NBA Wrap: Warriors, Cavaliers Continue Early-season Struggles

The bumpy early starts to the season for the 2017 NBA finalists continued Sunday night, as the Warriors and Cavaliers both suffered home losses.  Actually, "bumpy" is a kind characterization of the Cavaliers' season start. Yes, it's too soon to panic and the Cavaliers are not at full strength, but a 19-point loss at home to the Knicks, which dropped their record to 3-4, piles on the cause for concern in Cleveland.

The Warriors' 115-107 loss to the Pistons, meanwhile, makes them 4-3 on the season, but their situation seems far less dire than their counterparts in the East. 

Trailing 92-75 coming into the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers went on a 13-2 run that tantalized Clevelanders into thinking their team was about to put an end to its two-game losing streak. But the Knicks retook control and widened their lead to a 114-95 count by the time the buzzer sounded.

New York got 34 points from Tim Hardaway Jr. and 32 from Kristaps Porzingis, and solid performances from Enes Kanter (18 points on 6 of 8 shooting, 12 rebounds) and Courtney Lee (15 points, 10 rebounds), while the Cleveland box score was a virtual wasteland.  For the second straight night, Kevin Love (22 points) was the sole Cavalier to break the 20-point threshold, while LeBron James was held to 16.

The Cavs are traversing the first half of the season without Isaiah Thomas, who they acquired from Boston in the Kyrie Irving trade, and the lineup they're putting forth may best be described as make-shift. It certainly doesn't appear to be working.

Rose, Green and Wade are such terrible fits for this Cavs team.

— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) October 30, 2017 

There is also a body-language issue with the Cavaliers: There doesn't appear to be much effort on defense. While that's not what Cavs fans necessarily want to hear, perhaps it's something that can be fixed when they feel the need to start taking the season seriously.

The Warriors' early-season woes seem less complex. Complacency may be an issue, but it's difficult to argue that talent or chemistry are part of the problem, since all the pieces of their three-year run of success are still in place.