"On Sunday, Halfway through the second quarter, with his team trailing the piece-of-shit Charlotte Hornets, Darius Garland navigated not so much around but rather into a Jarrett Allen screen, smacked into his teammate, fell over, and gave up a pick-six layup. The Cavs are in a rather alarming place at the moment: 15-12, at the bottom of the seven-team heap separating third and ninth places in the Eastern Conference, staring down a few weeks without their most important defensive player."
"One game out of third is not an obviously disastrous situation, though for a team widely expected to play for the Eastern Conference title, scuffling that low while the Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons cruise past is quite disappointing. The Los Angeles Clippers are probably the biggest disaster in the league right now, and the Sacramento Kings are playing the most aesthetically revolting hoops, so Cleveland's winning record at least keeps the Cavs from that level of scrutiny."
"The word with Cleveland is malaise. The Cavaliers don't do anything at an extremely high level other than stand around and watch Donovan Mitchell make magic. Things have been listless for a few weeks now, though it was not until the shambolic home loss to the Hornets on Sunday that addressing the state of things finally became unavoidable. Fans showered their team with boos as the Cavs failed to score a single point in overtime."
The Cleveland Cavaliers sit 15-12, positioned at the bottom of a seven-team cluster between third and ninth in the Eastern Conference and one game out of third. The team has been undermined by an escalating injury crisis that has limited Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen and reduced overall defensive capability. On-court performance has felt listless and overreliant on Donovan Mitchell while other fundamentals lag. A shambolic home loss to the Charlotte Hornets, including a critical Garland turnover off a Jarrett Allen screen and an overtime scoring drought, prompted boos from fans and emphasized the team's malaise.
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