The defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers are currently going down a road which is both smooth and bumpy. Starting with a 106-94 loss at the Q on January 4th, the Cavaliers have lost six of their last ten games. The biggest loss during this stretch was a 35 point loss to the Golden State Warriors on MLK day 126-91. The Cavaliers have lost three game in a row starting with a 118-115 overtime loss at the Q to the San Antonio Spurs on January 21st, followed by a 124-122 loss to the Anthony Davis-less Pelicans on January 23rd, and the followed by an embarrassing 116-114 loss at the Q to the Sacramento Kings.
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What these losses say to me to is that the Cleveland Cavaliers are missing something. Perhaps that's another playmaker out there that could have helped them in their games against the Spurs, Pelicans, and Kings. LeBron has repeatedly said this season that they a backup point guard, and part of that is because Kay Felder, the rookie from Oakland University, is not ready to be the backup point guard yet. DUring the offseason, the Cavaliers didn't resign Matthew Dellavedova and he went to the Milwaukee Bucks. Perhaps that decision is coming back to bite them in the butt.
When the Cavaliers traded for Kyle Korver, he wasn't the type of player that really fit the mold. Kyle Korver is primarily a catch and shoot guy, mainly with the 3-pointer. Yes it is good to have a 3-point marksman on your team, but again Korver is more of a catch and shoot guy. He will drive the lane and make layups, but that's not really his game. If the Cavaliers want to repeat, they desperately need to get a backup point guard such as DJ Augustine or maybe Rajon Rondo. If the Cavaliers got somebody like that, they wouldn't have to play Kyrie Irving constantly. However, if the Cavaliers were to get another playmaker, then they wouldn't have to play Kyrie Irving as much as they do. On the other hand, if the Cavs were to get another playmaker, then LeBron wouldn't have to play as many minutes as he does. So that's the difficult part of trying to figure out what to put on your team and what would be willing to give up?
The silver lining in the losses to San Antonio, New Orleans, and Sacramento is that they were all close games. However, every coin has two sides, and being on the wrong end of close games is maybe the worst way to lose a game. 118-115 was the final score to San Antonio, if the Cavaliers had a backup point guard then perhaps they could've won this game against the Spurs. 124-122 was the final score to New Orleans, the Cavaliers just couldn't hit their free throws and again LeBron and Kyrie played way too many minutes. It's odd, they have backups for Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love, but they don't have a backup for Kyrie Irving. Again, Kay Felder isn't ready to be the backup point guard yet. 116-112 was the final score to Sacramento and the Cavaliers just couldn't hit their free throws. The Cavaliers look to get back on track in their next five games against: the Brooklyn Nets, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
