The Cleveland Cavaliers may have some soul-searching to do after yet another baffling early-season loss, their third in their first four games, this one to the Utah Jazz - a team that won 25 games last year.
To be fair, the Jazz have looked much improved so far this season, thanks in varying degrees to new coach Quinn Snyder, a seeming (long-awaited) leap from 23-year forward Derrick Favors, and the growing confidence of Gordon Hayward.
All of those factors were on display with the Cavs in the building Wednesday night, Hayward's impact in particular. But after a game in which Cleveland got outscored from long range and in the paint, allowed the Jazz to shoot 50.6 percent, trailed almost wire-to-wire, and collected just six assists as a team, it's clear they have some things to figure out.
LeBron James told ESPN's Dave McMenamin before the game that he'd been playing too passively.
"I've had two games where I've played a little passive and been more of a set-up guy and it's resulted in two losses," he said. "And I've had a game where I've been very aggressive and we won. Is winning the ultimate thing? Or us being the best (team) we can be (as a whole) or winning one game? It's something that's going on in my mind right now, I'm trying to figure out. I definitely can't go into a game having 12 shot attempts. That's me personally."
By game's end, he didn't seem any closer to resolving the dilemma.
"We just can't win like that," he said of his team's struggle to share the ball. "We have to figure out a way to help each other."
Another issue is their bench, which produced just 13 points against the Jazz. A struggling Dion Waiters was bumped to the second unit before the game, which so incensed Waiters that he didn't come out of the locker room until after the team's starters had been introduced. His play didn't help matters, as he scored just five points (on 1-of-4 shooting) and committed three fouls in 13 minutes.
But back to Hayward. The Jazz's nominal franchise player had one of the best all-around games of his young NBA career on Wednesday. He was wizardly on offense, making consistently smart passes and scoring on drives, jumpers and cuts. He finished with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting and added seven assists for good measure.
He also played some truly excellent defense, which included displays of highlight-reel athleticism...
And less heralded grunt work, like bodying up LeBron on a potential game-tying attempt late in the fourth quarter:
Oh yeah, he also did this:
It was his first career game-winning buzzer-beater.
The season is young. That's something you'll keep hearing as long as the Cavaliers struggle and as long as season's still young. Needless overreaction is a fun and ultimately harmless aspect of sports fandom, but there's also something to be said for perspective.
Yes, the Cavs are 1-3, and this is the first time in 10 years a LeBron-led team has started this poorly. It's still only four games. Last year's champion San Antonio Spurs, the team that won 62 regular-season games and then ran roughshod over everybody in the playoffs, went through two separate five-game lulls of 2-3, one 2-5 stretch, and a three-game losing streak. Sure, they also went on winning streaks of 19 and 11 games, but that's part of the point. The NBA season is long, and it's full of peaks and valleys.
Still, it's worth mentioning, just for fun, that both the Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves, LeBron James and Kevin Love's respective former teams, currently have better records than the Cavs.
Now, so do the Jazz.
