Wade calls out Cavs starters after loss to Hawks

Dwyane Wade's best game as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers went to waste Sunday.

The Cavs failed to dig themselves out of an early hole, losing to the cellar-dwelling Atlanta Hawks, who'd come in riding an eight-game losing streak.

Wade had 25 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists, and was a plus-23 in 32 minutes off the bench. His efforts weren't enough to help Cleveland overcome a woeful start, in which they went down 16 points after just eight minutes, playing from behind the rest of the way.

After the game, Wade made no bones about how and why the Cavs fell short.

"It's no secret we're starting games off awful," he told reporters, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "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."

Wade began the season in the starting lineup, but was relegated to the bench after just three games. Even though he continued to struggle until Sunday's outburst, the Cavs came into the game with a net rating that was nine points per 100 possessions better with Wade on the floor than with him on the bench. After starting the season 2-1, they're now 2-5 since bumping him from the starting rotation, and they've trailed heading into the second quarter in each of those losses.

"I want one time for the first unit to get on the second unit because we blew a lead," Wade said. "I'm waiting for that day to happen.

"This goes back to we can't get behind the eight ball too much. We're getting behind 10-plus and I told the guys, 'Every time I've came in the game besides one game, it's been a 10-plus hole that we're trying to dig out of.' We're confident in our second unit, but we don't want all that. Not every time."