ORLANDO: Do the Cavaliers believe they can wait until the postseason to play defense?
Or is the continuing inefficiency in that department merely a byproduct of injuries that have plagued them since December?
At first glance, the former seemed to be the case in Thursday night’s 106-101 loss to the Detroit Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Notorious for turning up the intensity only when they deem necessary or face an opponent that gets their juices flowing, the performance seemed to — as a certain King would say — fit their DNA.
If defense creates offense, it was working in the third quarter. The Cavs held the Pistons to 32 percent shooting and Channing Frye made all four of his 3-point attempts to help the Cavs open an 80-73 lead.
But the momentum was short-lived. The on-off switch didn’t stay on.
One possible explanation is that LeBron James didn’t start the fourth quarter. Suffering a hip pointer and still playing 39 minutes and posting his eighth triple-double of the season, James entered with 8:28 remaining. By then, the Cavs trailed 85-80. James and Kyrie Irving flip-flopped their usual substitution patterns, which James said was not an experiment but merely a flow-of-the-game decision by coach Tyronn Lue.
In the fourth, the Pistons shot 50 percent and produced their second 33-point quarter, matching their second-quarter output.
Lue, back after missing Monday’s game with a sinus/ear infection, knows what his team is capable of. He saw the Cavs hold the Pistons to 22 points in the opening quarter and 18 in the third.
Asked if his team is waiting for the playoffs to defend, Lue said: “I hope not. We’ve got 19 more games. First quarter (22 points allowed) was great, third quarter, 18-point quarter. So we can do it. We’ve just got to sustain it for 48 minutes.”
In the locker room afterward, one player sounded the alarm. Frye, the catalyst for the Cavs’ off-the-court chemistry last season, tried to light their fires on the court this time.
“The season’s an ebb and flow of ups and downs, you’ve got a good veteran team,” Frye said. “At this point it’s like, ‘Hey, man, it’s time to step it up, it’s time to do extra, it’s time to push ourselves more to evolve and get better.’”
“We need to continue to be aggressive on the defensive end, continue trusting in each other, make sure we’re communicating, and our new guys are coming in, we need to make sure everybody is ready for the game, focused on what their job is and that we’re holding each other accountable. Other than that, everyone just needs to have fun. It’s easy to be fun when it’s good. We need to continue to have fun working through the good and the bad, challenging ourselves and evolving into something greater.”
J.R. Smith returned against the Pistons after missing 36 games with a fractured right thumb, which should help the Cavs defensively. Associate head coach Larry Drew called Smith “an underrated defender in our league” earlier in the day.
Smith doesn’t believe the issue relates to a lack of energy on the defensive end.
“Right now we just got to pay attention to detail more,” Smith said. “We have guys that haven’t played in our system, so we’ve got to improve on the details on what we want on switches or pick-and-rolls so everybody has a better understanding of what we want to do.”
“That’s way more than energy. That’s mental. That’s pounding and pounding it day after day. I mean, you can give the best energy or effort, but if you’re not on the same page it’s not going to work.”
Going into Friday’s games, the Cavs’ 106.5 points per game allowed ranked 22nd in the league defensively. (The Utah Jazz stood first at 96.2.) In March, with the Cavs boasting a 1-4 record, they’ve given up 112.2 points per game.
Kevin Love remains sidelined following arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, but is with the team on this road trip. Kyle Korver sat Thursday with a sore left foot. Since Jan. 7, they’ve added Korver, Derrick Williams and Deron Williams. Lue conceded that the Cavs’ second unit is weaker defensively. That will be even more glaring until the newcomers get up to speed on the details Smith mentioned.
Nineteen regular-season games left doesn’t sound like many, but it’s 23 percent of the season.
The Cavs seem acutely aware of their deficiencies. Perhaps they will heed Frye’s warning and fight off the urge to coast into the playoffs. He’s probably not the only one behind closed doors telling his teammates now is the time to start building something, especially on defense.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.