Another day, another setback for the suddenly careening Cleveland Cavaliers, who suffered their third-straight defeat Sunday at the hands of the New York Knicks, 114-95.
There were plenty of things the Cavaliers could’ve made to avoid the upset loss to the Knicks. For one, the Cavs could’ve done a better job on the glass, as they were outrebounded by the Knicks (51-41) that led to 19 second-chance points for New York as against the Cavs’ nine. The Cavaliers also had 15 turnovers that New York converted to 13 points.
Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue certainly has taken note of all these, but he also didn’t like that his team has been overly dependent of LeBron James according to Nikki Goel of ClutchPoints.
In addition, Lue bemoaned the Cavaliers wasting several scoring opportunities James had set up for them in the New York game.
LeBron James stuffed the stat sheet, albeit in a more silent fashion, on Sunday, scoring 16 points to go with 10 rebounds and seven assists. With what Tyronn Lue was implying, the four-time MVP could’ve finished with a triple-double and probably a win for Cleveland if only James’ teammates did better in doing their own parts.
That being said, LeBron James did get plenty of help from the likes of Kevin Love and Derrick Rose, who had 22 and 15 points, respectively. Kyle Korver, meanwhile, had 13 coming off the bench.
The Cavs still have plenty of time to sort out what’s wrong with them, but a three-game skid is beginning to sound the alarm for Cleveland.
The Cavs next get their chance to arrest their losing streak on Wednesday against the Indiana Pacers.