Cavs Take a 1-0 Advantage Over Toronto

The Cleveland Cavaliers kicked off their playoff series with a 126-113 over the Toronto Raptors to take a 1-0 series lead in the first-round best-of-seven series.

It was a sluggish first half for Kenny Atkinson’s squad, but a huge third quarter in which the Cavs outscored their opponents by a 36-22 count gave the wine and gold (or blue in yesterday’s case) a 21-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, which was more than enough for the win.

Donovan Mitchell scored 32 points, and James Harden added 22 more with 10 assists, but the x-factor for Cleveland was Max Strus, who provided a big spark towards the end of the second quarter and throughout the third. Strus made 8 of 10 shots, four of six from three, scoring 24 points and also provided tough defense on Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram.

In the first half, the Cavs had no answer for Ingram who hurt them in the mid-range game, particularly when Jaylon Tyson guarded him. Tyson is just too small and got in foul trouble immediately, picking up three very quickly.

If we were Raptors’ coach Darko Rajakovic, we’d be wondering how to get the ball to Ingram more often. For the game, the former second overall pick took just nine shots, less than Barnes, R.J. Barrett, and Jamal Shead, who started in place of the injured Immanuel Quickley.

The Raptors couldn’t get their running game going, mostly due to Quickley, who averaged 16.4 points and 5.9 assists per game, shooting 37.4% from three, being out. His availability for Game 2 is still up in the air.

On the other hand, Toronto shot 35.4% from three as a team during the regular season, but knocked down 13 of 27 yesterday. If they return to form Monday night, that is definitely advantage Cleveland.

The home team had a huge advantage inside as Jarrett Allen (5 of 7) and Evan Mobley (6 of 9) had several dunks against the foes from The Great White North. With Harden continuously looking the duo rolling to the basket, that is something Toronto needs to find an answer.

Atkinson went with ten players until garbage time, and many referred to the cliche about team’s rotation shrinking in the playoffs. In reality, the number of players getting time lessens because of usually one or two aren’t playing well. Until that happens for Cleveland, we would continue to look for Atkinson to play ten. The Cavaliers have a deep roster.

The thing that is different about the playoffs is you play the same team over and over, and adjustments are made on a game-by-game basis. My guess is Toronto will want Harden to shoot more, stopping the rim runs by Allen and Mobley. Make Harden a high-volume shooter.

We also think they will make Sam Merrill and Tyson have to make shots. They combined for 1 for 8 yesterday.

And they will take to get Ingram going and keep him going, especially if Atkinson put Tyson and/or/ Strus on him. The latter did a solid job, but Ingram still has a height advantage.

This game figures to be a tougher challenge for the Cavs, but if they win, they have a huge leg up in the series. So again, it’s a big game.

If Quickley’s hamstring allows him to play, expect the Cavs to go at him defensively.

This is a #4 vs. #5 matchup. It’s not supposed to be a sweep. That doesn’t mean it can’t be though.

Looking At Cavs-Raptors Matchup

The long 82 game grind is over and the start of the NBA playoffs start this weekend with the Cavaliers taking on Toronto in a best-of-seven series with the Cavs having the home court advantage. Cleveland finished the regular season with 52 wins, six more than their first round opponent.

The teams played three times in the regular season with the Raptors winning all of them but those contests were all played before Thanksgiving and Kenny Atkinson’s roster is much different now.

The first game, played on Halloween was at Rocket Arena, a 112-101 Toronto win, and Atkinson started two players who aren’t even on the roster right now in De’Andre Hunter and Lonzo Ball. R.J. Barrett, Brandon Ingram, and Jamison Battle all scored 20 for Toronto, and Scottie Barnes had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

The second game, also in Cleveland, was a 126-113 Raptors win. Donovan Mitchell scored 31 for the wine and gold, but Barnes had 28, Immanuel Quickley had 25, and Jacob Poeltl scored 20. Reserve big man Sandro Mamukelashvilli scored 13 off the bench.

The last game was a 110-99 in Canada and Ingram shredded the Cavs with 37 points with Barnes adding 18. The Cavs started Ball and Larry Nance Jr., in that game as Jarrett Allen was out.

