The Cleveland Cavaliers have done so many things at an elite level all season long. However, some of those previous areas of strength have started to slip over the last few weeks.
One of these critical areas has been taking care of the ball and limiting turnovers.
As a team, the Cavaliers are only giving up 13.0 turnovers a game this season, which ranks third-best in the NBA.
However, over the last week, Cleveland has started to struggle slightly in that category. They committed 15 turnovers against the Detroit Pistons and 14 turnovers against the San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers.
It doesn’t have to be said, but the Cavaliers must clean this up before the playoffs. In tightly contested postseason matchups, Cleveland can’t be giving away free possessions, which could hurt them at the end of games.
Cleveland’s All-Star point guard Darius Garland is fully aware of this.
“It’s gonna be huge, especially coming down the stretch going into the playoffs because possessions matter so much. So, just taking care of the ball. I put that on me. Just trying to make the right reads,” said Garland after Cleveland’s loss to the Pistons.
“It’s going to be really important for us not to get sped up, just slow it down a little bit, try to make the reads, take care of it, and try to put a shot on goal.”
Even though DG is Cleveland’s primary ball handler and shoulders much of the responsibility to turn this around, every player on the Cavaliers must focus on limiting miscues for the last eight games of the year.
Kenny Atkinson noted that the Cavaliers can’t get behind in a playoff series due to something as simple as rebounding, and the same can be said for turnovers.
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