The Cavs struggles continue as the playoffs are getting closer by the day. On Saturday night they lost to John Wall and the Washington Wizards 127-115, and their Defense is the main reason why. The Cavs struggle again on defense, letting the Wizards get anything they want. Their lead in the Eastern Conference is now down to one-half of a game, and their problems might be to big to fix before the playoffs start.
Matador defense
The Washington Wizards got anything they wanted on the offensive side of the court. They torched the Cavs with 71 points in the first half.
They shot over 50 percent from the field and a decent 44 percent from three. John Wall had an awesome game, putting up 37 points and 11 assist against LeBron and the Cavs. The Cavs defense has been awful, but fans should be used to that now. After the All-Star game, the Cavs are the second worst defense in the NBA. The only team that is worse than them is the L.A Lakers, who are on the other side of the spectrum, as they are tanking this season to keep their draft pick.
Where do you place the game for the Cavs defensive struggles? You could say improper personnel, as whenever there are big centers in the game Tristan Thompson struggles. J.R Smith isn't known for his defensive skills, just like Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.
LeBron James hasn't been himself for much of the season defensively either, but hopefully it will change when the playoffs start. Nobody is sure if the Cavs can get back to defensive confidence, not even head coach Tyronn Lue. According to ESPN he said "I'm not sure, but we got to."
Band-Aid solution?
Is the Cavs defense a simple Band-Aid fix?
No really, as when you get into one of these NBA ruts, it's hard to get out of it. Many teams that repeated as champions had their struggles through the season, as the Lakers of 2001 and the Bulls of 1993 struggled during the season but then they found their stride and ended up repeating. One thing that might help out the Cavs is that they won't be playing back-to-backs come playoff time.
They will always have a day in between games to rest. Is rest all the Cavs need to get into their defensive rhythm? That could be one component, but they need to make sure all players are on the same page from now on.
The Cavs recent loss to the Wizards shows that they need to focus on defense if they want to get back to the Finals. Defense win championships, and the Cavs won't be going anywhere with their defensive struggles. LeBron already called out his team for toughness, will he need to call them out for defense?
