The Cleveland Cavaliers dropped to sub-.500 for the first time this season after losing to the New York Knicks at home on Sunday, 114-95. Now 3-4 and riding a three-game losing streak, the Cavaliers are beginning to worry their fanbase and frustrate their head coach, Tyronn Lue.
Speaking to reporters following the loss to the Knicks, Lue voiced his disappointment over the seemingly repetitive slow starts of his team, per Nikki Goel of ClutchPoints. Cleveland trailed New York by 10 points at the end of the first quarter.
This wasn’t the first time Tyronn Lue had publicly talked about the length of time it takes for the Cavs to settle in games this season, and it’s clear that it’s something he wants to solve before it becomes a bigger problem in the future.
The Cavs can pin the blame mostly on their faulty defense that surrenders 29.7 first-quarter points to opponents thus far this season—currently second worst in the NBA.
In an attempt to explain what’s causing the Cavs to get beat early in games, Tyronn Lue suspected that his plays might not have had paid enough attention to conditioning back in the offseason.
One thing Lue might be forgetting is the fact that the Cavaliers are parading the oldest team in the NBA. Per RealGM.com, the Cavaliers’ average age is 30.1. Keeping up with younger teams in the league is a bit more of a challenge for the likes of Jeff Green, Kyle Korver, and Dwayne Wade, who are all on the wrong side of 30.