CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Cavaliers entered the season hoping to build on the championship culture they laid -- with LeBron James' assistance, of course -- over the last four years. It was a big reason for their anti-tanking approach.

With six losses to open the year, trailing by at least 16 points in each and never claiming a lead in the second half, it's fair to wonder if that culture is starting to erode.

It's not, according to head coach Tyronn Lue.

"I don't think you define culture off of wins and losses," Lue said. "I think you define culture on how the organization is a class-A organization, and with Dan Gilbert at the helm it's always going to be that way. I think it's about the players you bring in. It's about your coaching staff and who you surround the people with, so, culture is not defined by wins and losses."

The problem with that statement: Losing can become contagious. It's incredibly tough to crawl out of that sewer.

The Cavs have seen that before -- the first time James left in free agency and the pile of victories which went with him.

It was once again clear on Saturday night that the Cavs are re-learning how to win.

They trimmed the Pacers lead to four at one point early in the third quarter, finally seeing the light at the end of the down-and-out tunnel. Then came a Cedi Osman turnover that ignited at 14-4 Indiana run. Just like that, in the span of three-plus minutes, the Pacers had pulled away, increasing their advantage to 14 points and making the Cavs climb uphill once more.

To their credit, the Cavs kept battling. They got that lead back down to five before the Pacers pulled away for good in the fourth quarter. Each time the Cavs had a chance, they made a mistake. They would throw the ball away or cap an ugly offensive possession with a low-percentage shot. Other times, they would have a defensive breakdown leading to an open shot or easy attempt in the paint.

"Our margin for error is slim," Lue said. "We can't turn it over 18 times and give up 30 points when we're doing that. The live turnovers really hurt us tonight.

"You can't go into a film session and just kill them, talking about the bad things. You've got to show the good things we're doing as well as the bad things. Just got to continue to keep plugging away."

Time will tell if Lue's stay-positive approach is the right one. Really, what other choice does he have? It's only the sixth game of an 82-game grind. At least for now, some of the players are still buying it.

A few days after sending out a social media post urging fans to stay with them as they try to overcome this historically bad start, Nance used the same tone when answering questions late Saturday about the morale of the team.

"I don't want to say surprisingly good, but it's optimistic," Nance said after recording his first double-double and tying for the team lead in assists with four. "Indiana is a very good team in my opinion. Detroit is a very good team. Minnesota is a very good team. Toronto, obviously, very good team. Teams that we have hung with, gone wire to wire with and couple bounces here or there and it's our game.

"We've gotten some bad bounces and been hit by the injury bug a little bit with myself, Kevin (Love), but there's tons of promise here. We've still got lots of room to grow and this team is going to be very competitive and very good I believe."

So what will it take for the Cavs to get there?

On offense, Nance said the team needs to share. He thought in transition too many guys weren't willing to make the extra pass. The Cavs went 3-of-8 on fastbreak chances. But those mistakes can happen, especially when generating quality offense becomes an arduous task. For years, the Cavs got whatever shot they wanted. The open looks were routine.

It's a lot different these days.

According to NBA.com stats, the Cavs had an open (closest defender 4-6 feet away) or wide open (closest defender 6 or more feet away) shot 56 percent of the time during the 2017-18 season. That James fella drew plenty of attention, leading to those uncontested looks.

The Cavs entered the night getting an open or wide open shot on just 45.6 percent of their offensive possessions. So instead of working tirelessly for great looks, players are too often taking the easy way out, settling for the first good one available.

"I thought again we were a little bit selfish," Nance said. "Whether it was on the break with guys kind of looking for theirs first or whatever it was, we're just not making the extra pass right now and that's a trend that we kind of keep seeing and it keeps coming back to bite us so obviously we have a day of practice before the next game and that's what I would like to see change."

On defense, the Cavs entered the night hoping to take away Indiana's 3-point shot. All of the individual percentages were written on the white board inside the locker room hours before tipoff. As a team, the Pacers ranked first in long-distance percentage.

Well, by taking away the 3, the Cavs created unimpeded paths to the basket. Indiana scored 60 points in the paint, shooting 30-of-40. That goes back to the margin for error problem.

The Cavs aren't good enough on the defensive end to make opponents uncomfortable. On this night, they had to choose between the 3-ball or interior shots instead of being able to, you know, take away both.

"We competed, played hard," Lue said. "We had some mistakes, a lot of mistakes we've talked about all season, what we're supposed to do coverage wise. But, other than that I was pretty proud of the guys tonight, the way they competed."

Perhaps that's Cleveland's new culture. Not a winning one per se, but rather a culture defined by competitiveness.

"I can't get frustrated," Lue said. "I think once you get that first win, the monkey's off your back and you can play better. Not put so much pressure on yourself.

"Playing Indiana, Toronto, Minnesota out of the gate, we knew it was going to be tough. So, not hanging our heads, got to continue to keep plugging away and get our first win, I think things will take care of themselves."