In total, Allen has played 20 minutes against the Raptors this year, and all three games were before Koby Altman remade the roster with the deadline trades for James Harden, Keon Ellis, and Dennis Schroder.

We know the Cavaliers can score, the old coach in us worries about the defense, particularly the potential matchup problems Ingram and Barnes can present. Both are long, athletic players, the type the Cavaliers have had problems with over the last few years.

The plan should be to use Evan Mobley on Barnes and Dean Wade on Ingram, both very good defensive players. The concern with Wade is when will an opponent play him off the floor in these playoffs, because Wade seems to not want to shoot, and opponents could use the man supposedly assigned to him to start doubling on to either Mitchell or Harden.

Quickley is the Raptors’ chief three-point shooter, but he has a hamstring injury, so how much he can contribute is in doubt.

The Raptors’ are in the bottom five in the league in three-point attempts, which defending those shots is a weakness for the Cavs. That’s a good thing.

We also can’t overlook the reputation for having a lack of toughness Cleveland has garnered over the past few years. We do think Altman addressed this by getting Schroder, who is an irritating player (that’s a compliment) and also because of Jaylon Tyson, who is a tough defender, who also can shoot the ball.

But we need to see Allen and Mobley respond the first time an opponent knocks a Cleveland player to the floor. That’s not saying dirty play, it is saying they need to get mad and play with an edge.

We will see how this plays out over this playoff season.

As for this series, Cleveland has the best two players on the floor in Mitchell and Harden. They also have two inside scorers in Mobley and Allen, who Harden can get the ball to inside. We talk about the Cavs’ lack of size inside, but outside of Poeltl, the Raptors don’t have much either.

A first-round loss would be a disaster for the Cavs, but we don’t see that happening. We also don’t think it will be a cake walk because of Ingram and Barnes.

Cavs Strategy This Week Is Sound. Better To Be Healthy

History does repeat itself, right?

A couple of years ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers were involved in a close race for the second through eighth spots in the Eastern Conference standings. With a couple of games to go, the Cavs’ first round opponent could have been Orlando, a young team getting to the playoffs for the first time as a group, Indiana, Philadelphia, or Miami, with their famous culture.

They could have moved up to second place in the conference standing in the last couple weeks of the season, meaning possibly having home court advantage for the second round, but kind of decided they wanted to play the Magic, which indeed happened, in the first round.

At the time (and maybe still is the case), outside of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, the Cavaliers weren’t very big, and Orlando had Paolo Banchero, Franz and Mo Wagner, and Jonathan Isaac. We weren’t thrilled by Cavs’ choice to play them, even with their inexperience.

It almost came back to bite them in the rear end, when the young, long, and athletic Magic took J.B. Bickerstaff’s team to seven games, and when Orlando led the last game by ten points at halftime, it looked very much like the organization made a bad call.

But Donovan Mitchell scored 24 second half points and the Cavs rallied to advance to the conference semifinals where they lost to the eventual champion Celtics in five games.

It looks like the wine and gold are doing the same thing this year or maybe not. It’s a weird circumstance for Kenny Atkinson’s squad.

Yes, Cleveland is just a game behind the New York Knicks for third place in the conference standings, which if all of the higher seeds win would mean a second-round match up against the Celtics, rather than taking on the top seed Detroit Pistons in the semis.

The Pistons have had a great season with 57 wins to date, but the Cavs have played them tough in two matchups a few weeks ago, despite playing without Donovan Mitchell in both contests.

On the other hand, the Cavaliers are in the midst of a pair of games against the team that could very well be their first-round opponent in the Atlanta Hawks. In last night’s win, Atkinson played his usual rotation. In fact, he kind of shortened it, albeit with Tyson out.

The last two games will probably be a different story. Cleveland hasn’t been healthy all year and now isn’t an exception. Jaylon Tyson and Dean Wade, who should both be in the playoff rotation haven’t played in a couple of weeks. Allen is battling tendonitis in his knee, so some time off would benefit him. Mitchell has an ankle sprain which kept him out of Monday’s game in Memphis.

