Cavaliers Coach Sounds The Alarm On Recent Troubling Trend

The Cleveland Cavaliers must improve in this critical area of their game plan.
Nov 6, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson against the New Orleans Pelicans during the first half reacts at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images
Nov 6, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson against the New Orleans Pelicans during the first half reacts at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images / Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images
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The Cleveland Cavaliers have played close to flawless basketball all year long. It's hard to find too many shortcomings with a team with 33 wins halfway through January.

However, there is one area where the Wine and Gold have started to slip in, which resulted in a narrow win over the Toronto Raptors and a blowout loss to the Indiana Pacers in Cleveland's previous two games.

This red flag is Cleveland's lack of third-quarter execution, primarily on defense.

While the Cavs couldn't buy a shot in the second half against the Pacers, Kenny Atkinson said he was most dissatisfied with Cleveland's defensive performance, especially in the final 24 minutes of the game and immediately coming out of halftime.

"Just disappointed [with our] defensive mindset in that third quarter and really the whole second half," said Cleveland's head coach following Sunday's game.

This isn't an issue exclusive to Cleveland's loss to the Pacers.

The Cavaliers' opponents have outscored them in the third quarter over their last five games.

During that stretch, the Wine and Gold allowed their opponents to score an average of 36.8 points while shooting 58.9 percent from the floor, which is the worst in the NBA for that time frame.

Atkinson realizes that his team must improve on this. Even if the Cavaliers' offensive is firing on all cylinders heading into halftime, they cannot ease up on the defensive end.

Kenny Atkinson reacts during the first half
Jan 8, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson reacts during the first half against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

"Our standards have to be higher. We tend to relax when we get these leads, and you know how the NBA is now; snap of a finger, and all of a sudden, it's a tie score. So I just think there's a little bit of complacency when we get a lead, but that's alarming," continued Atkinson following Sunday's loss.

"We'll look at it. We'll dive deeper into it, but it seems like that's a mental kind of not ready when you come out of the locker room and a relaxed thing."

The important thing is that this trend has only emerged over the last two weeks. The Cavaliers are still an elite team and easily one of the few teams capable of winning the Finals this season.

However, Cleveland has to break this tendency before it becomes a bad and lingering habit.


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