Guard Isaiah Thomas, who came from rival Boston in the offseason, told reporters after the game the team isn\u2019t overly concerned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s going to be nights like this. I know that, I’ve been in the league seven years so I know these types of nights,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we’ve just got to have better energy.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe only problem is the team seems to be having those nights more frequently. They had a similar streak in October where they lost four straight. Two of those defeats they were favored by 10 points.<\/p>\n
Rivals Gaining Ground<\/h2>\n
The team has had lulls before. In the last three years they experienced poor play but still reached the NBA Finals, winning in 2016. But the team is the oldest in the league and practices aren\u2019t as frequent as other squads so to save wear and tear on the athletes.<\/p>\n
Rivals may be able to exploit that. The Boston Celtics, who are the Cavaliers main adversary in the Eastern Conference currently have a better record. They are 33-10, 5 \u00bd games better than Cleveland. Toronto has become the surprise of the league. They too are above the Cavaliers, 2 \u00bd games better.<\/p>\n
The two have seen their NBA Title odds drop in recent weeks. The Celtics went from 15-1 to 10-1 and the Raptors started at 60-1 and are now 50-1.<\/p>\n
Cleveland is still the favorite to win the East at 5-7<\/a>, but if they finish third in the conference will not have home court advantage for at least one round of the playoffs.<\/p>\nWith a convincing 102-88 road loss to the Celtics a week ago and another test away from home Thursday against Toronto, they might be answering questions about their playoff chances five months early.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For a team that is supposed to challenge the Golden State Warriors for the NBA title, Cleveland is not looking like the second best team in the league. The Cavaliers have lost six of its last nine games and despite assurances from coaches and players that this is a temporary bump in the road fans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":67101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Sports Books Raise Odds on Cleveland Chances for NBA Title After Recent Losing Streak<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n