CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

The first-year coach wants his team to play with more passion on defense.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ON A DREARY AFTERNOON OUTSIDE Gund Arena, there was no hint of the previous night's festivities. The TV satellite trucks had packed up and moved on to the next big story, the Goodyear blimp had flown back to Akron and the only people seen through the windows of the Cavaliers' team shop were store employees.
The buzz had left town along with rapper Jay-Z and Nike mogul Phil Knight.
Things were normal -- way too normal.
Four games into a new NBA season and the promise of a new era of excitement with rookie LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers are winless, undisciplined and seemingly uninspired.
Same as they've been for years.
"I'm not happy with anything right now," coach Paul Silas said.
What's to like?
The Cavaliers dropped to 0-4 on Wednesday night with a 93-89 loss to the Denver Nuggets, who crashed Cleveland's citywide block party for James' home debut.
James had seven points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in the first act of his media-created rivalry with fellow rookie Carmelo Anthony, who countered with 14 points and six boards for the Nuggets.
But Anthony got the most relevant stat: a win, Denver's third in five games.
Struggling to adjust
For the 18-year-old James, who just one week into his pro career may be Cleveland's best player, the losing has already grown old.
"It's tough," James said. "I've lost more games now than in my whole high school career."
Despite a coaching change and an influx of new players, the Cavaliers have so far resembled the same sorry squad that went a league-worst 17-65 last season.
Silas is finding that some things are more easily fixed than others.
"We've got to change the attitude from a losing attitude to a winning attitude," he said.
Against the Nuggets, the Cavaliers resorted to many of the same early-season bad habits and lost to a team that they should be able to handle at home.
Cleveland fell behind early, a trend that began in its season opener last week in Sacramento and hasn't abated. The Cavaliers battled back, but couldn't overcome double-digit deficits.
Once again, the Cavs were atrocious defensively, allowing the Nuggets to get too many easy inside baskets.
No rhythm
Silas, who doesn't plan any lineup changes, is puzzled by his team's reluctance to play with any passion when it doesn't have the ball.
On offense, the Cavaliers resorted to dumping the ball inside to 7-foot-3 center Zydrunas Ilgauskas and then standing around to watch as he got double- and triple-teamed.
When they weren't doing that, James, Ricky Davis, Darius Miles and J.R. Bremer hoisted ill-advised jumpers. Many possessions consisted of one pass followed by a quick shot.
It all added up to another loss, but Silas is confident the wins will come.
"We've got to keep working at this thing," he said. "This is not an instant fix. We just have to get better. We took a little step back last night, but we still have close to 80 games to go and that's what it's about."
The Cavs released forward Jelani McCoy Thursday. The 6-foot-10 McCoy had played just 12 minutes in two games for Cleveland, which signed him during training and gave him its final roster spot to start the season.