postseason games, and you run into this ongoing problem for this squad as they move through the rest of the season.

Adding Mitchell to this roster has certainly helped this squad reach the level that they are at now, but the Cavs are going to have to learn on the run or try and bring in more veteran players to help get this team over the hump.

After the game on Monday, the Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff discussed that issue where the players will need to believe in themselves in some of these high-profile games when they are playing more experienced squads.