And James Harden is 37 years old and could use some time off to get ready for the playoffs.

Playing Atlanta twice a week before having to play them possibly seven times in the next two weeks, it serves the Cavs no purpose whatsoever other than to be the blandest team to ever play. Why show them anything on either side of the ball.

We are sure we will see some of the primary players in the three remaining games just to keep them in game shape but even if some people are painting this as the Cavs picking their opponent in the first two rounds, it is really more about making sure the best players are the healthiest heading into the playoffs.

Besides, when you get past the first round of the post-season, all the teams are good. The Washington Wizards aren’t getting a bye into the tournament.

After a season filled with injuries, that’s just being smart.

Atkinson Still Experimenting As The Season Winds Down.

Even though the NBA playoffs are about a month away from beginning, we still think the Cleveland Cavaliers’ coach Kenny Atkinson is still trying to figure out things.

And it will probably continue because it appears Max Strus will be back today for the Cavs as they complete their home and home set against the Dallas Mavericks, so playing time will have to be adjusted once again.

Why do we think Atkinson is still taking different looks at different players? In Wednesday’s loss to Orlando on the road, the Cavs’ defense was terrible all night.

The Magic shot 52% from the floor and Desmond Bane, a burly 6’6″ guard bullied Cleveland for 35 points, while forwards Paolo Banchero and Tristan DeSilva scored 25 and 23 points each. Moreover, Orlando looked like they could get any shot they wanted when they wanted it.

In his post-game press conference, Atkinson bemoaned the defensive effort by his team. The coach rarely sugarcoats a lot in these talks, a refreshing alternative to other coaches/managers in Cleveland. However, in looking at the box score, particularly the minutes played column, reveals our theory.

We believe Cleveland’s best perimeter defender is second year player Jaylon Tyson. At his size (6’6″) and physicality, he would have done a solid job holding Bane in check. He did a very good job on Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, a league MVP candidate when the two teams met twice a few weeks ago. He played only 18 minutes in Orlando.

Dean Wade, probably the Cavs’ best wing defender over 6’7″, and someone who could have made things more difficult for either Banchero or DeSilva, also played just 20 minutes. Although we have issues with Wade and his hesitancy on the offensive end, he is a solid defensive player.

Right now, we think Atkinson and the coaching staff are seeing what they have in Keon Ellis, who struggled handling Jaylen Brown in the loss to Boston last week. It seemed Ellis was told to look for his shot more following that contest and since has scored 52 points in the last three games, making 12 of 20 three-point shots.

He’s a 41% shooter from distance in his career.

Ellis is a disruptive force on the defensive end; he gets his hands on more passes that we can remember with the Cavs in recent memory, and no doubt, we will get time in the playoffs.

When Jarrett Allen is healthy, Atkinson has been using Wade at the #3 to start with Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley and Allen. We understand why, but we would make a change.

We would start Tyson, because we would like to see his physicality on the floor right from the beginning. The Cavs have a reputation as being a finesse team, and having Tyson out there would provide a bit more force from the beginning of the game.

We believe he’s that important to this team.

Plus, with the shortage of size beyond Allen and Mobley, bringing Wade off the bench would allow the second unit to have a little more height. Right now, there are a lot of Thomas Bryant and basically four guards playing together. Having Wade and Bryant out there together should give the Cavs better rebounding.

And now, the coaching staff will have to integrate Strus, another player who brings toughness to the mix. This is the time to see what works and what doesn’t and seeing if it works against teams like Dallas or Chicago, or New Orleans isn’t optimal.

We doubt Atkinson will jeopardize home court advantage in the first round, but he wants his team ready when the playoffs come around. No problem with that.

Cavs Loss To OKC Wasn’t A Big Deal Here.

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost Sunday to the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder and as people do in northeast Ohio, there was some freaking out.

We know the Thunder were missing two starters in MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams and two key reserves in Alex Caruso and Ajay Mitchell, so that played into the narrative from some that the Cavs failed a big test.

We said after the game we weren’t concerned about the loss on the road, the third game in four nights, but rather the bigger tests for Kenny Atkinson’s group would be Tuesday’s game against the Knicks would be more important as would the upcoming contest against the Pistons and the Celtics.

