CLEVELAND, Ohio — In this episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast, host Ethan Sands breaks down the Cavs’ first win of the season over the Brooklyn Nets. He highlights the positives while calling out defensive lapses and rebounding concerns.
Takeaways:
Q: The Cavaliers secured their first win but nearly relinquished a 25-point lead. What does this performance reveal about the team’s ongoing challenges?
A: The game highlighted a recurring and problematic pattern for the Cavs: building a significant lead and then losing focus, allowing opponents back into games they should have won decisively. Donovan Mitchell acknowledged this directly, stating, “We can’t let the lead go. We did the same thing last year.” While the team ultimately locked in defensively in the final four minutes to secure the victory, the near-collapse points to a need for greater mental consistency. The host emphasized that developing the habit of playing for a full 48 minutes, regardless of the score, is the critical difference between a good team and a legitimate championship contender built to win in May and June.
Q: Donovan Mitchell scored 35 points, but how was this performance different from his typical high-scoring efforts?
A: Mitchell’s 35-point night was notable for its efficiency and integration within the team’s offense, rather than feeling like a one-man show. The host described it as “smooth,” noting that Mitchell was picking his spots and trusting his teammates instead of forcing the action or resorting to “hero ball.” This performance was seen as a sign of growth and superstar leadership, demonstrating that he can dominate while simultaneously empowering his teammates. Mitchell himself acknowledged post-game that the team needed to do a better job of involving Jarrett Allen, stating, “it’s not just on him to get himself going. It’s on us and it’s on me.”
Q: Jarrett Allen had a strong bounce-back game. What was the context of this performance, and what questions still remain?
A: After a lackluster season opener, Jarrett Allen responded with an energetic 22-point performance, showing his classic hustle and defensive presence. The effort was seen as a direct response to challenges from Kenny Atkinson and the team. However, the host cautioned that this performance came against a “finesse matchup” in the Brooklyn Nets, who lacked a bruising frontline. The bigger issue for Allen has been his tendency to disappear against more physical opponents. His upcoming matchups against Giannis Antetokounmpo and particularly Myles Turner — who seemed to mentally check him out during last year’s playoffs — will be a more telling test of whether he can consistently overcome the “soft” label.
Q: Sam Merrill continued his hot start to the season. What makes him such a critical player for the Cavaliers?
A: Sam Merrill is proving to be a vital X-factor, validating the contract the team gave him. He followed up his 19-point season opener with 22 points and six three-pointers, setting a franchise record for most threes (11) through the first two games of a season. Beyond his elite shooting and the offensive gravity he creates, Merrill brings a crucial mentality of toughness and confidence. Atkinson described him simply as a “winner.” This mindset was exemplified when he volunteered to take on the defensive challenge of guarding Cam Thomas, demonstrating a belief in himself that is being reinforced by his coaches and teammates.
Q: Aside from the near-collapse, what other team-wide concerns and coaching decisions were highlighted?
A: Two main issues were raised. First, despite the win, rebounding remains a significant problem. Atkinson expressed his frustration, noting the team “lost the possession game in the second half” and that giving up offensive rebounds “will just kill you.” Second, the host questioned the handling of backup guard Craig Porter Jr. Despite scoring 14 points in 14 minutes, Porter was pulled after one defensive mistake and saw limited action afterward. With key guards injured, the host argued that this is the time to build rhythm and confidence in young players and that Porter’s “leash might be a little too short” given his proven ability to step up.
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Transcript
NOTE: This transcript was generated by artificial intelligence and could contain misspellings and errors.
Ethan Sands: What up, Cavs Nation? I’m your host, Ethan Sands, and I’m back with another episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. And I’m here with you for the first solo dolo episode of the season. And we’re coming to you right after the Cavs got their first win of the season Friday night, beating The Brooklyn Nets 131-124 at the Barclays Center. The offense looked alive again. The ball was zipping, the energy was contagious, and they were in the 92nd percentile for frequency in transition off live ball rebounds. Getting out in transition is something that Kenny Atkinson has been preaching all offseason long, since the summer actually, when they were doing drills that required them to get the ball up the floor in quick transition to get points rather than actually marking points for getting buckets. It was an interesting drill that showcased the importance of the pace of the game for this Cavs team. But obviously we also understand that the team found a way to make things interesting. They built a 25-point lead at one point during this game and then they watched it shrink down to one in the fourth quarter. That’s been the Cavs pattern for years now. Get comfortable, lose focus, and let teams back into games they should have buried.
