Lack Of Energy From The Cleveland Cavaliers Is Unacceptable

 

It’s frustrating enough for fans to see the Cleveland Cavaliers keep losing, but it’s even worse when the team keeps attributing its losing to a lack of energy.

On Friday night, the Cavaliers took on the Milwaukee Bucks in a game that they should have been up for and excited to play in. The Cavaliers had just played a terrible second half against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, and they should have come out to start the game hoping to redeem themselves. In addition, the Bucks stole a win against the Cavaliers early in the season, and that should have served as motivation.

Instead, the Cavaliers played at times like they wished they were home watching television or doing something else. The players and coaches acknowledged this after the game.

“It’s pretty simple guys,” Head Coach Byron Scott said after the game. “When you come out with a lack of energy and lack of effort that we came out with and you commit 27 turnovers, you’re not going to win a whole lot of games.” Scott also talked about the need to protect the home court and the importance of winning division games, and how none of that seemed to register with the players.

Anderson Varejao, who is known for playing with energy all of the time, agreed.

“The way we played tonight, the way we played in the second half, it was terrible. We can’t play like that. We have to play with more energy. We have to be more aggressive and we have to take care of the ball. If we don’t do that, we’re not going to win games. We have to change for tomorrow because if we don’t do it, it’s going to be hard for us to win.”

Other players also talked after the game about the lack of energy.

“I think in the beginning of the game we definitely struggled with that,” Tyler Zeller said.

“The first quarter and halfway through the second we were basically going through a walk-through,” Tristan Thompson said. “That’s unacceptable. If we came out from the jump and played defense and played hard, it might have been a different outcome.”

So it’s nice that the players seem to agree that they need to have more energy, but it’s frustrating that they let it happen in this game, just like they have in other games. This  has been the story after several games already this year, and it’s only December. It’s terrible. This is a young team that is losing a ton of games. The one thing that fans hope for is that they at least play hard, and there is no reason why the players should not at least be doing that much.

I know that the NBA season is long and that teams are tired at times, but this is happening way too often to the Cavaliers. If this keeps up, the Cavaliers are going to have to look at changes in players or coaches soon, because it is unacceptable.