One reason is the way of the NBA. In the regular season, teams do what they do best and sometimes it doesn’t match up well with the opponent. The Thunder play very physically and in our opinion have adopted the style of the Pat Riley Knicks from the 90’s and the Warriors of the previous decade. That is, foul pretty much on every possession and figure the referees aren’t going to call them all.

Watch Lu Dort and Caruso defensively if you don’t believe us.

So, on Sunday, the Cavs didn’t adjust to this physicality until about the last three minutes of the first quarter and after that, played pretty well.

In a playoff situation, teams decide to react to what the opponent does well. Remember, last year the Thunder had to win two game sevens, one against Denver and the other in The Finals against Indiana, who lost their best player during the second quarter of the deciding game.

The point is the Cavs see the teams in the Western Conference so infrequently, it is hard to get a gauge on how they would handle being in a best-of-seven series. Against the East, these teams meet three or four times per season and play in the playoffs much more frequently, so you can see what those teams want to do on a more regular basis.

Of course, it wouldn’t be the Cavaliers without some injury issues.

Now James Harden suffered a non-displaced fracture in his thumb, and it likely to miss some time, possibly a couple of weeks, meaning he will not be in there when Cleveland plays Detroit and Boston.

Harden has shown remarkable durability in his career so who knows how much time he will really miss.

And Atkinson did say Max Strus is getting closer to returning which will throw another player into the rotation, and another 6’5″ player at that. Now, the coach has these players in that height range: Jaylon Tyson, Sam Merrill, Harden, Keon Ellis, and Strus.

With Strus missing the first 60 games or so, it’s tough to imagine he will be a significant factor in the post-season.

What may happen is the Cavs will use different rotations depending on the opponent, meaning players will get differing amounts of playing time on a per game basis.

That means plenty of questions about why a certain player didn’t get minutes on a certain night.

Atkinson is starting Dean Wade at small forward. It worked very well against the Knicks, but it didn’t work against the Thunder. So, he might play 25 minutes one night and five the next.

After this tough stretch, the schedule eases up quite a bit for the rest of the season, which likely will mean some games off for Donovan Mitchell, and perhaps some others. And remember, the Cavaliers are already pretty deep.

Again, how the Cavaliers do against the Pistons and Celtics are far more important than what happened last Sunday. No one wants to lose, but Cleveland wasn’t going to end the year on a 35 game winning streak.

Skeptical On Cavs’ Deal, Unless There’s Another Move Coming

The Cleveland Cavaliers made a deal Saturday night, sending De’Andre Hunter, who was acquired last season at the deadline to the Sacramento Kings in a three-team deal. The Cavs received Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder in the trade.

One first thought is that this move has to be followed up by yet another transaction prior to Thursday’s deadline because otherwise it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

As we have been saying for at least three seasons, the Cavaliers need to get bigger, and this trade does the opposite. Hunter was the one wing Cleveland had that had some size at 6’7″, and the two players who come back to the wine and gold are 6’4″ (Ellis) and 6’1″ (Schroder).

If there is another move coming, then this deal may make some sense, but as it stands right now, it looks like this was a move to reduce the luxury tax bill the Cavs have to pay.

We aren’t capologists, but the reports are this trims Cleveland’s bill by $40 million, but we also don’t think Dan Gilbert worries about that if the team is a title contender.

Hunter was a disappointment this season, without a doubt. His scoring was about the same as it was after coming over from Atlanta last season, but his shooting dropped from 48.5% to 42.3% overall and from 42.6% to 30.8% from three-point range.

We believe part of this is because Kenny Atkinson was using him more than anyone would like at the “4”, when it is pretty clear to us he’s a “3”. Hunter was one of the Cavs’ bigger wings, so if either Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley were out, he was the logical player to shift to the power forward spot.

But that’s because of the team’s chronic lack of size up front.

Ellis was the darling of this trade deadline, but frankly we don’t see it. He can shoot, a 41.6% career mark from three and he is a solid defender, but he profiles as another bench piece, and really at his size, he plays the same spot as Jaylon Tyson, the Cavs’ breakout player in 2025-26, and their first round pick last season.

