Dwyane Wade Calls Out Cavs Teammates After Loss To Hawks

Following a 117-115 home loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, the Cleveland Cavaliers have become divided.

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Multiple Cavs bench players criticized their starting teammates for their poor performance on Sunday.

“It’s no secret we’re starting games off awful,” Dwyane Wade said after scoring a season-high 25 points as a reserve. “Terrible. And [Atlanta] got it going early, and the effort or the focus just wasn’t there to start off, and you try to battle back, you waste a lot of energy trying to come back from 16-18 down, and it’s tough nightly to do this. And we all know this. It’s no secret in this locker room, but our first unit, we got to start off better.”

The Cavaliers trailed 37-28 after the first quarter. Cleveland (4-6) has had a four-game losing streak this season and is in 12th place in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks (2-8) hold the worst record in the East. Atlanta’s only other victory this season came against the Dallas Mavericks in their opener.

“I want one time for the first unit to get on the second unit because we blew a lead,” Wade said with a chuckle. “I’m waiting for that day to happen.”

Wade also called out a fan on Twitter on Sunday after the latter believed a fake quote BleacherReport shared that Wade had reportedly said:

All five Cavs starters finished with negative plus-minus ratings against Atlanta.

Of all the starters, Kevin Love seemed to have the worst outing. He drew three fouls in the first half and became so upset that he ripped his jersey in half. Love then left the game in the third quarter with an illness, finishing with four points on 1-for-6 shooting and four rebounds. He was transported to the team’s clinic for evaluation and was released a few hours later.

Channing Frye — who replaced Love and compiled seven points and five rebounds — also sounded off against the starters.

“We got to play harder,” Frye said when asked about the slow starts. “We have to play harder, and I think we have to be more, more attentive to details, and I think we just have to have a better sense of urgency. … We suck right now.”

“No energy,” said LeBron James, who followed up his 57-point explosion against Washington with 26 points, 13 assists, two blocks and six turnovers against Atlanta. “The effort was pretty bad, and you turn the corner, but you can’t fix it in one game. This is something that has been going on for a while.”

James added, however, that the Cavs “don’t want to single anyone out,” but that everyone on the team needs to improve.

The Hawks were missing five rotation players Sunday due to injuries.

Nevertheless, Cleveland did outscore Atlanta off the bench, 64-26.

The Cavs next host Milwaukee on Tuesday night, while the Hawks will host Boston on Monday night.

WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 3: Dwyane Wade #9 of the Cleveland Cavaliers passes around Kelly Oubre Jr. #12 of the Washington Wizards in the first half at Capital One Arena on November 3, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)