CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Fandom can be fickle.
Everyone jumps on the bandwagon when the wins come in bunches and when they don’t, many jump ship.
The hype that hovered over the Cavs at the All-Star break has quickly faded following back-to-back losses to Denver and Atlanta, but Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff isn’t concerned, regardless of fan reaction.
“I trust these guys. You know what I mean? I'm around them every single day. I know their makeup. I know their character I know how committed they are to one another and I'm not a fickle person,” Bickerstaff sad. “[You] Have to work hard to earn my trust, and when you earn my trust, we go through it together. As coaches, we're not the type people to jump ship.
We're the type of people to barrel down and see how we fix everything.
“These dudes have given me too many reasons to believe in them and I think it's comical those people that do ship as quickly as some people do.”
Although disappointed in the results the last two games after allowing 115 and then 136 in the two losses, Bickerstaff hopes his short memory rubs off on his team too.
“I mean, you weigh the factors of it at as well,” Bickerstaff said. “[We] spend a ton of energy that night against Denver. You fly to Atlanta, you land at around two o'clock in the morning, you're asleep by maybe 3:30 and then you play against a team that feels like they have something extra to prove and extra motivation. So there was a lot of circumstances around it that I thought impacted that game. I don't waiver in my belief in these guys I don't waiver in my belief of what they're capable of and what their desires are. So I washed that away pretty quickly and we move forward for better performance [Sunday].”
Following the two losses, Cleveland has slipped from first to third in overall defensive efficiency in the NBA and returning to that identity is top of mind while at the same time recognizing they played against quality offense from the Nuggets and Hawks.
“Give your opponent some credit, but that's not an excuse for us,” Bickerstaff said. “I don't think we've played to the level that we're capable of either. So I think it's important for us to just get back to our base, get back to our fundamentals and then turn that scrap up a little bit. These things also come down to how many individual battles you're willing to fight and how many of those battles you're willing to win. And we got to go out and fight more of those battles and win more of those battles.”
Back up 3 – After dropping Kevin Love from the rotation and giving him a buyout, it appears Lamar Stevens has taken over as the backup at the three.
Bickerstaff appreciates Stevens’ toughness and intensity.
“Lamar's tough what he may lack in height, he makes up for in toughness and in grit and sometimes it takes that just to overcome what's in front of you,” Bickerstaff said. “He's always been the underdog, so to speak and he's embraced that willingness to fight and climb uphill. So that's where I gain confidence in him is like he may lose something, but it's not going to be from lack of effort or lack of that fight that we need.”
Go time – Prior to the season resuming last week, Bickerstaff and the Cavs mentioned it was “go time” for them as they began the stretch run.
Now 0-2 after the break, the sense of urgency intensifies.
“I mean it shouldn't change but obviously we always understand the gravity of the moment and understand how important each game is,” Bickerstaff said. “So we got to come out, we got to compete we got to play well and try to get the job done.”
Tough love – When the Cavs don’t play well, Bickerstaff is never shy about telling it like it is after games.
Bickerstaff explained Sunday that some of it is tough love, and some of it is his willingness to state the obvious when he talks about his team not paying up to their standard.
“I try my best to be as honest with you guys as I can,” Bickerstaff said. “It's always my job to protect our guys and there's a lot of things that happen that you guys will never hear about, especially out of my mouth because it's important to me to make sure that our guys know that we've got their back and we'll take bullets for them time and time again. But there's also the reality of the moment and your standard is easy to see. And with our group, we haven't had to go there a ton because they typically give you what they've got.
NBA schedule in nights. Sometimes it happens, but typically our guys give you what they got so when they don't, it's easy for me to be candid and frank with you guys.”
Open spot – The Cavs have an open roster spot and it appears they will fill it at some point before the deadline to do so for playoff eligibility passes.
“We'll talk to Kobe [Altman] about that and we'll see what we need as we progress towards the end of the year and figure it out from there,” Bickerstaff said.
“We’ve got time.”
