The Cleveland Cavaliers lost their third straight game on Saturday night, falling 99-84 to the Miami Heat. Even worse, Cleveland is no longer in first place in the Eastern Conference for the first time in a month. Is it time to panic?
Not quite. The Cavs are 13-7 despite missing their starting backcourt of Kyrie Irving and Iman Shmpert for the entire season to this point. Cleveland will undoubtedly be much better when their second-best player and best perimeter defender return to the court, and they will both be back by their Christmas Day matchup against the Golden State Warriors.
Those injuries have played a part in their recent slide, but what's more alarming is their lack of production on offense.
The Cavs have failed to score above 85 points in two of their last three games, and have only hit the 100 point mark once in their last six. Head coach David Blatt's offense is very reliant on isolations with a pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop, but they still get a good amount of ball movement when the ball-handler is able to break down the defense and kick it out to an open shooter.
Cleveland has averaged just 15.7 assists per game as a team during this recent stretch, and it's no surprise that their shooting has suffered because of it (well under 40 percent over last three games).
More ball movement leads to more open shots, which leads to more made shots. Cleveland's defense is playing well, but it's the offense and lack of ball movement that has been killing them lately.
Despite the iso-heavy offense, the Cavs still rank seventh in the NBA averaging nearly 23 assists per game. They need to get back to that number if they want to break this streak.
Follow our Cleveland Cavaliers news page for all the latest Cavs news!
Back to the Cleveland Cavaliers Newsfeed