Written by Matt Moore at CBS Sports.com
If you have thought, “I might panic about the Cavaliers if their terrible play keeps up, but I don’t want to be too hasty,” then now, now is the time, but you’ll have to get in the long line in front of the panic button.
Lose to the Bulls by 18? Rust from the All-Star Break.
Lost to the Celtics for the first time this season? Love and Smith were out.
Lost to the Heat in back-to-back games, scoring less than 100 and giving up 120 and 106 consecutively? Coasting.
Lost to the Nuggets in a blowout? OK, some signs of concern, but this team knows how to flip the switch.
Lost to the Wizards? It’s a rough patch, but no reason for concern.
But this?
Spurs 103, Cavs 74?
Now we have a problem. Maybe. Probably. Or not. It’s the Cavs, in the East. But this was a bad look.
First off, don’t overlook how great the Spurs are. On track for 60-plus wins, again, they are currently 3-0 vs. the Warriors and Cavaliers headed into Wednesday’s final matchup with Golden State. They flummoxed, frustrated and outworked the Cavaliers, which isn’t hard these days, but still a credit to the season Gregg Popovich has constructed around Kawhi Leonard and a supporting cast that might be the worst in San Antonio’s history as a contender. It is a terrifying assortment of weapons versus good teams, or at least it has been in the regular season.
But just as we wonder about the Spurs — after all, they won 67 games last season and bowed out in the second round — we wonder about this Cavs team looking bad in the meaningless, too-long regular season. No one wants to look foolish in the end. Through the LeBron subtweets and Kevin Love trade drama, and the overwhelming sense that they simply weren’t good enough, we tried to declare that they were ripe for failure. Instead, they’ve cruised to the NBA Finals two years in a row and last year toppled the team with the best regular season of all time.
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