The Golden State Warriors are tearing up the NBA, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are sputtering. "Where's the Cavaliers' motivation?" asks Chris Haynes.
CLEVELAND, Ohio. - Entering the 2015-16 NBA season, the Cleveland Cavaliers were the betting favorites to secure the city's first championship in over 50 years.
Now we're five months into season and the defending champion Golden State Warriors have knocked the Cavaliers off the odds-makers' pedestal. The overthrow has been swift and indisputable.
"Last year it was us and them, and now it's just them versus everybody else," Cavs guard Kyrie Irving told cleveland.com. "It's just a different year. They win a championship and they just continue at a high level."
Golden State, led by reigning league MVP Stephen Curry, is rewriting the record book. The Warriors are putting together never-before-seen performances that leave you in awe, and the basketball world can't get enough of their masterful, entertaining, free-flowing, long-range assassin offense.
They're dancing, smiling, and having fun at the expense of the opposition as they hunt the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' record of 72 regular-season victories.
Opposing players would say they Warriors have developed an arrogance about them, yet no one has gotten fired up enough to stop them and all the praise flowing their way. Especially the Cavaliers.
Cleveland is the only team on the right side of the coast that has a legitimate shot at dethroning the Warriors. The Cavaliers recently concluded an 8-5 February. Where's the killer instinct?
"I think what the Warriors are doing should bring out the best in people, that competitive spirit, that competitive greatness. I don't know [why it hasn't]," Cavs power forward Kevin Love told cleveland.com. "I think, in the games, we'll play really, really good basketball for three and a half quarters. We've said it all year long. I think we have really great talent and all the ability in the world to sustain that level of great basketball. We just need to be more consistent with it."
Cleveland has been consistently inconsistent and has lacked inspiration for much of the season. On countless occasions, they've played down to the level of competition, and it has bitten them in the end a few times. They haven't played with pride, and instead have chosen to coast, believing they can turn in on when needed.
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue acknowledged that was one of the Cavs' issues after Monday's narrow defeat of the Indiana Pacers at Quicken Loans Arena to break a two-game losing streak.
There's something missing with this team, something absent from their DNA that was there when they fought ferociously while undermanned against the Warriors in The Finals last year.
Golden State was a key factor in the firing of David Blatt. The Warriors embarrassed the Cavs 132-98 on national television Jan. 18 at The Q and left town like nothing happened. Golden State acted like it was supposed to wallop the defending Eastern Conference champs by 34.
A team with LeBron James, Irving and Love should never take a beating like that. Again, where's the motivation to again be included with the Warriors in conversations about NBA supremacy?
"I don't need another team to help motivate," Cavs big man Tristan Thompson said to cleveland.com without letting the question fully get out. "We don't need another team to help motivate us.
"You remember, June 20, when we lost Game 6 on our home court? That's enough motivation right there. I don't think anyone in this group needs another team or a certain player on another team to motivate us. We remember that feeling in that locker room.
"We have to worry about how we can get better, because if you're worrying about watching somebody else the whole time, you won't see when the bus comes and hits you on the road."
James agrees.
"I don't think we're the group to be looking at other people for motivation," he said. "I think we need to figure out and worry about what we've got here, then try to use other teams for motivation right now. It's a fine line when you're trying to look at other teams and use motivation from that. Us, we need to continue to work our habits on a daily basis and not worry about what (other teams are doing).
"I mean, we don't play Golden State again. And if we're fortunate enough to win three rounds in the postseason, which is very hard to do, then it's a possible chance we could see them. But we shouldn't be thinking about Golden State right now. We don't play them again. We may not even play them again this season, so that should not be our concern."
Curry is rapidly becoming the face of the league and leading that team to unprecedented heights. His range is anywhere. He shoots tough contested shots with a high accuracy and makes it look easy.
His 38-foot game-winner against Oklahoma City last week prompted James to share his praise of Curry on social media. The Cavaliers are taking notice, even if they don't want to confess to it. Golden State is forcing them to take notice.
"When I see the Warriors, I just see them as a challenge that we have to do our part right now and win games here in the East," the Cavs' Iman Shumpert told cleveland.com. "We've got to make sure we finish out the season strong, try to keep this [No. 1] seed. We got to get through the Eastern Conference first.
"Of course everybody wants to win. We see what they're doing over there. They're in the West. That's something you can't write everybody else off before we get there [in The Finals]. They have to run their path and we have to do ours."
There are 23 games remaining for the Cavaliers to do their part before the playoffs start. That locker room is filled with some guys who have heart and relish competition, but for some strange reason it's not surfacing on a consistent level.
It's time to see what the Cavaliers are truly made of. We already know what Golden State is made of: Warriors.
"You just have to give respect when respect is due," Irving said of the Warriors. "They're fun to watch. They're a great team, just great chemistry going on over there. So when you have an established team like that that's playing at an extremely high level every single game, I feel like it adds pressure if you allow it to.
"But we just have to just to focus on what's important to us, and that's getting better every single day."
