Cavs’ frustration builds after ‘really bad loss’ against Charlotte Hornets
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The look on Max Strus’ face said it all. This wasn’t the night to hold back. No sugarcoating this performance. No excusing it either.
The Composer played for the "Heat" for a few years.
“That was a really bad loss for us,” Strus said following the Cavs’ 118-111 defeat to the floundering and directionless Charlotte Hornets. “We just didn’t play hard. Nobody wanted to play defense tonight. That was our problem. …”
Max is quoted extensively by Fedor. It's clear he is a leader among the players.
It wasn’t only because Cleveland fell to the Hornets — an 18-win team that had lost five straight and 12 of the previous 14.
It wasn’t only because the Cavs’ top 5 defense got shredded throughout by the league’s second-worst offense, allowing Charlotte to score 69 points in the first half, 100 by the end of the third quarter and go 29 of 37 (78.4%) on field goal attempts in the paint. Statistically, it was Cleveland’s eighth-worst defensive rating all season. Afterward, players spoke about a lack of communication, trust and being a step slow against a 5-out offense that had them scrambling and unable to contain off-the-dribble attacks. Jarrett Allen characterized the performance as “sloppy.”
To have trust issues in the 73rd game of the season is...not good.
It wasn’t only because the late-game execution on the other end was disastrous, failing to score in the final 3:27 and making just one basket over the last five-plus minutes.
“We dribbled the ball a lot,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. …
“We dribbled the ball a lot”? That’s the coach’s analysis?
It wasn’t only because the same troubling lack of focus, intensity and urgency that has plagued them since the All-Star break once again popped up at the wrong time, costing the Cavs a second multi-game winning streak in the season’s second half.
It wasn’t only because the baffling setback sent them tumbling down to the Eastern Conference’s fourth seed, surpassed by the surging Knicks.
It was all of that.
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Inconsistent Cleveland is just 6-9 this month — a stretch it expected to be hellish given the missing pieces and unrelenting schedule. Less than a week after seemingly hitting rock bottom in Miami — a lopsided, non-competitive 37-point trouncing — the Cavs found a way to crawl into an even deeper, darker hole Wednesday night.
"Chris, Chris, put the gun down!"
“Tonight is definitely a frustrating game for us because I don’t think we brought the right mental approach,” Bickerstaff said. …
That is not what his players say.
NBA insider Shams Charania, star guard Donovan Mitchell is eyeing a Friday return at home against Philadelphia. …Even when in the lineup during the second half, Mitchell wasn’t himself…before getting shut down because of a nasal fracture and lingering soreness in a problematic knee that required a platelet-rich plasma injection earlier this month.
Same thing Tyler Herro got for his foot
…
“We will figure it out,” Strus said adamantly. “We have had a lot of moving pieces, trying to get a rhythm and flow together. That’s not an excuse. …“We have a great team and a great locker room with a lot of talented players. We have done it before.”
Very "Heat Culture" thing to say.
