It has been an up-and-down ride for the Cleveland Cavaliers of late. They have gone 5-4 over their last nine games, including an especially frustrating loss to the New York Knicks at home on Sunday, 107-98. Cleveland lost to the Knicks despite New York dealing with injuries to a number of its key players, raising concern that the Cavaliers may be losing some step in the East.
After the game, Cavs head coach JB Bickerstaff said that he needs his team to be far more consistent on the court.
“So, we’ve got to be better and understand how important it is to us. I thought we played in spurts, I thought we had a good second quarter, and I thought we had a good fourth quarter effort-wise. But to come out of halftime and give up 36 points to a team that was down as many guys as they were down, that’s disappointing. And defensively, we’ve got to be better than that. And what it came down to was a lot of one-on-one and holding your man up and them attacking our paint and then creating for each other. That happened in the first quarter and third quarter.”
“We can’t pick and choose when we’re gonna be at our best,” added the Cavs mentor.
Granted that the Cavs did not have Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert active for the Knicks game because of sore body parts, they still should have taken care of business versus a Knicks squad that did not have Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, and guard OG Anunoby. Plus, the Knicks lost star Jalen Brunson for the rest of the contest after he suffered a knee injury in the first quarter.
The Cavs will look to regain their footing on Tuesday, but that is going to be easier said than done because their next opponent will be the seemingly unstoppable Boston Celtics, who just destroyed the Golden State Warriors on Sunday.
Despite the loss to the Knicks, the Cavs are still third in the Eastern Conference standings with a 39-21 record, though, the gap between them and New York (No.4) has narrowed down to three and a half games.