It seems now like the Cavaliers have a logjam at guard when Darius Garland comes back. Along with the starting backcourt of Garland and Donovan Mitchell, Atkinson have to find time for Schroder and Craig Porter Jr. None of those players are bigger than 6’3″.

At the small forward spot, you have Jaylon Tyson, Sam Merrill, Ellis, and when he is ready to play again, Max Strus. Tyson is the biggest at 6’6″.

Dean Wade is 6’9″, but more of a perimeter defender, and at this point of his career, so is pleasant surprise Nae’Qwan Tomlin at 6’8″.

That’s a lot of small lineups, which might work in the regular season, but in the playoffs, more often than not, teams need length.

It has been reported that if the Cavs can move Ball and perhaps Thomas Bryant by the trade deadline on Thursday, they would be out of the second apron and have more flexibility in making trades. If this deal is the prelude to that, and perhaps taking a bigger swing at some size, then perhaps it will make sense to us then.

But on its own merit, we don’t like this move. Size matters in basketball. And the Cavaliers seems to keep getting smaller.

Next Two Weeks Key For The Wine And Gold

After playing 47 games, you would think a coach would know what his team is all about. We are guessing Kenny Atkinson doesn’t know what to think about this year’s Cleveland Cavaliers.

No doubt injuries have played a large role in the inconsistency. The Cavs have just five players who have played in 40 games (meaning have missed less than seven) thus far, and only two, Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, would be considered regular starters.

We talk about the lack of real size on the team, and one of the two reliable big men, Jarrett Allen, who played in all 82 games last season, has missed a dozen games already.

The Cavs have had a schedule advantage as well, playing 26 games at home so far, meaning they will have just 15 contests at the Rocket Arena for the balance of the regular season.

That’s why the next two weeks seem very important.

First, Darius Garland could be back by the end of next week. Garland has already missed 22 games this season after recovering from off-season surgery and injuring the big toe (guess we call it the “great toe” these days) on his other foot, the one that didn’t need a procedure in the off-season.

The first west coast trip happens this week too. After home games against Orlando and the Lakers on Monday and Wednesday, the home and road game disparity will even up with a five-game trip which will include games against Phoenix, Portland, the Clippers, Sacramento, and Denver.

The second trip west occurs at the end of the season, when the Cavaliers finish with five of their last eight on the road.

The trade deadline also looms, coming on February 5th while the team in on their trek west. Because of their position in the second apron on the salary cap, it will be difficult for Koby Altman to make a move, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a ton of speculation.

We will still insist the Cavs need more size, both height and bulk. De’Andre Hunter has been a disappointment this season, particularly his shooting, but we also wonder if a part of that is him having to play the “4” a lot, a position he isn’t very effective at.

The addition of Nae’Qwan Tomlin has helped a bit. So has Larry Nance Jr. getting healthy, but both of those players are lean and although they can block some shots, a physical rebounding opponent is still going to give the Cavs a problem.

Remember the Utah game where the Jazz bullied Cleveland on the boards.

It would be nice to also have less players who are one-dimensional. That’s why Jaylon Tyson has been a revelation. He’s a solid defender and can also play on the offensive end.

Atkinson has been playing Dean Wade down the stretch recently, and other teams don’t feel the need to defend him because he refuses to shoot, especially in the 4th quarter.

Tendencies like that will only be highlighted more when the playoffs come.

For all of the fussing and questioning of this team, they are still just two games out of the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference. So, if they can start playing consistently, with better effort on the defensive end especially, the Cavaliers will be fine.

But can they do it?

It feels like the next two weeks can be a litmus test for Atkinson and his squad. Will they survive the long trip?

Cavs Need To Start Playing Better…Now!

One can make a very good argument that the Cleveland Cavaliers are the most disappointing team in the NBA this season. As the season is closing in on the halfway point, Kenny Atkinson’s squad is around .500 at 22-18, currently the #6 seed in the East, but just a game and a half out of the 4th spot.

