LeBron James Claims Cavaliers Lack ‘Toughness’ After Loss To Nuggets

Image courtesy of Zimbio

The defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers have hit a bit of a rough patch as of late. LeBron James and company have lost six of their last 10 games and don’t appear to be the championship caliber team that pulled off the impossible last June against the Golden State Warriors.

On Wednesday, the Cavaliers lost to another inferior opponent. The Denver Nuggets, who are battling for one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference, were able to dominate the defending champions in the first half and continued to impose their will in the paint the rest of the way.

LeBron clearly wasn’t happy about the loss on Wednesday as he questioned his team’s toughness after Cleveland lost their 24th game of the season, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin:

“It ain’t about a group. It’s about individuals,” James said after Cleveland allowed Denver to put up 73 points in the first half, score a whopping 70 points in the paint in the game and shoot 53.1 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from 3. “We’ve got to be more, just do more. It ain’t about no group. You can’t preach toughness. You’ve got to have it.”

As a result of the disappointing loss to the Nuggets, the Cavaliers are now barely holding onto the top seed in the Eastern Conference. The Boston Celtics are only one game back of LeBron and company with a legitimate chance to take over the top spot in the final stretch of the regular season.

The Washington Wizards and Toronto Raptors also remain threats in the East. Washington is only 3.5 games back of the Cavaliers while Toronto is 4.5 games back of first place. Although the Celtics, Wizards, and Raptors are on their heels, Cleveland still has time to turn things around and clinch the top seed with 12 games left to play.