LeBron James is not waiting for a trade or the signing of a bought-out free agent to bolster the Cleveland Cavaliers’ roster.
Although James would welcome additions to the roster, just as he has in past seasons, he knows that for the Cavaliers (30-22) to get things going in the right direction again, the changes have to come from within the players themselves.
“We’ve just got to keep pushing and stay positive,” James said. “For me, I am staying positive and just trying to figure out ways we can get better, what units work well for us on the floor, how we can be more productive, how we can pick someone up when they’re struggling. It’s been tough because we have a few guys that have been struggling as of late.
“We want to try and pick them up and not lose your own individual ability to help the team. It’s no time to throw shade about our season. We’ve got to continue to be positive and continue to push forward. We’ve got quite a few games left, and if we’re still serious about the season, then we’ve got to play good ball at some point.”
Concerns over the Cavaliers began to surface after their Christmas Day loss to the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena set in motion a downturn of the top team in the Central Division, a slide that continued in Tuesday’s 116-98 loss to the Orlando Magic at Amway Arena.
The Cavaliers led the Magic by as many as 21 points in the first half and 16 at the halftime break, but coming out of the locker room, things changed in a drastic way.
The Magic scored 41 points in the third quarter, besting the Cavaliers’ 22-point showing. Then, in the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers scored only nine points to Orlando’s 24, which proved to be the difference in the game.
“Just the way we’ve been playing, I don’t think them being 20 games under .500 should give us any ‘We are who we are, and we shouldn’t have that happen,’” James said. “When you see the opportunities in the fourth, we had some. We had about five or six great looks that actually didn’t go down.
“I think Kyle Korver had three threes. Jeff (Green) had one away from their bench. D-Wade had one in the left corner. I had one that hit the rim five times and went out. If those go in, you’ve got a 22-point quarter, a 25-point quarter. We had some great looks that just didn’t go down. A lot of those, mine was the only one that was contested that I just named.”
While the loss to the Magic was the Cavaliers’ 13th in the last 19 outings, 10th by 10 or more points, and seventh by at least 14, James welcomes the opportunity to get in the win column against the leaders of the Northwest Division, the Minnesota Timberwolves (34-22), at Quicken Loans Arena tonight.
“We’ve just got to keep pushing,” James said. “Stay positive, keep pushing, try to get better, and that’s where it’s at. That’s where it’s at for me. We’ve got another opportunity to play against a very good team that beat us up pretty good in Minnesota, so we look forward to the challenge.
“We’ve got to come out with the right gameplan. We’ve got to come out with a sense of urgency, and we’ve got to play the game the right way and try to sustain some good basketball for 48 minutes.”
