Cavs’ sequels could be coming to an end

For the previous three NBA seasons, watching the Cleveland Cavaliers was like watching The Shawshank Redemption on cable TV.

Even though you knew the ending, you were compelled to watch.

It’s entertaining — whether it’s the Cavs rolling off impressive victories or Andy Dufresne getting his fellow inmates a beer after tarring the roof.

It’s filled with lows — the Cavs inexplicably losing games and Andy spending time in the hole. Plenty of joy, too — LeBron James and the Cavs winning a championship and Andy busting out of prison while setting up Warden Norton for the fall. You watch the drama even though you know the ending — with Red joining Andy in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, and the Cavs meeting the Golden State Warriors in the Finals.

What about this season’s Cavs? Is this the same movie? Are the Cavs, losers of 10 of their past 14 games and looking worse with each loss, that much worse than previous seasons that they won’t make the Finals for a fourth consecutive season?

That’s difficult to discern because we’ve seen the Cavs go through this before. They finished last season by going 11-15 before rolling through the Eastern Conference playoffs. Even the year they won the title in 2016, turmoil led to the midseason firing of coach David Blatt when they had the best record in the East. In 2014-15, Cleveland was 20-20 on Jan. 15 and still made it to the Finals.

The Cavs are 27-18 and in third place in the Eastern Conference, six games behind the first-place Boston Celtics. They are as close to second place (four games behind the Toronto Raptors) as they are to eighth place (four games ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks).

If you’re looking for an area that differentiates this season’s aging Cavs — the oldest team in the NBA — look at the defensive struggles this season compared with previous seasons.

Two seasons ago when they beat the Warriors in the Finals, the Cavs finished the regular season 10th in defensive rating, allowing 102.3 points per 100 possessions. Last season, they were 22nd, allowing 108 points per 100 possession, and this season, they are 29th at 109.8 points allowed per 100 possessions, just ahead of the Sacramento Kings and behind the Phoenix Suns, according to NBA.com/stats.

“I think you start with transition defense. I think you start with pick-androll defense. I think you start with individual, one-on-one defense. But we just got to be better collectively,” Cavs coach Ty Lue told reporters after Sunday’s practice, which was one day after a 148124 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Let’s take a deeper look the defensive problems.

The Cavs:

❚ Have given up 893 transition points, which ranks 27th. They were 26th last season and 12th in 2015-16.

❚ Are the worst team in the league when it comes to defending the roll man in pick-and-roll defense, allowing 1.22 points per possession.

❚ Rank a middle-of-the-road 17th in isolation defense.

❚ Ranked 23rd in three-point defense and 25th in points allowed in the paint.

Sooner or later, those defensive issues become too hard to overcome, and yet the Cavs are operating under the idea that there’s time to make the improvements necessary to reach the Finals. A team that hasn’t practiced much this season because it’s a veteran squad that doesn’t need more wear and tear, the Cavs practiced Friday and Sunday and are scheduled to practice Monday.

Sometimes, as Andy Dufresne did at the end of The Shawshank Redemption, you have to crawl through a river of, um, muck to come out clean on the other side.

The Cavs are in the muck right now, searching for their Zihuatanejo.

DAVID RICHARD/USA TODAY SPORTS Cleveland guard Derrick Rose is part of an aging team that has many defensive concerns.