Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt has criticised his team's defensive performance in their 118-111 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night.

LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving combined for 86 points to secure the Cavs' first home win of the season, but Blatt was not pleased with the performance on the other end of the court.

"I can honestly tell you I'm a little disappointed in the moments of lethargy that we have on defense," Blatt told reporters.

"And our guys need to understand that if we want to consistently beat great and good teams and very good teams like the one we saw tonight, we cannot afford to sleep for parts of the game or parts of the quarter."

Blatt added that the display on Monday was "disturbing" and "worrisome" at times.