SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Donovan Mitchell cracked a devious smile.
Following Wednesday’s loss — a third straight that guarantees the Cavs will not reach the 70-win mark, Mitchell wasn’t angry, concerned or glum. No one inside the visitor’s locker room at Golden 1 Center was.
But a smile? Really? On this night? What? Why?
“I’m trying to refrain from using the word happy,” Mitchell explained after a [sloppy game where Cleveland squandered multiple double-digit leads](https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2025/03/cavs-chances-of-joining-exclusive-fraternity-vanish-with-123-119-setback-to-kings.html), was outscored 76-63 during a defenseless second half and outexecuted in crunch time.
“I’m kind of a sicko, so I enjoy this. This is what makes the season fun — going through adversity.”
The East-leading Cavs haven’t had much of that during a magical season in which they have rewritten the franchise record books and morphed into a legitimate championship contender. Wednesday was just their 13th defeat overall. Only the second time all season suffering a trio of consecutive setbacks, matching their longest skid.
Losing has been a rarity. Winning has become habitual.
Not even a week ago, they were putting the finishing touches on a franchise-record 16th straight W. Midseason trade acquisition De’Andre Hunter was answering questions about still be undefeated as a Cavalier. Now they’ve hit an untimely rough patch, with vulnerabilities starting to show.
This is unfamiliar territory.
“The sky is not falling. But we have some (expletive) to figure out,” Mitchell admitted. “This is part of it. We have to be better. That’s no lie. I feel like this is something that is really going to help us going forward. You don’t grow without going through things.”
The only other time Cleveland lost three in a row it responded by winning 19 of the next 20.
“It’s another challenge for us,” Mitchell said.
After a lousy Tuesday night, with Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson and others lamenting a lack of defensive effort and discipline, it seemed like the team made a necessary adjustment. Cleveland forced the short-handed Kings, playing without starters Domantas Sabonis (hamstring) and Zach LaVine (personal) into misses on 19 of their first 23 shot attempts while holding them to just 15 first-quarter points — the second-lowest point total allowed by the Cavs in any opening quarter this season.
Only they couldn’t sustain that.
Sacramento scored 108 points over the next 36 minutes — the kind of maddening defensive inconsistency that has plagued Cleveland at various points this season, bouncing in and out of the top 10 in defensive rating. After Wednesday, the Cavs rank ninth.
“I thought we were phenomenal in the first half in terms of making them miss and making them take bad shots,” Atkinson explained. “Then the second half, they shoot 68% and that kind of tells it all. The headline has to be we couldn’t get stops. We couldn’t get stops in the second half and we couldn’t get stops at the end. We did not execute defensively and paid for it. Our defense was just not good enough in crunch time.”
Statistically the league’s best team in the clutch, with an astonishing 29.6 net rating, the Cavaliers were outscored 14-12 over the final 4:44.
The Kings repeatedly called for screens, forcing favorable switches and looking to attack off the dribble. They scored on seven of their final eight official possessions.
“I feel like we get complacent when we get up,” said Evan Mobley who finished with a team-high 31 points. “They were making tough shots, and I feel like defensively we were not as locked in as we should have been.”
Those same late-game struggles popped up over the weekend against Orlando, with the Cavs losing the fourth quarter by six points, and then again Tuesday night in LA.
“I’m not ever going to be happy that we are losing a game. But these are lessons you want to have — now,” Mitchell said. “When the time comes and we’re in Boston, New York, Milwaukee, Indiana, wherever we are at, and our backs are against the wall, you remember Sacramento, the Clippers or Orlando at home. You have something that is fresh on your brain.
“I think when you have had the success that we have had it’s human nature at some point to have a little slippage. We have had slippage throughout the season. But we have covered it up with wins. Fortunately, we have built a cushion so we’re not in certain situations as some other teams.”
Despite no longer being in sole possession of the NBA’s best record, the Cavs still sit atop the East, six games up on the reigning champion Celtics. They have already captured the Central Division crown. They may set the organization’s single season win mark.
To Mitchell’s point, winning games down the stretch isn’t the _sole_ focus. They don’t have to win at all costs. Cleveland isn’t chasing. It isn’t fighting to avoid the play-in tournament or lock up homecourt advantage. This allows rest nights for star players. Point guard Darius Garland was held out on the second of a back-to-back. Mobley didn’t play Sunday versus Orlando. Mitchell got an extended respite last week. More of those are coming in the final weeks. Atkinson can experiment with lineups and tactics in certain situations — even if that decision-making seems illogical. Failure can be viewed as a productive learning tool instead of a consequential result.
“You have to go through these things to learn what you have to fix and how to fix it,” Mitchell said. “I like that it is now. This is the perfect time, right before we are about to get into it. On the road. March has been a hell of a schedule. All these obstacles. These are the tests we have talked about. How are we going to react? This is what I enjoy because it’s finding ways to get better and continuing to grow.
“The outside world, I don’t know what’s being said, it may look crazy, but this is what you want. You want to bring this on now so when it becomes playoff time, we’re not running into this for the first time.”
As guys were gathering their belongings, munching on chicken wings and preparing for their 84-minute flight to Phoenix — the next stop on this five-city, 10-day journey — one of the players made a sarcastic quip.
_What’s wrong with the Cavs?_
To them, the long-term answer is nothing — even if the short-term results aren’t supporting that.