After falling to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers dropped to 15-13, two games below.500 and ninth in the Eastern Conference. Cleveland has now lost three of their last four games, including losses to the Warriors (who were without Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler) and a home loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
In fact, Cleveland hasn't won back-to-back games in nearly a month. This last occurred in late November, when Cleveland beat the Indiana Pacers and Los Angeles Clippers in back-to-back games, both of whom sit near the bottom of their respective conference standings with six wins apiece.
Although they've dealt with injuries to Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Max Strus this season, Cleveland's performance thus far has been shocking, especially considering their first place finish in the conference last season.
Apart from backup point guard Ty Jerome who left Cleveland in free agency for the Memphis Grizzlies, the Cavaliers have an almost identical squad to last year's team.
So, why have the Cavaliers struggled so much?
Defending and shooting the three ball is one of the main reasons. Cleveland allows their opponents to convert 36.6% of their long-range attempts, 22nd in the NBA.
They are even worse when it comes to three-point shooting, ranking 28th in the league at 33.8%.
While there's plenty of time left in the regular season, Cavaliers supporters should certainly be worried. Thus far, they are in a Play-In Tournament position with the highest payroll in the league. It doesn't get much more disappointing than that.
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