The Cleveland Cavaliers pulled out a much-needed 108-100 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on a night they didn’t have it. On one hand, it’s encouraging to see them grind out a win. On the other hand, a better team would’ve made them pay for their poor showing through three quarters.
Donovan Mitchell’s late-game heroics saved the Cavs once again. They had very little going until he poured in 14 fourth-quarter points, including three well-timed triples, to pull them across the finish line.
That worked on Saturday, but it isn’t the ideal nightly blueprint for a team as talented as this.
The offense is out of balance. The three-point shot is important because it’s worth an additional point, and spreading out the defense should make it easier to attack the basket. The Cavs came into this game attempting the highest frequency of three-pointers, yet they’re reaping neither of the benefits of taking that many triples.
Cleveland is now 20th in three-point percentage on the season after going 13-40 (32.5%) from three against Memphis. That’s not ideal since this team doesn’t seem to have any intention of getting to the rim. Only 20 of their 83 shot attempts came within the restricted area. This has been the trend through the first 14 games as they came into Saturday’s contest 27th in attempts at the rim. For context, they were 15th in that category last season.
Not having Darius Garland obviously hurts these numbers, but that doesn’t entirely explain how we got here.
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This isn’t a consistent team.
“I feel like we see flashes every so often,” Evan Mobley said. “We just have to make that [happen for] longer and longer stints, until we start doing what we were doing last year.”
There was about a five-minute stretch in the fourth quarter where they felt like the Cavs team we expected to see this season. They turned defense into offense, Mitchell connected on back-breaking triples, Mobley looked like the Defensive Player of the Year, and the arena was buzzing.
Runs like that used to be routine. That’s why there’s currently fake snow machines in the rafters. The only issue is, they haven’t had an opportunity to use them yet this season.
This year, the laxidasical play that allowed a bad Memphis team without Ja Morant to get out to a double-digit second-half lead is much more commonplace.
November results don’t mean much in May. At the same time, the Cavs appear to be building bad habits, and there doesn’t seem to be a clear vision of what the best version of this team even looks like.
Playoff losses force changes, but not all changes are for the better.
In 2023, the Cavs had to change how they played after their embarrassing first-round loss to the New York Knicks. That group needed more shooting, so the front office attacked that weakness in the offseason, and the team became better because of it.
That can also work in reverse.
The 66-win 2008-09 team was bullied in the playoffs by Dwight Howard while the Orlando Magic shot above their expected average from three. The following summer, the Cavs addressed that shortcoming by adding Shaquille O’Neal in the summer and Antawn Jamison at the deadline. Both would’ve been helpful if they played that Magic team again. They weren’t when they took on a Boston Celtics group that made them look slow.
Instead of sticking with their strengths, the 2009-10 team redefined who they were so that they could be ready for a series it was impossible to replay.
The Cavaliers are a different team now.
“We got to let last year go,” Mitchell said. “This is a whole different season. Everybody around us got better. It’s a different season. I think we have to drop this whole, ‘Well, last year was this.’ It’s not the same.”
“It’s hard in the NBA,” Mobley said. “A lot of teams changed themselves. We changed ourselves as well. So it’s not going to be the same. I feel like we’re going to work through it and we’re going to get better and better. And when it really counts, we’re going to lock in.”
It’s too early to tell whether the personnel changes the Cavs made will make them better in the spring. Cleveland could use a Ty Jerome or Caris LeVert-like player now considering their injuries. That said, Lonzo Ball should pair better with this group when they’re fully healthy in the playoffs.
Whether or not the stylistic changes have made them better is a different question.
Mobley isn’t the offensive emphasis he was at the start of the season. The Cavs seemed willing to have him be the primary initiator on offense. They forced him to create out of isos in a way they haven’t before.
Predictably, this wasn’t a smooth transition. Mobley struggled at times, especially when defenses were able to send extra help his way. The Cavs seemed happy to throw him into this difficult position knowing that he is, and always will be, the core’s key to getting over the hump in the playoffs. Most teams simply don’t have a good answer for a seven-footer who can attack mismatches off the dribble.
But then the experiment stopped after just five games. Head coach Kenny Atkinson said before their Halloween matchup with the Toronto Raptors that he wanted Mobely not to forget his strengths. That conversation seems to have sparked a drastic shift in how they wanted to use him.
Since then, Mobley has been utilized similarly to how he was being used in previous seasons. He is taking more threes and is overall being used better if you’re trying to prioritize wins now. Although current results don’t seem to be this team’s goal.
That came through again tonight. Only two of Mobley’s seven field-goal makes came off of self-creation. The other five were either assisted or from cleaning up the offensive glass.
Mobley’s shot diet shouldn’t look like this if the goal is to use the regular season to prepare him for the playoffs. Additionally, pulling the cord after five games on an experiment that the team thought about enough all summer to implement it in their first regular-season game isn’t exactly the hallmark of a group that has a clear vision of what they want to accomplish.
The Cavs are in a weird place. There’s no need to push the panic button after 15 games, but there’s also no denying that this group is only skating by on talent right now. That isn’t what you necessarily want for a group that hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt with postseason success.
Even though regular-season results don’t translate to the playoffs, the habits and identity you build now do carry over.
“We haven’t necessarily put it together, and that’s on this group,” Mitchell said. “We can’t sit here and say, ‘Well last year we did this,’ You’re not the same person as last year. It’s natural. Things change.
“So how do we, as this group, find our identity? Yeah, we have things that can remain the same, defensive identity or different things like that. But as far as comparing and contrasting that, I don’t think we do it in this locker room, but I think as a whole, I think it’s not last year.
“We’re going to build the way we need to build. And you know it’s not pretty right now. We know that. We’re going to work on that and get better. … We got to figure out how to do it stretch upon stretch and quarter by quarter.”