The Cleveland Cavaliers are perceived to be underperforming this NBA season. With such an explosive performance in the past year, the LeBron James squad is expected to return with a vengeance as they attempt to beat the Golden State Warriors. In fact, fans of the sport initially pegged the Kyrie Irving squad to be even more menacing this NBA season compared with the last one. However, it looks like even King James has lost the momentum to steal the crown from the Stephen Curry squad.
With losses at the hands of teams considered inferior to the Iman Shumpert squad, such as Dwyane Wade's Miami Heat, Kyle Lowry's Toronto Raptors, John Wall's Washington Wizards and Anthony Davis' New Orleans Pelicans, fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers are slowly losing faith. Moreover, the leadership and determination of James appear to be in question. The doubts continued to plague the NBA team when the Klay Thompson group came in and demolished the JR Smith squad on Christmas Day.
One of the potential causes of the Cleveland Cavaliers' struggle is said to be the lineup. Sports analysts feel that David Blatt's players might not be working well together due to their different styles. Despite the remarkable skills of James, Irving, Shumpert, Smith and Kevin Love, the Cleveland Cavaliers keep falling short especially in games that matter most.
Even James himself admitted that they have been missing out on the more important shots in games. Apart from himself, the Cleveland Cavaliers' leader also noted that returning star Love is failing to follow through on the expectations.
"Well, I think he's [Love] getting the shots that he wants. He's just missing some very makeable shots," said James, according to Cleveland.com. He went on to state, "That's how I was, too. That's how I've been as of late. Missing some good threes, missing some layups as well. He just has to continue to be aggressive."
However, James remains positive that Love will turn things around eventually. He said, "The fact that he's still rebounding at a high level lets me know that he's still in tune with the game. It's a make-or-miss league, and sometimes your rhythm gets out of it, and you have to put some work in, which I know he will do. And I think us not having another game until the 2ndof January] will help."
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Cavaliers star finds himself involved in the Tamir Rice case. The social media cause, called #NoJusticeNoLeBron, has been trending as of late. When asked to comment on the issue, the former Miami Heat star pointed out that the case is beyond his control. Moreover, James admitted to be still in the process of learning more of the issue before making a firm stand.
"But I think the most important thing that we all need to understand, the most important thing, this issue is bigger than LeBron," he said via ESPN. James added, "This issue is bigger than me. It's about everyone. And gun violence and tragedies and kids losing lives at a young age, some way, somehow we need to understand that that matters more than just an individual."