Write Down Euclid: If Cavs Keep Playing Catch Up, It Will Catch Up to Them

The San Antonio Spurs might not be in vogue right now, but as the season progresses they are only going to get more dangerous.

The Eastern Conference still does not have a serious threat to Cleveland, but as a whole the conference is more balanced and better overall than the past few seasons, so the road through the East might be a little more taxing than last season. Even if the Cavs are fully healthy, the Heat, Raptors, Hawks, Bulls, and Bucks could all give Cleveland a competitive series if they meet in the playoffs.

One of the best surprises of this year is how well the second unit has played through the first ten games. Richard Jefferson is off to a fantastic start, Tristan Thompson is just as reliable and efficient as last year, and the depth of this team is an asset rather than a weakness.

How about we get to see some of that depth more often? Particularly, late in games.

Maybe Cavs fans will just have to deal with these slow starts all season long and be happy to come away with the “W”, but I can’t imagine LeBron is thrilled with the idea of playing 39 minutes in a nail biter against the Knicks in November.

The Cavs end their road trip Tuesday night against the Pistons, who looked like a legitimate team for a minute there, but have now lost four in a row.

The Wine and Gold return to Cleveland for “Retro Night” against the Bucks Thursday,and then host the Hawks and Magic in a three-game homestand.

The Cavaliers are 5-0 at home and 3-2 on the road this season, and hopefully the trend of LeBron playing 38 minutes or more for three straight games heading into Tuesday will end soon.

None of this is to say the 8-2 start isn’t worth getting excited. Few people expected the Cavs to come out to this great of a start and there are many pleasant surprises, like Kevin Love’s outstanding production, and the emergence of Mo Williams as a fantastic starting point guard.

All of those are good things to be happy about, but as the season goes on one phrase that LeBron repeated at Media Day in September comes to mind; “Championship habits”.

Cavs fans are at the point where they can afford to be greedy and particular.

It’s not 2010-2011 where we were overjoyed just to win a game.

Let’s see this team play with “championship habits”, not lay back for two or three quarters and hope they can turn it on.

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