While no one was expecting the type of season the wine and gold had last year, starting off the campaign with 15 straight wins, and finishing at 64-18, we don’t think many had them being around the breakeven mark at this point in the year.

Yes, injuries have been a factor. Donovan Mitchell leads the Cavs in games played with 35, so every other player on the team has missed at least five contests. And it is difficult for a team to find a rhythm when there are different players on the court every night.

Still, in watching the 2025-26 Cavaliers, it is clear something is off. Can it turn around before the playoffs start? Of course, but again, the second half of the schedule is on the horizon.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said the other day that Atkinson sees a lack of intensity with his team. Against Minnesota on Thursday, he started Craig Porter Jr., a player who plays hard on a nightly basis, to have some intensity.

Minnesota took a 17-5 lead in the first quarter, and while Cleveland recovered and led at the half, they were obliterated in the third quarter.

Team president Koby Altman put together a roster of players with high character, stuck with them through three straight playoff disappointments, but no they don’t seem to be playing with intensity?

We aren’t putting the blame on all of them. Mitchell plays tough, second year player Jaylon Tyson plays hard, and we mentioned Porter does as well. Nae’Qwan Tomlin plays with his hair on fire. But the body language on most of the roster seems off.

And part of being playing with intensity is having a good basketball IQ, and recently we question the shot selection by the team. If the last two losses, to Detroit and Minnesota, late in the game, the Cavs took questionable three-point shots with the game in the balance.

Against Detroit, Lonzo Ball, shooting 26% from three was faced with a wide open 3 with the Cavs trying to comeback in the 4th quarter. He even hesitated before shooting. He knew it wasn’t a good shot. He took it anyway. He missed.

In the Minnesota game, with Cleveland down six with :35 seconds remaining, Evan Mobley got the ball beyond the arc. The big man has improved his three-point shooting, but he’s still at 34%. We are sure that’s not what the coach wanted at that juncture.

Anyway, Mobley shot and missed, and the Cavs couldn’t recover.

Yes, yes, we know, people will say they like the confidence there, but that’s where having a good hoops IQ comes into play. Mobley has to know either take the ball to the rim or find a better shooter.

And that’s part of intensity. Knowing when the team needs a basket or a stop to slow the opponent’s momentum.

The bigger problem is, because of the salary cap situation, there isn’t much Altman can do about it. The Cavs have hamstrung themselves, so either the players come together and play with more mental toughness and intensity, or it will be another disappointing post-season for the so-called “Core 4”.

Loss To Knicks Leaves Us With Questions.

The book on the Cleveland Cavaliers is they lack size and toughness and that was on full display on Christmas against the New York Knicks.

The Cavs had a 17-point lead in the 4th quarter and watched one of their playoff nemeses from a few years ago, Mitchell Robinson dominate on the offensive glass, which allowed the Knicks to get back in the game and ultimately win it.

The good news for Cleveland is they played well after winning the two games prior at home against Charlotte and New Orleans, two also-rans, so maybe the malaise which was surrounding the team has passed.

Also, Evan Mobley returned to the lineup after a two-week absence due to a calf injury and earlier in the week, Sam Merrill came back, and his long-range marksmanship (shooting 43% from three) helps with floor spacing.

On Friday, long time NBA player and coach Sam MItchell, now an analyst on NBA Radio, said the Cavs are still a contender, but they lack size in the backcourt, and while they have height up front in Jarrett Allen and Mobley, they lack bulk.

Thank you Sam!

We have said this is has been a problem for four years now, and the front office hasn’t really done anything to address the situation. Sure, this year they signed Thomas Bryant, but when or if Allen and/or Mobley is out of the lineup, he’s the only big man they have.

Nae’Qwan Tomlin has been a find, but he’s not an interior player. He’s more of a perimeter defender and also has a slight build.

We like Kenny Atkinson, but felt he should have went back to Jaylon Tyson, who had a marvelous third quarter, 11 points when the Cavs outscored New York 38-24. Tyson started the fourth but left after four minutes and didn’t return.

In the fourth, the offense turned into the Donovan Mitchell show, as he took 11 of the Cavs’ 26 shots. The only other Cleveland player who took more than two shots in the quarter was Darius Garland, who hit one of his five attempts.

