The Cleveland Cavs suffered their seventh loss of the season last night, dropping to 5-7 on the year with a 117-113 defeat in Houston. Last night's loss marked the Cavs' sixth in their last eight games, leaving LeBron James and co. searching for answers.
After last night's game, LeBron was asked about the Cavs' struggles this season.
Per ESPN,
"We played a pretty good game, but I'm not here for moral victories," he said. "That's not what I'm about."
While the Cavs are a bit banged up right now, playing without Tristan Thompson and Isaiah Thomas, LeBron also noted that the team can't just rely on Thomas to step into the lineup and turn things around. Prior to last night's loss to the Rockets, LeBron told reporters,
"To be honest, I don't think it's too much expected. I don't think we're relying on IT to come back. We want him to take his time. When he feels he's ready, he's going to fit right in. We can't rely on just one person. We can't rely on just one person for us to be as good as we want to be, whether it's IT or myself or Tristan [Thompson] being out. We have guys who have to step up."
"IT is definitely a big piece of what we want to do, but IT hasn't stepped out on the floor in a Cavs uniform yet. We know what he's capable of doing, but he hasn't played with us, so we don't want to put that type of pressure on him, even though he loves it."
Isaiah Thomas is still recovering from a hip injury and he isn't expected to play until late December, or possibly later. That said, Tom Withers of the Associated Press recently noted that Isaiah Thomas has been increasing the intensity of his workouts, and it is possible he could return earlier than the initial timetable of late December.
While the Cavs have struggled, Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics have surged to an NBA-best 10-2 record, rattling off 10 straight wins since opening the season with two straight losses, including one in Cleveland on the NBA's opening night.
LeBron and the Cavs will return to the floor tomorrow night in Dallas before heading to New York for a matchup against the Knicks on Monday night.
