Cavs’ defense

There was to be no flare-up from LeBron James during, and in the aftermath of, the Cavaliers’ pathetic performance against the Hawks the other day, at least not outwardly. He would have been justified if he did, though; at home against opponents who chose to rest five — yes, five — vital cogs, he and those around him in wine and champagne played listlessly. Okay, to be fair, he did exert effort to claim victory, and, in its wake, academic first seed throughout the conference playoffs. As for everybody else, well, they would have been better off having DNP-Rest notations alongside their names on the stat sheet.

Indeed, the Cavaliers were so bad that the Hawks, featuring one starter and a bunch of scrubs, literally ran rings around them for much of the contest. Sure, no one in the National Basketball Association is exempt from occasional sour shooting from the perimeter. And, sure, there will be times when 5050 balls seem to bounce away from them again and again. On the other hand, there can be no excusing their lackadaisical showing on defense. It’s as if they figured they could win against watereddown competition with halfhearted coverage. Memo to the Cavaliers: Nothing in the league is a given. Every single thing is earned. No one expects success to come on the basis of past accomplishments. So what if they’re defending champions? They’re such a sieve right now that no one is intimidated by them. Their offense is still very good; with three All- Stars on their roster, it can’t not be. But their D? Forget about being respectable. No wonder the likes of the lottery-bound Lakers and the depleted Grizzlies have run roughshod over them as well.

In all likelihood, the Cavaliers will wind up at the top of the East, but only because they’ve run out of regular-season games to relinquish the position. As things stand, it will be very difficult for them to move for a third straight appearance in the Finals with relative ease. Unless and until they stop descending to the level of the enemies, they’ll be unable to live up to promise. Which is just too bad. There’s a reason they have title rings on their fingers, and they better hope to understand this reason sometime soon if they want to keep the Larry O’Brien Trophy in their midst.

Sure, no one in the National Basketball Association is exempt from occasional sour shooting from the perimeter. And, sure, there will be times when 50-50 balls seem to bounce away from them again and again. On the other hand, there can be no excusing their lackadaisical showing on defense. It’s as if they figured they could win against watered-down competition with halfhearted coverage.