His main lineup down the stretch included those two with Mobley, Merrill, and Dean Wade. Merrill took just one shot in the fourth, the same as Wade, who to us is notorious for being afraid of missing shots, so he passes them up.

By default, it puts the offensive burden on the two guards.

Sam Mitchell also wondered about the idea of having Mobley shoots threes, feeling the best place for him to operate offensively would be at the elbow where he can be a “triple threat” guys. Mobley has improved from beyond the arc, but defenses aren’t going to chase him out there.

And that five who received the bulk of the minutes is basically a three-guard set, with a defensive minded wing defender in Wade, and Mobley, who isn’t a bulky presence near the basket.

It was just a curious coaching decision, and that doesn’t mean we want Atkinson replaced, we will see if he goes to the same group in a similar situation going forward. Tyson provides toughness and aggressiveness to the Cavs, something they need.

It was also a little curious that Lonzo Ball got just 13 minutes for the game. Ball is a good defender, but guilty of some questionable shot selection.

We are now past Christmas and isn’t that when the pundits say the season really begins. If so, the Cavaliers need to ramp it up, and worry less about being entertaining, and a little more about winning.

Altman Didn’t Adapt As The Game Did. Are Cavs Paying For That?

The fine line between patience and moving on is very delicate in professional sports, especially when a team is trying to come up from the bottom.

We remember the early days of the Cleveland Cavaliers. As an expansion team, they were terrible in their first year, going 15-67 after starting the season 1-27. The next year, they won 23 games, and in their third season, they added Lenny Wilkens and won 32.

They looked poised to make the jump to a .500 squad in the team’s fourth season. But after the third year, coach/GM Bill Fitch traded two then starters, John Johnson and Rick Roberson to get the second pick in the draft, and selected Jim Brewer.

They took a step back, falling to 29 victories, to take a leap forward to 40 wins and the following year went to the Eastern Conference finals.

To be fair, Fitch also added Jim Chones and other pieces in those two seasons, but the point is Fitch knew he needed to make a change to get the max out of his squad.

Fast forward to the current Cavs.

After being eliminated in the first round by the Knicks after Donovan Mitchell’s first year in town when the Cavs won 51 games, president of basketball operations Koby Altman has pretty much stood pat.

The next year was understandable, it was the team’s first year with Mitchell and you would hope for growth the following year. But in that series loss to New York, the wine and gold could not match the opponents’ physicality. That was obvious.

When the Cavaliers were bounced in the second round the following season, after needing seven games to win over a young Orlando team in the first round, the excuse was injuries to Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen.

Last season, with a new coach, Kenny Atkinson, Cleveland won 64 games, breezed through a round one series against Miami, before losing in five games to the eventual East champs, Indiana.

No changes to the four stars either drafted or acquired by Altman to form the foundation of the team.

And so here we are with this team, sitting at 15-14 after the 64 wins a year ago.

The NBA is always evolving, always changing. A few years ago, the league was dominated by quick guards who could shoot from long range. In 2020-21, the first of Nikola Jokic’s MVP wins, Curry, Chris Paul, and Damian Lillard all finished in the top ten of the vote.

The following season, Devin Booker, Ja Morant, Curry, and Paul were top ten. In the past draft, of the top ten picks, six were guards who were over 6’6″.

Look at the Cavs’ two most recent losses to Chicago look how Josh Giddey at 6’7″ and a solid playmaker played. Rookie Kon Knueppel hurt them in last Sunday’s loss to Charlotte. He’s 6’6″.

Last year, the Cavs played at a high pace and shot the three ball remarkably well. This year, more teams are playing faster, taking the example of how the Pacers played in the playoffs a year ago when they got to Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

Miami and Chicago both play faster this season. Toronto is long and athletic, they’ve beaten the Cavs three times this season.

Yes, the Cavs have had a lot of injuries this season. But it is also true they need to adapt to the way teams are playing in the 2025-26 campaign.

Altman wanted to be patient, but he was stubborn in thinking the foundation of this roster didn’t need tweaking.

As in all sports, there is a thin line between patience and stubbornness.