The Cleveland Cavaliers won a hard-fought game on Friday night against the Indiana Pacers, a team that was threatening to catch them in the Eastern Conference race. This came on the heels of a tough month for the Cavs and an even tougher week. After the Cleveland blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team meeting took place where fingers were pointed at Kevin Love, and rumor has it that it was isaiah thomas who was at the forefront of the blame game. However, Thomas just spoke to reporters for the first time since that team meeting and said he doesn't deserve to get all the blame that people are passing off onto him.

Isaiah Thomas places blame for losses

While a lot of people questioned Isaiah Thomas' motives for lashing out at Kevin Love for taking time off for illness, it seems like Thomas isn't finished blaming everyone for the Cleveland Cavaliers struggles except for himself. In the press conference, Thomas said that an undue amount of blame is passed onto him and he doesn't deserve it.

Isaiah Thomas explained that the Cavaliers losses are due to the team being in the lowest five defenses in the NBA for the entire season. He then said that he returns and people want to blame him for the losses, but the problem has been there all along.

There is a problem with his statement. The Cavaliers were the hottest team in the NBA before Christmas.

From Nov. 7 until Dec. 21, the Cavaliers had a record of 20-5. They looked like world beaters. Since Isaiah Thomas returned on Jan. 2, Cleveland has a record of 4-7. Isaiah Thomas has only been back for 10 games, so placing all the blame on him isn't fair, but neither is him calling out teammates.

What are the Cavaliers' problems?

There is a serious problem in the Cleveland Cavaliers locker room. Since the start of the season, LeBron James has made it clear that he wasn't happy that they traded Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics and that couldn't have helped Isaiah Thomas feel welcome.

After the huge blow up last week that painted Thomas as the villain lashing out at a sick Kevin Love for taking time off, things took a strange turn in the win over the Pacers last night.

When Love grabbed one of his 13 rebounds in the game, he turned and bent over in an exaggerated manner to hand it Thomas, who is a foot shorter than Love.

Tyronn Lue even pulled Isaiah Thomas from the game at one point, replacing him with Derrick Rose when Thomas was not effective with the ball. Thomas finished the win with 12 points, less than backup Rose, who finished with 14. That didn't seem to go over well with Thomas, who asked if the Cavs didn't want him to try to take shots. Thomas finished hitting only 38.5-percent, with a 5-for-13 shooting night. He also had five turnovers in the game.

In the press conference, Isaiah Thomas denied that he was responsible for the team meeting concerning Kevin Love.

Thomas said he didn't call out Love, but just asked why he wasn't on the floor supporting his teammates and then went to see if he was ok later. Thomas said he has known Love since fifth and sixth grade and there is no bad blood with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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