Cavaliers Off to Shaky 1-3 Start After Loss to Utah
The Cleveland Cavaliers season has not started as they had hoped. After four games, the Cavs are 1-3 and superstar forward LeBron James has already blasted second year point guard Kyrie Irving.
The Cavaliers lost their third game out of four on Wednesday night 102-100 against the Utah Jazz on the road.
After Cleveland lost to the Portland Trail Blazers 101-82, James said there were a number of bad habits over the past few years in Cleveland and it takes a while to correct them. Those comments came after Irving missed 14 of his 17 shots in the loss.
Irving went to Utah and the 22-year old kept his foot to the throttle with his 17 shots increasing to 23. However, he made 12 this time, but he had no assists on the night, after having 5 against Portland. It is not a good sign when your point guard does not record an assist the entire game.
Irving made a statement through the way he played on the court that said he would not back down from his aggressive play because James had spoken out against that approach.
Self assurance is needed to succeed in the NBA and Irving certainly has it. He had 19 of his 34 points during the second half and helped erase a deficit of 16 points Cleveland rallied to draw within just 2 points with under a minute to play.
David Blatt the head coach said he was impressed with the aggressiveness of Irving and that he played much better than on Tuesday night in Portland.
James even complemented the way Irving played, how he kept them in the game and made great plays during the Cavs rally.
However, it was not a perfect 10. Irving recording zero assists underscores how the Cavs had just six assists as a team on 30 made shots.
James said after the game that the team would not win games with only six assists. The veteran insisted the team had to help one another to make it easier on the court.
Irving however did not seem to be worried about the lack of assists. He said that the team has great players but sometimes you have to take the things that happen during the game. He added that he and James gave ample opportunities to teammates but they were not hitting down the stretch.
While power forward Kevin Love has fully embraced the presence of James, Irving has yet to be so welcoming.
His hardheadedness and stubbornness might be construed under James’ watch as insubordination or it could end up that James cedes respect to Irving after seeing his determination never wane.
Only four of 82 regular season games have been played, and the likelihood is that things will soon gel for the superstar-laden team, but at times, it looks like the club will suffer through another difficult season.
