"We Need To Be Better:" Cavs Beat Wizards Despite Flawed Performance

The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Washington Wizards, but J.B. Bickerstaff was not pleased with his team's performance.

A win is a win. However, not all wins are going to be pretty. 

The Cleveland Cavaliers came out of their matchup with the Washington Wizards with a victory, but they still left a lot to be satisfied on the floor. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff made that extremely clear that he expects more from his team.

"We just need to be better. I don't think we played to our standard tonight," said Bickerstaff following the game.

"I expected more fire from our group after losing two games in a row and having an opportunity to play another one. We've got to get back to playing with that spirit the way we played before the break. We've got some tough stretches coming up here but we've got to be better, I've got to do a better job at getting guys ready to play and our players have got to do a better job as well."

Cleveland shot 50% from the floor and 31% (10-32) from behind the arc. All in all, that's not a terrible offensive showing although the three-point attempts are still down from where they were just a few weeks ago. 

Sometimes shots just aren't falling, but the Cavaliers have been able to rely on their defense when those stretches happen. However, their defense against the Wizards wasn't where it needed to be.

Kyle Kuzma finished the game with 27 points and Jordan Poole, who was recently moved out of the starting lineup, dropped 31 points on the Cavaliers. Eliminating those two players from the game and not allowing them to get hot should've been at the top of the scouting report. However, Cleveland allowed them to get it going early and paid for it the rest of the night. 

Feb 25, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J. B. Bickerstaff looks one the court during the first half against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports / © Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Cleveland's tough stretch continues as they'll take on the Dallas Mavericks back home on Tuesday night. They can't allow themselves to make these same mistakes or the Mavs, being primed to make a deep playoff run, will not let the Cavaliers back into the game.

As Bickerstaff said, "We've got to be better and that's on me to make sure that we are."