The Cavaliers suffered their second straight loss last night against the Raptors (101-91) and started the new season 0-2. Cavaliers fans should relax. After all, we just suffered 103 loses so far this year by the Indians and the Cleveland Browns. Two more should not be a big deal.
It is obvious the Cavaliers have some things to iron out. The team needs time to get used to the new system and the preseason is not good enough. Teams around the league want to play the Cavaliers and when they are on the road, it is usually a playoffs atmosphere. With that, it is going to be a little bumpy for the month of November.
“Every season is its own and you approach it like that,” said LeBron James. “We just have some things to iron out. I don’t think it’s a big problem; it’s early in the season and we’ll get it corrected.”
“Early in my career, I’d get very upset when you lose two or three games, you’d just feel like you can’t turn it around,” James said. “But I’m at a point in my career now where I know that you can lose two but, at the same time, you don’t look too far into it. You learn from the mistakes and you just try to get better.”
“Coach is still learning us, we’re still learning the system, we’re still learning each other,” O’Neal said. “It’s going to be a work in progress.”
A lot of fans were shocked to see the two bigs Shaquille O’Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas on the floor together. Expect to see more of that.
Mike Brown wants to experiment with this combination. “I envision that happening a lot with those guys on the floor, but it is going to be a little bit of time before I’m comfortable with it,” Brown said before Wednesday’s game in Toronto. “That’s my plan.”
Even Lebron James was surprised by it, “It looked pretty good. It was a little iffy at first because you look at our transition and how they get up and down the floor, but they did a good job,” LeBron James said. “It was positive and I didn’t think we would go to it as much.”
So for now, get used to seeing them both on the floor.
Last year, the Cavaliers started the season 1-2 before going on 8 game winning streak.
Orlando started last season 0-2. The 90-91 Bulls started the season 0-3 and finished by winning the championship. So, it is not how you start, it’s how you finish.