Donovan Mitchell: We can’t let the lead go. We did the same thing last year. We can’t let that happen. We responded and that’s great. We won. But, and I know we got some new guys. We’re trying to figure things out. But I tell the guys who have been here, myself, Ev, Ja, Sam, Dean, we got to set that tone. And you know, I’m glad we won and all, but if we’re trying to improve, that can’t, that can’t happen.
Speaker A: But let’s break it down because the story tonight isn’t just about a win. It’s about what kind of team they want to be. And obviously we’re talking about the playoffs and how the Cavs are preparing themselves to be ready when that time of the year comes around. And that means going through some growing pains. That means going through some early season struggle. That means having teams like the Brooklyn Nets come back even though they don’t deserve to be in those contests. But here are some of the positives from tonight’s game. The Cavs put up an offensive rating of 1.24.8. That’s elite championship caliber offense. When the Nets cut it down to one under four minutes left, I could feel that old anxiety kind of creeping in. The kind of tension that’s lived in this team’s DNA since the Donovan Mitchell trade. Here’s what kind of saved them, right? It’s the misses from the Nets at the end of the game and obviously knowing that the Cavs defense locked in when it mattered, even though they allowed way too many points in that fourth quarter to the Brooklyn Nets when they gave up 38 points in that quarter alone. But when we talk about where this mattered, it comes down to that last four minutes of the contest. And the Cavs just allowed two more field goals the rest of the way after the Brooklyn Nets cut it down to one with four minutes remaining in the contest. That’s the standard that they need to have throughout the entire 48 minutes of the contest, not just four. While their initial point of attack defense was decent, their rotations would often leave a man open from overhelping or just being out of position. And they also allowed 19 second chance points. That was a factor too. The aggressiveness, the competitiveness in the first half was there. It was great. You saw it and you understood that them holding to 23 points in the first quarter and then 28 in the second quarter were big time. Offensively, it looked like Cavs basketball was back. Free flowing, passing heavy, non isolation, dominant possessions that kept everyone involved. Five players scored in double figures, led by Donovan Mitchell with 35 points. Jared Allen and Sam Mara both had 22. Craig Porter Jr. Added 14 in 14 minutes. We’ll get to him in a little bit. And Evan Mobley finished with 13. Now let’s talk about Donovan Mitchell. And it was different for him than in the first game of the season. Sure, he’s dropped 30 balls in back to back games, but in tonight’s 35 point performance, it didn’t feel like he was dragging the offense by himself. It was smooth. It felt like he was just picking his spots rather than forcing them. When the ball moved, he trusted it. And when he saw a sliver of daylight just a little bit, he pounced. That’s superstar behavior, that’s growth. And it’s exactly what this Cavs team needed after their loss to the Knicks in the season opener. And seeing how Donovan Mitchell was going to respond as a leader is going to be extremely important because I’ve said it before, Donovan can get you 40 anytime. The question is, can he do it while empowering everyone else without playing hero ball? Tonight, the answer was yes. And that includes getting Jared Allen the ball. Because he admitted even post game that he and his teammates did not do enough to get Jared Allen the ball and initiate the offense for him and make him feel involved on that end of the floor so he could be more engaged defensively. To me, that’s not how that necessarily needs to go on a consistent basis, but we’ll get to Jared in a second.
Donovan Mitchell: If I’m the point guard, I got to give him the ball. Obviously, if he doesn’t get the ball, still got to be active and whatnot. But, you know, if there’s one thing about Ja, you know, he’s always going to be there for us, but we got to be there for him. And tonight he responded in a big way. But, you know, it’s not just on him to get himself going. It’s on us and it’s on me. And he did a good job of that tonight.
