Not Every Cavs’ Loss Means They Aren’t A Good Team

We are getting to the point in the season where every loss for the Cleveland Cavaliers is viewed as a referendum on Kenny Atkinson’s squad. So, we expected to hear criticism after Sunday’s 109-98 loss to Boston at Rocket Arena.

The Cavs were pretty healthy, missing only starting center Jarrett Allen, and yes, we know Boston is ahead of Cleveland in the standings, currently the #2 seed in the East, and the wine and gold is now four games behind the Celtics, meaning it will be tough to pass them.

They do remain just a half game behind the #3 seed New York Knicks.

We hate to fall on the “it’s a make or miss league” argument, but the Cavaliers shot 40.7% from the field and just 29% from long distance, compared to Boston’s 39.5% accuracy from three. But we would say it is doubtful the Cavs will shoot that poorly the next time the two teams meet.

Some folks jumped on Atkinson’s comments after the game that the Celtics are a bad matchup for his team. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t think the Cavs can beat Bostom in a seven-game series, it simply means he and his staff will have to play a different way than they are accustomed in order to win.

Remember, in the regular season, teams do what they do best. Because they are playing another team in a day or two, you do your best to take away a strength or take advantage of a weakness, but it’s not something that’s practiced. When they meet in a playoff series, there is more of an emphasis on taking away what the opponent tries to do.

However, one thing that concerns us about a Cleveland/Boston matchup is the size of the Celts’ two best players, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. The former is 6’7″ and the latter is 6’8″, and the wine and gold don’t have a lot of wing defenders with size.

This is nothing new, we have brought this up many times.

Keon Ellis is a good defensive player. He’s also 6’4″. We watched Brown, guarded by Ellis, get to the elbow repeatedly in the third quarter and make 15-to-18-foot jump shots over Ellis, because he has a three inch height advantage.

In the playoffs, Atkinson can put Dean Wade, a 6’9″ wing defender on Brown, but does that force Evan Mobley on Tatum? We have no doubt Mobley, last year’s Defensive Player of the Year, can handle Tatum, but that matchup takes Mobley away from the rim. Note: He blocked three shots on Sunday.

That’s the challenge for Atkinson and his coaches.

Maybe the alternative is to use Jaylon Tyson (6’6″) on Brown and put Wade on Tatum come playoff time, which would mean Ellis guards Derrick White, which might be a better matchup.

The Cavs got very little from players who have done well since the All-Star break. Sam Merrill was 1 of 7 from three and had five points. Ellis took just one shot. Dennis Schroder made just one of his four shots and scored just two points and had two assists.

Meanwhile, Boston’s role players had big games. Payton Pritchard had 18 points, Sam Hauser made five threes, Baylor Scheierman had 16 points and made 4 of 6 threes. They won despite White making only 2 of 9 from the floor, although he did have seven boards and five assists.

We will remind you what we said before this season starts and we still stand beside the comment–the only thing that matters to the Cavs is what happens in the playoffs. The big evaluation on this group will come after the post-season.

Was Altman’s Presser A Smoke Screen? It Should Be

Cavs’ president of basketball operations Koby Altman held his after the season press conference on Monday and we file it under the category of “What else did you want him to stay”.

Altman expressed confidence in the “Core 4” (this is the last time we will use this term, a label like that must be earned) and talked about the journey to a championship, that it takes time to get there, and said you could see the improvement of the team with a 64 win regular season.

Again, what did you want him to say? That it is obvious the current roster isn’t good enough to win a championship, and changes have to be made? That wasn’t the forum for that kind of discussion.

Much like it didn’t matter what the Cavs did during the regular season in 2024-25, what Altman says doesn’t either. His actions prior to the start of training camp this fall will tell you what he thinks.

We have heard people comparing the timeline to that of the Boston Celtics, who took seven years to get to the top of the mountain and win the title in 2023-24. There is a major difference though. Those Celtics’ teams went to the conference finals five different seasons in those seven years.

