The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the San Antonio Spurs in embarrassing fashion Monday. The final score was 103-74, which is obviously bad. If you watched the game, you know it was actually even worse than than the score indicates. I’m not sure which was worse: the Cavs’ confused, overmatched defense or their slow, disjointed offense. One writer compared them to the New York Knicks afterward -- unfavorably:

After the game, much of the conversation centered on not only what happened, but what it meant in the standings. For the Cavaliers, the loss dropped them to second place in the Eastern Conference behind the Boston Celtics. Does this mean it’s panic time in Cleveland? Not according to LeBron James.

“That’s fine,” James said, via ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. “It matters more that we play better basketball than where we’re at. If that results in the 1, 2 or 3 seed, we need to play better basketball. That’s all it comes down to. I’m not worried about anything.”

James went on to say the Spurs are “the last team you want to play” when you’re struggling. He added, “We’re just not playing good basketball.” Hmmm. This sounds like something you might worry about with only two weeks left in the regular season.

If this seems like a conscious choice to downplay the significance of a late-season slide that has become a national story, that’s probably because it is. James generally prefers his team to keep all problems in-house, but earlier in the season, when the Cavs underperformed for stretches, James selectively vented to the media about his workload and the team’s lack of depth. At that point, he seemed to be responding to the prevailing opinion that Cleveland would be fine by the end of the year. Now, with everybody else talking about how the Cavaliers urgently need to fix things, James sounds calm. As a leader, it’s his job to figure out when to apply pressure through the media and when not to. Clearly he doesn’t feel this is the time.

As much as I try to deconstruct what is going on here, though, I can’t argue with what James said. It’s true that the Cavs need to play better, and peaking at the right time is more important than playoff seeding. No one doubts James’ ability to win big games on the road, and last season’s championship run is strong evidence that Cleveland is resilient. Maybe the stumble in the standings will be a wakeup call; maybe the Cavs are just tired. In any case, they surely can’t keep playing this poorly. They’re not the Knicks.