Speaker A: Now I know what the box score watchers are going to say. Evan Mobley had 13 points. Where’s the league? Relax, that’s part of the process. He’s still adjusting to a higher usage rate and figuring out how he and Donovan can share control, when to dominate and when to make the right play. This was a night where the offense was flowing through Donovan and shooters and Evan Mobley was still in the mix. Eight rebounds, five assists, two blocks. He played within the flow without hijacking possessions. That’s a subtle kind of growth, and that’s kind of the thing that we’re talking about with Evan Mobley is taking minor steps without trying to do too much. Even if his shot wasn’t falling, he didn’t force it. That’s the difference between game one and game two of the regular season. And of course, it’s early for comparisons, but that’s what this regular season is going to be about. Watching how this team develops in front of our very eyes. But. But that partnership has to work for this franchise to go anywhere real at all. And we understand that the goal, the ambitions for this team is championship. And that word keeps getting thrown around, but we understand that Kenny Atkinson has kind of reeled that back in. And to be honest, they have to find out the reality of what it takes to get there, because they have not shown the capability of doing so just yet. And that’s why what this regular season is about, it’s about themselves. And while we’re on the topic of overreactions, let’s talk about Jared Allen. After a lackluster showing against the Knicks, J A bounced back. That was expected. 22 points, energy effort, and that classic Jared Allen hustle. Diving on the floor, contesting shots, being everywhere, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. But let’s be real. This was Brooklyn. Not exactly a bruising frontline. And that’s the problem with ja. He dominates the finesse matchups but disappears against the bullies. Nick Claxton still out rebounded Jarrett Allen, but the effort was better and the next test for him is Giannis and Miles Turner on Sunday. That’s where we’ll see if he can carry this over against two players that that he’s very familiar with. Giannis is someone Jarrett’s held his own against in the past historically, but Miles Turner, that’s the matchup that brings back bad memories. That playoff block last year when Miles Turner stuffed Jarrett Allen’s dunk and seemed to mentally check him out of the game. Sunday’s game will be telling of how Jared Allen can bring that same energy, hustle and mindset against elite competition and exercising the demons of last season and again trying to get rid of this notion of or this label of being soft. And a moment that I wanted to recall really quickly that I thought was interesting from tonight’s game. After Jared Allen hit the deck near the Cavs bench, Kenny Atkinson rushed over and picked him up and gave him a bear hug. To me that was like message received. Answering the challenge that Kenny Atkinson had laid out down in practice on Thursday and also what the Cavs have said on the record about Jared Allen and needing to be better for this Cavs team to take the next step. But that can’t be a one night thing and I’m going to keep coming back to this. That has to be every night, especially against contenders.
Kenny Atkinson: What’s bothered me now is the rebounding. Like you make shots, great, but then if they’re miss when they do miss and they’re getting the offensive rebound that knows that that’s the stuff we got to, you know, that’ll, that’ll just kill you. So we lost a possession game in the second half. We got to address our rebounding issues and I know everybody’s going to be on Ja and Evan, but it’s a team rebounding game now. The way everybody is crashing, they’re just everybody just flying in. We actually went through rebounding today and shoot around, we did a drill which we normally don’t do. So we’re just going to have to address it and do better at it.
Speaker A: Now onto a guy that maybe we haven’t talked enough about when it comes to being an X factor for this Cavs team because Sam Merrow keeps proving why he earned that contract. Kenny Atkinson said it himself, does all.
Kenny Atkinson: The dirty work, makes threes. That’s why we gave him a nice contract this offseason. If there’s ever a guy that deserved it, he’s a guy.
Speaker A: And that doesn’t go as a slight to Ty Jerome. It just shows what this Cavs team needed and the belief in Sam Merrill coming into this season and the execution that he’s providing now. And it’s not just the shot making, right? It’s his mentality, the toughness, the willingness to defend even if he’s undersized. And he talks to talk to back it up. When we’ve talked to players at practice, we’ve had conversations about who might be the best or biggest smack talkers or trash talkers when it comes to that. And Sam Merrill’s up there and I love that for him. And when we get back into the conversation of wanting to defend, and obviously there are some people that want to have the conversation about whether or not Sam Arrow is actually a good defender or the defensive rating with him on the floor is just good because he has Evan Mobley and Jared Allen behind him. Well, Donovan Mitchell said that he wanted the challenge of guarding Cam Thomas tonight at Spurts, and Sam Merrow said, well, I’ll handle it. I’ll take care of it. You handle the workload on the other end of the floor and I’mma help you do what we need to do to get the win. So I think it’s important to note just the confidence that he has in himself and the belief that he is being instilled from not only his teammates, but his coach, the front office and the entire organization. And then we get back to the shooting. He had 19 points in five five threes in the season opener. Then he followed that up with 22 points and six triples tonight. That’s now a Cavs record, most three pointers made through the first two games of any season in franchise history with 11. His gravity, his facing are all crucial, but more than that, his trust factor is what makes him special. Kenny Atkinson doesn’t even describe him by position, he just calls him a winner. That’s the mindset the Cavs need more of. And in this locker room, it’s evident that he is a guy that is not only becoming a leader, but someone that everybody can trust. And the unit that Sam Erra was a part of, the starting unit, as we know with Max Strus and Darius Garland being out, was phenomenal tonight. In the 10 minutes that they played together, they had a net rating around 79 with an offensive rating around 165 and the defensive rating around 86, and that’s elite. So when we talk about guys like Jalen Tyson, Donovan Mitchell, Sam Merrill, Evan Mobley, Jared Allen, those guys together, especially with DeAndre Hunter out, if that lineup can be sustainable, at least in spurts, that will be helpful for the Cavs. But I also think it’s important to note that the Cavs went to Dean Wade in the final minutes of the game instead of Jalen Tyson because of his size and his defensive versatility and. And also just the ability to stretch the floor. Plus, what he was doing in his matchup was more beneficial than what Jaylon Tyson was giving at the end of the game. That’s not a knock on Jaylon Tyson. It’s about what was happening in a certain matchup and Kenny Atkinson making the right adjustments when needed.
