2. “Stagnant”
This season, second-half lapses have become as common in Cleveland as snow in January.
A 23-point lead turned into a four-point lead (and at one point a tie game) going into the final frame for a myriad of reasons. Some wide open shots that the Cavs were letting Orlando take in the first half started to fall. As the Magic began to hit shots, they began to find an offensive rhythm.
In the third quarter, they had eight assists compared to just one assist for Cleveland. As a result, they went on an 18-3 run at one point that resulted in them outscoring the Cavs 33-17 in the stanza.
In the fourth quarter, the Cavs recorded just two more team assists. With 31 seconds left, Orlando took their first lead of the game on a Shelvin Mack jumper to put the Magic up, 103-102.
The Cavs regained the lead after Isaiah Thomas made two free throws and the team got a defensive stop on the other end.
In the second half, Thomas said the team just got stagnant in their offense, a word that has been used repeatedly during this rough stretch.
“I think we didn’t move the ball side-to-side offensively in the second half, for whatever reason, and we got stagnant for a long period of time,” he said. “And then the shots we did get and take, which were pretty good shots, we were missing. I think we just gotta try to somehow put a full 48 minutes or as close to 48 minutes as possible together and we’ll be tough to beat. But, we’ve got to eliminate those lapses we have, because they’re hurting us.”
Head coach Tyronn Lue also said a lot of the struggles with stagnancy came down to turning the ball over.
“Nineteen turnovers for 27 points, and when we turn the basketball over it’s hard for us to get back,” he said. “And that was the only way they could get back in the game. Not playing through the game for 48 minutes, it hurt us tonight.”
But while everyone can see that this has repeatedly been an issue, for whatever reason, the Cavs appear unable to find the answer. Lue said that the team may need to go through the post, and Kevin Love specifically, for one solution. But for now, more than anything, the Cavs need to get back to giving the same effort for full games.
“Obviously we know that we’re struggling as of late,” James said. “We’re just trying to figure out how to put two halves together. Obviously we had a great first half on Monday, great first half today, and it was the same result. So we gotta keep pushing, keep watching film and see what ways we can do better.”
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