3 reasons Cleveland Cavaliers continue to struggle against best in the East
By John Suchan
No. 2 reason Cleveland Cavaliers continue to struggle: Slow starts
The young Cavaliers continue to struggle most when they come out of the gates slow and lethargic and lacking that energy that’s going to help them win these big games. Some of that effort has to do with how they approach the game, and this is where I still believe that coach Bickerstaff and his staff are to blame for some of this.
In the loss to the Nets, they went down 34-22 in the first quarter. Trying to climb back into ball games can take a lot out of you to just get back to even and that was the case in this latest loss. Preparing yourself and getting ready to battle from the beginning can be a challenge but the Cavs have got to do a better job moving forward if they want to stay competitive in the East.
The Cavs have lost their last two games because in part they got off to such poor starts. In their loss to the Raptors last week, they were down 39-31 at the end of the first quarter. Giving up 39 points in a quarter also shows you that your team is not playing good defense and that has been at the root of the slow starts.
In Cleveland’s previous five-game win streak that ran up against this latest two-game skid, the team outscored their opponents in three of those five starts in the first quarter. That will be important moving forward if the Cavaliers want to stay in competition in the conference.