We’re talking ‘bout practice …
Ready to Regroup … After a rough road trip and getting back to chilly Cleveland at 3:30 in the morning, the Cavaliers returned to practice on Tuesday afternoon in Independence to prepare for a matchup with the Lakers on Wednesday night.
The Cavs recent woes have been bookended by losses to the Mavericks.
In that fortnight stretch, the Wine and Gold have dropped seven of eight after returning from their most successful West Coast trip since 2009-10. The rough patch began in the Martin Luther King Day matinee, when the Cavs dug themselves a 24-point deficit to Dallas before mounting a comeback that fell just short. The Cavs are hoping it ends with Monday night’s 124-107 loss in the Big D.
There hasn’t been one consistent issue that’s kept Cleveland in this two-week funk; it’s been several. They allowed five teams to break the century mark, while doing so just once themselves. During their five-game losing streak, they’ve been uncharacteristically out-rebounded in each game.
One win can start the turn around.
“It was a bad road trip, we all know that,” admitted Anderson Varejao, who returned from a left knee injury Monday night in Dallas. “We know we have to get better, we know we have to do something to change this. We need to keep working hard and trying to think about the next game. Our goal now is to win the next game.”
Cleveland was within striking distance in both contests in Texas – cutting early deficits to one-possession games in the third. But both games had eerily similar endings – with both Dallas and Houston using late-third-quarter runs to pull away.
“(The trip) did start out rough for us, but I thought our guys kind of regrouped and settled in a little bit, and they got a little bit better,” said Mike Brown after Monday’s practice. “We just need to get more consistent with what we’re trying to do. But it was a little better as we went along.”
All the Wine and Gold can do is push forward from this point on. We saw what they were capable of on the recent West Coast swing. Can they regain that mojo moving forward? The answer comes on Wednesday night at The Q.
Practice Interview: Anderson Varejao
Listen as Anderson Varejao and Head Coach Mike Brown discuss Tuesday's practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts.
ANDERSON VAREJAO
COACH BROWN