LeBron James wasn’t enough to cover the Cavaliers’ bad habits against the Hawks

The Cavaliers went from looking like one of the best teams in the league on Friday night against the Wizards to falling to the Atlanta Hawks on their home floor on Sunday, 117-115.

And that score is much closer than the game actually was. The Hawks led by as many as 16 points on multiple occasions throughout the game. It took seven three-point makes in the fourth quarter and 19 points from Kyle Korver for the Cavaliers to cut into a double-digit lead and bring themselves within six points with just under 30 seconds to go in the game.

The Cavaliers couldn’t stop anyone — again. That’s been the story for much of the season, but on nights like Friday where they’re hitting everything and scoring 130 points it doesn’t matter if their opponent scores 122.

They had multiple issues tonight, but the biggest one was the driving lanes, which they allowed Dennis Schroder and Isaiah Taylor to enter all game long. The two combined for 42 points on 25 shots and had a combined 13 free throws.

Just take a look at this easy baseline drive Taylor had in the first half of the game.

And there are too many driving lanes to count here for Schroder throughout this highlight video of his big night against the Cavs.

The Hawks aren’t exactly the most threatening three-point shooting team — they’re shooting 36 percent from beyond the arc on the season. But with the open driving lanes the Cavaliers allowed for the Hawks’ guards, the floor opened up a lot more for their shooters tonight. They shot 44 percent from deep on the game with Luke Babbitt and Taurean Prince combining for seven of the Hawks’ 11 makes.

The Cavaliers’ defense continues to be an issue on all fronts. It’s still early in the season, but their play on that end of the floor certainly warrants a bit of concern.

The Cavaliers don’t really have great perimeter defenders on the front end of their defense and they lost the closest thing they had to a rim protector in Tristan Thompson for the next month.

The Cavaliers’ lineup starting Jae Crowder, LeBron James, Derrick Rose, J.R. Smith, and Kevin Love at center has a defensive rating of 133.6 points per 100 possessions. That lineup has 47 minutes played to this point, which leads all lineups for the Cavaliers. And even their second-most played lineup has a 116.2 defensive rating.

They just don’t have much depth defensively, and that’s been a huge issue for them this season.

Which isn’t necessarily out of the question because James is one of the best three or four players to ever pick up a basketball. But it’s a lot to continuously ask of someone who will be 33 years old in two months.

James played one of his best games ever against the Wizards on Friday scoring 57 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and dishing seven assists. But still, the Wizards were never truly out of the game and the Cavs only won by eight.

On Sunday, James had 26 points and 13 assists and the Hawks won by two after a spectacular offensive fourth quarter from James and Korver. It seems like James has to do something special every night for the Cavaliers to stand a chance, and that’s not a great look if you’re Cleveland.