All It Took Was A Pair Of Road Losses, But The Cavaliers Fell Right Back Into Their Old Ways

LBJ: "For me, I gave everything that I had..." https://t.co/7wjPk0oHcm

— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 24, 2016

“I’m not sure of his health, but it’s no concern. I thought Channing (Frye) came in and gave us a great lift when we were down. And like last game, to try to put Kevin back in with four minutes to go in the fourth quarter in a hostile game, hostile environment, would not have been fair to him. Channing gave us a great lift off the bench and we kind of just rolled with it,” Lue said.


Whew, it felt like we were never going to get here. Two and half playoff series of winning team basketball and almost everyone - myself included - had thought that the importance of the games had helped the Cleveland Cavaliers put their issues in the past. Nope, it appears they just needed to face a little adversity before their coach and team "leader" alike would revert right back to the problems that plagued them all season long. Kyle Lowry and DeMar Derozan come out guns-a-blazin' on their home floor and all the sudden Kevin Love - who was lights out to start the postseason - is once again unplayable in hostile environments? The guy that is supposed to contribute significantly to a championship is being sat for a guy they scooped up off the scrap heap at the trade deadline? I guess there is something to be said for having to face a couple speed bumps along the road so that you know how to handle the tough when it gets going. Go an entire month without a single team punching back and you might just have LeBron talking about how he perfectly executed his "personal gameplan" in a game his team lost. Indirectly throwing his teammates under the back wheels of the bus the first time it's starting to roll backwards instead of hauling ass downhill at full speed ahead. 

I'm not saying that the Cavaliers won't represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. I can easily see them winning the next two games as the performances of Lowry and Derozan seem largely unsustainable. That being said, everyone that is rooting against LeBron can take a little solace in the fact that whoever they end up facing after they likely beat Toronto will provide them enough competition to leave Tyronn Lue's eyes widened and LeBron James undying sense of insecurity heightened. 
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