Kenny Atkinson: I wanted Dean for rebounding and defense, and then kind of towards the end there, we put Lonzo back in for ball handling. I thought Jalen was really good. Four steals tonight. Really getting ncp, you know, shout out to cp. I thought he. He was really good. Those two guys were really good in their minutes.
Speaker A: But I’ve given a lot of praise to Kenny Atkinson and what he did in his first season with the rotations, with the flowy offense, with what he instilled in the culture and the identity of this team, especially during the regular season. And I trust that Kenny is going to make the right decisions that are best suited for this team and in the second year of being a part of the Cavs. But I have to be honest. I’m not loving how Craig Porter Jr. Is being handled. Early on. He had 14 points in 14 minutes. Nine of those were in the third quarter. Then he kind of vanished. Obviously, if you want to get to your clutch players when the fourth quarter is happening and the Cavs lead is diminishing rapidly, that’s understandable. Plus the fact that Craig Porter Jr. Wasn’t necessarily good in the one and a half, two minutes that he was in for the fourth quarter. You make that adjustment. But I think throughout the rest of the game, there were areas and time periods where it was possible for the Cavs to take a risk with Craig and give him more opportunities because he finished with 14 points in 14 minutes, and he had one defensive mistake in the second quarter that had Kenny Atkinson calling for Jaylon Tyson to get off the bench and. And go get him immediately. And I don’t think you should get buried for that because his leash might be a little too short, especially right now. No, Darius Garland and Lonzo Ball is going to be sitting out Monday for injury management. This is when you build rhythm and confidence for your young guards. Craig’s a guy who has stepped up when called. He’s a guy that has been there when you meet of him dating back to his rookie year. I know Kenny Agassi wasn’t here for that. That was J. Bickerstaff. But still, there is that understanding of what he can do in spurts. Kenny Atkinson preaches belief and opportunity, but I’m not sure Craig’s getting that same type of love right now. So here’s where I’ll wrap up the Cavs got their first win in the books, but for me it wasn’t about that. It’s about creating habits, establishing principles and getting back to Cavs basketball every night. Are they defending for 48 minutes? Are they communicating? Are they staying locked in when the scoreboard says they don’t have to? That’s the difference between a team that wants to win and a team that’s built to win in May and June. And that’s what Donovan Mitchell was alluding to post game, that sour taste in his mouth after nearly blowing another big league 25 points to be exact. They have to play like the score score isn’t there because the great teams, they don’t relax. They just go with buried teams, man. So sure, we can look at this as an overall positive. The Cavs got a win. The offense was back, Donovan looked like a star among stars. Sam Merrow was shining, Jared Allen showed fights. But it’s not about what they did tonight. It’s about who they’re becoming. They’re trying to build a team that doesn’t just light up the scoreboard. They want to impose the their will because playoff basketball isn’t about pace or pretty sets. It’s about conviction. And until Cleveland plays with that same conviction for four quarters over a continuous stretch, I’m going to be questioning if they can do it in the playoffs. With that being said, that’ll wrap up today’s episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. But remember to become a Cavs insider and interact with Chris, me and Jimmy by subscribing to subtext. Sign up for a 14 day free trial or visit cleveland.comcavs and click on the blue bar at the top of the page. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. All you have to do is text the word stop. It’s easy, but we can tell you that the people who sign up stick around because this is the best way to get insider coverage on the Cavs from me, Chris, and Jimmy. This isn’t just our podcast. It’s your podcast. And the only way to have your voice heard is through subtext. Y’ all be safe. We out.
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