NBA scores 2017: Raptors and Cavaliers fans, DON’T WILDLY FREAK OUT

Cleveland and Toronto both probably just need to chill out. But man, it might feel like freaking out time.

Jan 26, 2017, 1:00 PM UTC

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NBA: Sacramento Kings at Cleveland Cavaliers

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

What happened to the top of the Eastern Conference? When the top two seeds both suffer extended losing streaks, do we diagnose them together? Maybe the Cavaliers and the Raptors both caught the same Thunderstruck disease and transferred their powers to Heat (five straight wins) and 76ers (10 wins in their last 13).

Whatever it is, Toronto has lost five straight games while Cleveland has dropped three in a row. Let’s start there, where the Cavaliers have reached full “actually those comments I made to the media the other day weren’t a big deal” mode.

If you run it back, the Cavaliers have actually lost six of their last eight games. A team that was 26-7 is now 30-14. They swung a trade for Kyle Korver because they’re still missing J.R. Smith after his thumb surgery last month, and LeBron James is leading the league in minutes, and it’s still not working consistently. It caused James to ignite a media bomb on Monday night.

“We need a f—ing playmaker,” James told reporters. “I’m not saying you can just go find one, like you can go outside and see trees. I didn’t say that. I’m not singling out anybody. I’m not. Yeah, we won [the championship], but f—, you know what, let’s see if we can do something.”

As with anything the Cavaliers do, it has been followed with 48 hours of media scrutiny and frenzy. (They know they’re asking for exactly that, to be sure.) James had to tweet out clarification the next day that he wasn’t calling out the front office. Nate Robinson has been posting Instagrams about wanting to try out as a playmaker for Cleveland.

Carmelo Anthony — notably not a playmaker, mind you — has been asked all about potentially joining Cleveland, because the Cavaliers reportedly rejected a trade offer that would have swapped Anthony for Kevin Love. The Cavaliers could have calmed this all down a tiny bit and instead they went out and lost to the Kings. The Kings! There’s nothing I can write here except, wyd.

(Since someone’s bound not to know that so here’s a google search. Never say I am not a responsible content creator on the world wide web.)

Where the Cavaliers are surrounded by headlines and ESPN segments, the Raptors are just playing bad quietly. I can’t decide which option is more preferable, because now Toronto just has to wallow in silence knowing they’re playing terribly and no one even cares they’re playing terribly. Their situation is the more concerning one, too. Those five losses come against a couple good opponents — they lost Tuesday to the Spurs and Wednesday against Memphis — but also Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Charlotte.

The Raptors barely have a top-10 offense since Jan. 1 (it’s exactly 10th) as their defense has tumbled into the bottom-10. They’re allowing 109.4 points per 100 possessions, which is a far cry from the 104.5 points per 100 possessions they allowed in 2016. In fact, tumbling nearly five points is horrendous.

On Wednesday, the Raptors tied the game against Memphis with 1:31 left in the game. Their No. 2 ranked offense couldn’t score about bucket in the final three possessions, with Patrick Patterson, Terrence Ross, and Kyle Lowry all missing three-pointers while a pair of Marc Gasol free throws won the game for the Grizzlies. You can blame the early hole Toronto put themselves in, too.

The answer for both teams — good teams with lots of talent and a proven track record — is patience. Slumps happen. Five-game losing streaks partially due to unfortunate scheduling happen. A bad three-game tilt that inspires a few trade rumors has never really hurt anyone. The third-ranked Celtics did win on Wednesday — against the Rockets, no less — but they had lost three straight before that, meaning the Raptors are still hanging onto a half-game lead and the Cavaliers have three games on them.

Or maybe the bottom of the East really did zap all their power, and this is the beginning of the end. Long live the three-year reign of Cleveland and Toronto. Let’s meet back up in a month and discuss our findings.

The Great Chicago Subtweet War has begun

After the Bulls lost to the Hawks 119-114 on Wednesday, Dwyane Wade told reporters, “I don’t know if people care enough.”

Jimmy Butler echoed him, including saying, “If you don’t come in motherf***ing pissed off every game, any game, if you’re not pissed off that you lost, something is wrong.” You can see his comments here.

Here’s one teammate, Jerian Grant, defending himself over Twitter.

Goodness, Chicago. This is already a mess.