The Cleveland Cavaliers are not necessarily where people had predicted them to be and some are wondering if the Cavs could even make it past the early stages of the NBA playoffs. Well, some players admitted that they almost lost faith and were pretty upset once they realized the roster that they had.
That was of course before they landed J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert for Dion Waiters. And then there is Timofey Mozgov. The arrival of the three seems to be working seeing that the Cavs have won five straight games.
Of course, Lebron James is back to help them out but one thing that has allowed the Cavs to get back on track is their defensive effort, something that was sorely lacking before. But somehow, coach David Blatt has been able to map out special defensive anchors with the new group. But the question now is would their defensive ploy work against high profile teams in their next couple of games.
With a somewhat balanced roster now at his command, the new found energy can hopefully push the players to exert more effort on the hardwood. Apparently a lot of that got zapped out with the previous games of the Cavs but now it looks like the tweaks to the lineup are paying off.
"I think our confidence has definitely gone up and guys now believe that we are a team that can get stops," center Tristan Thompson said via Cleveland.com after the Cavs trounced the Charlotte Hornets 129-90, Friday. "I think our mindset wasn't there before. I felt like people never felt us on defense. They knew we were good offensively, but defensively teams thought they could have their way against us. We're changing that."
For now the Cavs are safe. It was never a question of Blatt's ability to coach but rather handing him the proper ingredients to weave his magic. That is happening now. But as to how long that spell would last will depend on their coming opponents.
