The Point Four-ward: Cleveland Confidence-ial

If you haven’t read EG’s excellent recap of last night’s game, go there first. Then, it’s on to…

Four points I’m thinking about the Cleveland Cavaliers…

1.) Maybe LeBron James could feel it. After following nearly every loss this season with a scathing critique of his fellow Cavaliers, he attributed Tuesday’s 97-85 home loss to the Washington Wizards not to his own teammates’ ineptitude but, for a change, to the fight shown by the winning ball club.

“They were just quicker, much faster to the ball, with the ball, they moved the ball a lot faster than we were,” James said. “They were just a step quicker than us tonight and they beat us pretty good.”

This is a bit of a departure for Leader LeBron who, as recently as last week’s loss in Toronto, seemed content to browbeat his team into championship shape, questioning the team’s effort, focus and consistency. In an earlier loss to the Detroit Pistons, James singled out center Timofey Mozgov as one player, in particular, who needed to step up his game to meet the King’s standards.

The Cavs responded to last Wednesday’s tongue lashing by scoring 95 points in a come-from-behind victory against the Charlotte Hornets, 90 points in a come-from-behind victory against the Brooklyn Nets that needed a last-second shot by James to clinch the win and, last night, 85 points in the stay-in-behind loss to the Wizards.

That the Cavs have not been trending positively since James’ most recent tongue lashing is obvious and raises a serious question: could James’ ultra-demanding demeanor be hurting the confidence of his teammates?

2.)  James, to his credit, might be wondering the same thing. Since the team’s loss in Toronto, he’s chosen to take his foot off the pedal a bit. Following the win against the Hornets, the talk was about the fourth quarter defensive effort that allowed the Cavs to seize control of that one. After the Nets game, it was (deservedly) all about James’ game winning shot. Now, following the team’s fifth loss of the year, James chose to give credit to the Wizards.

But, make no mistake, this team has not been playing like a championship contender for, at least, the last couple of weeks. In the four games since last week’s 117-103 win against the Orlando Magic in which the team dished out 25 assists on their 40 field goals and shot just shy of 50% from the floor, the team is averaging only 18.75 assists, shooting 39.9% from the field and allowing opponents to shoot nearly 45%.

I know I’ve made a big deal of the team’s assist numbers for much of the season, but it seems like the most consistent indicator of whether this Cavs team is playing with confidence. When this team is confident, they are slinging the ball around… pushing the pace for stretches, finding the open shooter and exploiting mismatches. In other words, they play like the Wizards played last night.

3.) Right now, Mozgov’s confidence is a mess which, while not primarily James’ fault for riding the Russian big man as he works his way back in game shape following off-season knee surgery, also may not have been helped by James’ words.

And it’s not just Mozgov who’s caught a case of the December Blahs. Recently, Mo Williams seems less able to off-set what he gives up on defense with the swagger his shooting provides the team on the offensive end. Kevin Love’s confidence seems to come and go in direct relation to his outside shot. J.R. Smith hasn’t broken out for a crazy shooting J.R. Smith game yet… and, of course, the team seems a little over the fact that they’re still missing their starting backcourt.

Whatever’s been going on with this team lately — call their play sloppy… lacking focus… lacking intensity… or playing with a scuffed confidence — James had to pull back a bit. He couldn’t keep riding his teammates — mainly because riding them wasn’t working.

Only time will tell if James’ open hand will work any better than his fist.

4.) Following the loss to the Wizards, head coach David Blatt said he had “no excuses” and… well, then he continued. “There are going to be days like that, unfortunately,” Blatt said (not making an excuse, remember). “Today was one of those days.”

The sentiment that this was just “one of those games” seemed all over the Cavs’ post-game comments. Their recent poor play notwithstanding, these Cavs (well, most of them, anyway) have some experience with in-season smack downs by Eastern Conference rivals that, at the end of the day, proved inconsequential.

Early last season, the Cavs were handled by these same Wizards 91-78 in what many (including this guy) thought would be the game that renewed the spark of this once-great rivalry. The Cavs came back to take the next three games against Washington — including a 127-89 win on the Wizards home court — and watched as the Wiz sputtered in the playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks.

Yes, those same Atlanta Hawks who, like the Wizards did last night, reached ahead into the bag of tricks some teams — more confident teams, you might even say — would reserve for the playoffs in order to take it to the Cavs three of four times last season. The Wizards, coming in losers of four straight, were desperate for a win… and they got one. One win.