It's apparently come to this for the Cavaliers: Monday, coach Tyronn Lue found himself answering a question about whether he's worried the team will miss the playoffs this season.
The Cavaliers are in third place in the Eastern Conference, but they've lost 12 of 18 games, a slump that led a team official to tell ESPN Saturday, "We are not firing our head coach."
While these are rocky times in Cleveland, Lue isn't worried about the team not making the postseason.
"I don't think we'll be knocked out of the playoffs, no," Lue told reporters. "I mean we're still going to make the playoffs. There's no doubt about that. We're still confident in that for sure."
Just making the playoffs, though, is hardly an achievement for a franchise that has been in the NBA Finals the past three seasons, winning in 2016. But this season has been full of discontent, locker room dysfunction, concerns about the defense, and rampant speculation about LeBron James' future. He's eligible for free agency this summer.
All that drama has left the Cavs at 30-21 entering Monday. They're only five games ahead of the ninth-place Pistons, while they trail the first place Celtics by 7 1/2 games. Sure, that five-game cushion on the playoff bubble sounds safe, but recall the Cavs led the Celtics by four games late last season before losing the No. 1 seed to them.
A reporter asked James Monday if the Cavs are a lock for the postseason.
"I would hope so," James said. "I don't think anybody's here not to make the playoffs."
