Report: Cavaliers not firing Tyronn Lue despite recent struggles

GiveMeSport

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By Conor Porter

Published Feb 4, 2018

Cavaliers could fire Lue soon due to recent bad form

The Cleveland Cavaliers suffered another horrifying defeat on Saturday against the Houston Rockets, putting the team way behind the pace of their ambitions of returning to the NBA Finals for the fourth consecutive year due to their recent troubles and poor performances on the court.

The Cavaliers lost 120-88 to the Rockets at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland yesterday. Houston had the number of LeBron James, as finished with 11 points, nine rebounds, nine assists, two steals, one block, and was 3-of-10 from the field.

Cleveland is nowhere near competing on the same level as the other top teams in the Western and Eastern Conferences. They've lost 12 of their last 18, are seven games behind the Boston Celtics in first place in the Eastern Conference, and five games behind the Toronto Raptors in second.

This situation doesn't look good for Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue at all, as if the team fails to go deep into the playoffs, he will likely be fired as the team's coach. It might even be a case of if the team fails to make the Finals he will be dismissed too.

However, Cleveland does not have any plans to fire their head coach anytime soon, as one Cavaliers official told ESPN on Saturday night: "We are not firing our head coach."

The Cavaliers haven't defeated a top-five Western Conference team this season, and their only win against a top-five team in either conference came on the opening day of the season against the Celtics.

Lue said following Saturday's loss, per Cleveland.com's Joe Vardon: "I just think mindset needs to change. I think we need to do things harder."

According to NBA.com, Cleveland owns the NBA's 23rd-ranked offensive rating (103.9) and 27th-ranked defensive rating (111.1) over the past five weeks. If they want to go deep into the playoffs this year, they need to bring in some additional support before the trade deadline next Thursday.

Lue has a record of 29-10 (.744) in the NBA playoffs as Cavaliers coach, so maybe things will pick up for the team once the postseason arrives. That's still a long way away though.