CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Late Friday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers left the Target Center in Minneapolis feeling proud of their effort despite a second-straight loss to open the season.

They weren't happy per se. After all, it was another defeat.

This is the NBA, where there are no moral victories, not even against a superior opponent with playoff aspirations. But for a "growing team," which is the classification leader Kevin Love has used since training camp, the Cavaliers felt they were heading in the right direction.

Not anymore.

"Today we took two steps back," Tristan Thompson said following a 133-111 loss against the rebuilding Atlanta Hawks. "I would expect an effort like this in Toronto, but not at home."

There was plenty that had Thompson miffed after the game. He lamented the communication breakdowns that led to the Hawks' offensive explosion. He didn't appreciate the lack of fight the team showed in the second half, as the Hawks scored 69 points, shot 49 percent from the field and connected on 44.4 percent of their 3-point attempts in a rout that few saw coming.

But the hardest thing to grasp? It was the Hawks. On Cleveland's home floor.

"It was embarrassing," Thompson said. "We would never expect for us to come out like that, especially at home.

"No disrespect to the Hawks, but those guys, their mentality this season is for their young guys to get reps, work on their game and just go out there and compete obviously at a high level, but understand it's not about the wins and losses, for them it's about the long journey to get back to where they want to get to. For us, that's not what we're here to do. For me, Kev, Kyle (Korver), G Hill, Swish (JR Smith), all the guys that have been part of winning environments, we come to compete. That's what we're here to do and tonight there was none of that at all."

For one night, the Cavaliers looked like the Eastern Conference's punchline. They looked like the overmatched team that should consider tanking.

They aren't going to, of course. Not yet. Head coach Tyronn Lue even said he wasn't going to look inward three games into the season.

Still, these are the kinds of losses the Cavs can't afford. These are the ones that could force the front office in a different direction come February. These are the ones that doubters single out when discussing Lue's coaching prowess. There's no margin for error. Every game matters. This was the equivalent air-balling a layup.

If Cleveland can't stay competitive with the Hawks -- a team that had lost two straight games by double figures going into the night and trailed by at least 20 points in each of them -- then how are they supposed to be in the playoff mix?

Given the stage (home opener) and the opponent, there was no sugarcoating this debacle.

"The last three quarters were pretty damn alarming," Love said after a 37-point turnaround. "Opening Night at home we expect to play better. We expect to play better in front of our home crowd. I don't know if alarming is the right word but it sure sounds right, just with our effort level. Our effort level wasn't there, especially defending the three-point line. They were just gunning and we weren't getting into them, we weren't physical."

There was no time to defend the halfcourt defense and blame the 130-point night on the lazy, unbalanced effort in transition the way Lue did following the Minnesota loss. There was no way to point to the team's admirable fight because it was nonexistent. There was no sense in pulling out any positives because that would've looked silly against a team the Cavs were favored to beat by eight points.

The Cavs decided to implement a switch-heavy scheme this off-season. They pointed to its effectiveness during past playoff runs. They also thought it was suitable for this versatile group. Through three games, it doesn't look like Cleveland has the personnel to run it effectively.

"It can work with this team if guys communicate and are physical at the point of the screen," Thompson said. "The one bad thing sometimes when you switch 1 through 5, guys think it's easier and they relax. You have to be just as aggressive. If we're going to switch 1 through 5 we got to meet that point of entry at the ball and be physical."

In a switch-heavy approach, communication is vital. It also helps to have quality individual defenders. Otherwise the opponent will just find the weak link and prey on him. The Cavs are lacking both right now.

"What they were doing was just swinging the ball and just basically carving us up one-on-one," Thompson said. "Guys have got to take the challenge. I'm not asking everyone to be lock-down defenders or Bruce Bowen, but take the personal challenge.

"Whoever's in the game has got to be ready to play, take the scout serious and understand what we're doing. If you don't know what to do, ask questions. But don't go out there and say, 'I know. I know,' and then you come out there and get your ass whupped."

Atlanta made a team-record 22 triples, shooting 46.8 percent. They had 32 assists on 48 made shots.

The offensive end wasn't much better. The Hawks gave up 126 and 131 points in their first two games. The Cavs could only muster 111 Sunday night, shooting 46.5 percent from the field and going 10-of-27 on 3-pointers. They only assisted on half of their made shots.

After exploding for 10 points in a great first quarter, Love, the new offensive focal point, went silent.

He finished with just 16 on another rough shooting night, missing 13 of his 19 shots and seven of his eight 3-pointers.

"The second half it was just too perimeter-oriented for me," Love said. "Looked for some things in the post but we have to have a go-to action. It was too perimeter-oriented. Just felt like I was jacking from the outside. That's on me too. Need to get with the guys out there and see what we run, what we want to get into in our offensive flow.

"We just weren't making the extra pass, we weren't playing for each other. It was more one pass, pick and roll and shot. We're going to look at film on both sides of the ball, but we have to get better. We didn't expect to be 0-3."

Love wasn't alone in his struggles. Cedi Osman had 12 points on 5-of-15 from the field. Osman also had more turnovers (5) than assists (4).

Collin Sexton, in a matchup of top-10 picks, looked out of place.

Sexton scored just four points on 2-of-11 from the field. He committed four fouls and two turnovers against a pair of assists.

On a night he shared the floor with Trae Young, who was picked three spots in front of him, the Hawks' franchise building block was the one being showered with praise after undressing countless defenders and scoring 35 points and dishing out 11 assists, becoming just the second rookie since Stephen Curry to have at least 35 points and double digit assists in a game.

"He's great. Definitely fearless," Love said of Young. "You can tell that tonight was a confidence-builder. He was impressive tonight."

As for Sexton, the Cavs' prized rookie? Well, he got swallowed by the moment.

"He took it personal," Lue said when asked about the Sexton-Young matchup. "A lot of times he was trying to fight over the screens to guard Trae, but that's not what we wanted to do. We wanted to switch and I think taking it, because of the competitor that he is, wanting to guard Trae.

"Trae is in a position where he's the no. 1 option. He can shoot all the balls when he wants to. Collin is more in a situation where he's coming off the bench right now and you have an All-Star playing in Kevin, got some older guys who can play as well. It's just different situations. As far as growth, I would say his competitive nature got the best of him tonight."

Actually, Young got the best of him. By 31 points and nine assists.

But that matchup was simply a window into the Cavs' crummy night. They entered the arena for the home opener brimming with confidence, believing they had made positive strides in the first two games and were on track for their first win.

Hours later, they got a nasty reality check.