Brooklyn Nets

Nets might be just what doctored ordered for dysfunctional Cavs (Jan 27, 2017)

Published Jan. 26, 2017 7:09 p.m. ET

The defending champions have lost six of their last eight games and the franchise player seems to be in a staredown with the organization. In other words, now is the perfect time for the league's worst team to visit.

The Cleveland Cavs host the Brooklyn Nets on Friday at a time when a win might go a long way toward soothing rising tensions within the best team in the East.

James called out the organization's desire to win this week and called the roster "top heavy" while maintaining they need more playmakers.

General Manager David Griffin countered by pointing out the Cavs have the league's highest payroll for the second consecutive year and said James' rant "wasn't appropriate from a teammate perspective."

Coach Tyronn Lue, meanwhile, is tired of talking about off-court issues, trade rumors and distractions.

"I hate it," Lue said Thursday. "I gotta come and deal with you guys every time it happens."

On the court, the Cavs can't do much of anything right these days. Their defense failed them in a loss at New Orleans, which was playing without Anthony Davis). Their free-throw shooting was terrible in home overtime losses to the Spurs and more recently the Kings on Wednesday.

At times their ball movement on offense has been poor and in other instances it was transition defense or guarding the 3-point line. Add it up and James is mired in his deepest losing funk since his first season in Miami.

"We gotta be better, that's all," James said. "We know we're going to get everybody's best, so we just gotta be better."

The circus sideshows are nothing new for the Cavs. James sent out a cryptic tweet about fitting in and fitting out during his first team back in Cleveland that team officials eventually acknowledged was aimed at Kevin Love.

Last season, James unfollowed the Cavs' Twitter account late during the regular season and sent out a series of mysterious tweets that left teammates and others in the organization shaking their heads. Now this.

Griffin said last season the Cavs functioned best amid the dysfunction. It's just the way they are wired. Now they're back in it again.

"We're a team that will create an opportunity for ourselves to have to dig out of a hole," Griffin said. "We do it in every single game. It's just how we are. We're not good from the front. We're much better when we're the hunter. I see us every year put ourselves in position to have to fight out of something.

"It's hard for me to tell you we're dealing with a lot of adversity when we're No. 1 in the East. But we have a tendency to be our best when our backs are against the wall so I have no reason to believe that won't be true now.

The Nets have lost three straight and 14 of their last 15. They have just two road wins this season.

"Sports, entertainment in general, is such what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, I-need-it-now, instant-gratification-type business," Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie told the New York Post. "We want it now.

"But you've got to keep the proper head so you can stay on the right track because if you get sidetracked or you buy into losing, it becomes a problem."