The Cavaliers have yet to get past the second round with this group.

The centerpieces of those Boston teams are Jaylen Brown, drafted in 2016 and Jayson Tatum, picked in the first round of 2017. Their usual starting lineup the year Tatum was selected was Brown and Tatum, and the other three starters were Al Horford, Aron Baynes, and Kyrie Irving.

They lost to the Cavs in the conference finals in seven games.

Over the years, their starting lineups featured many players. Marcus Smart, Kemba Walker, and even Tristan Thompson were prominent for Boston until they traded for Derrick White at the deadline in 2022.

The following off-season, Brad Stevens brought in Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis and won it all last season.

They did not stick with the same group over that entire period of time.

Getting De’Andre Hunter was a good start. He’s long, athletic, and can shoot the ball. In our opinion, he should be a #3. Too often, Kenny Atkinson had to use him at the #4, and he’s not big enough there.

In terms of players being “untouchable”, we don’t believe anyone is that. Now, that doesn’t mean it is likely a player like Donovan Mitchell would be moved, but let’s say the Nuggets offered Nikola Jokic for him. Altman would be crazy to not deal for the league’s best player.

And remember, Mitchell has a player option on his contract following the 2027-28 season, and everyone knows how badly he wants to win a title. Plus, he will be 29 by the time training camp gets under way.

There is a fine line between patience and stubbornness. We would get it if the Cavs stood pat after one five game loss in the playoffs, but this group has been defeated in five games the last three seasons and won two playoff series in that time.

When you build a team, you should keep tinkering until you get it right. The Celtics did just that. Can Altman do the same?

His actions this summer will speak louder than his comments earlier this week.

Are The Cavs Limiting Themselves?

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a very good basketball team. They enter the second half of the season (post-All-Star break) with the second-best record in the East and tied for the fourth best record in the Association (with the Clippers).

There is no question they will make the playoffs this season. Basketballreference.com has their playoff probability at 100%. And a look at the balance of the schedule has some challenges such as a pair of home games in early March against the Knicks and Celtics, and a late season west coast trip, but it doesn’t appear to be a gauntlet.

So, they are playing for playoff seeding the rest of the campaign, and the lure of finishing in the top two in the conference is home court advantage in at least the first two playoff series.

One thing that is concerning is a report that the Cavs’ goal as an organization is to win a playoff series. Our problem with this is when you have that as a goal, then you plan that way, and that would seem to be the reason nothing was done at the trade deadline.

The defending champion Nuggets lost in the first round the year prior, lost in the second round the season before that, and last went to the conference finals in 2019-20. And while the previous champs, Golden State, had a championship pedigree, they have missed the playoffs the two years before they won.

And yes, we are aware of the injuries that hampered the team.

The point is there is no step ladder to win titles in the NBA anymore, like there was in the 80’s, when the Pistons had to lost to the Celtics before they could win, and the Bulls had to lose to Detroit before they could get to The Finals.

However, the Cavs still seem to look at things that way. They wanted to contend for a playoff spot two years ago and make a seven-game series last year. They did accomplish those goals, but that was it.

It’s fine after the season ends to take stock of what you accomplished and be happy about it, but putting a limit on expectations often puts a limit on what a team can do.

Our thought is looking at the East, the only team clearly better than the Cavs is Boston, and we would have made a move, a small one, with the Celtics in mind. Perhaps another wing defender with some size to help against Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

We would have the mentality that if we can beat the Celtics, the Cavs can get to the NBA Finals. Moreso, making a move to strengthen the team lets everyone know, including a star player who can be a free agent soon, that winning the title is the goal. Every year.

When people talk about the culture of the Miami Heat, that’s what they are talking about. Every member of that team knows what the goal is, to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Maybe holding on the #2 spot in the East or maybe even getting higher (the wine and gold are six games behind Boston) changes the expectation for the front office. We certainly hope so.