The Cleveland Cavaliers entered Sunday afternoon's contest against the Utah Jazz on a season-long four-game losing streak.
The stretch was characterized by painful shooting performances from Donovan Mitchell and soft interior play from center Jarrett Allen.
The national buzz around the losing streak was growing rapidly, so against a woeful Jazz team, the Cavaliers knew they needed to come in and dominate.
That wasn't the case in the first half as Utah kept it close and trailed by only six points going into halftime.
Cleveland came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders, opening up the second half on a 15-0 run and holding the Jazz scoreless for the first five-and-a-half minutes.
Utah was never able to claw their way back into the game after this, but Kenny Atkinson still wasn't impressed.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell and center Jarrett Allen give an interview after their win against the Utah Jazz at Delta Center on March 23, 2025. Peter Creveling-Imagn Images Peter Creveling-Imagn Images
Reporters asked questioned the head coach after the game about whether he was happy with how the team was playing and Atkinson said, "This stretch here, we haven't played great."
While the former Golden State Warriors assistant recognizes that the sky isn't falling, he's not satisfied with his team's performance, even in a win.
The final score represents a game where the Cavs completely outclassed the Jazz, but if you take a deeper look, the box score tells a much different story.
Mitchell is still mired in one of the worst slumps of his career, shooting an unbelievably bad 30% from the field and 13% from three-point range over the last seven games, and last night wasn't much different.
The All-Star guard missed all five of his three-point attempts and got some bricklaying assistance from his backcourt mate.
Darius Garland struggled as well, scoring just 12 points on 4-13 shooting. To top it off, forward Evan Mobley had just 11 points, so these underwhelming performances from Cleveland's top dogs left fans with more questions than answers in a blowout win.
Just like the players on the Cavs' roster keep reiterating, if there was ever a time to go into a slump, it's right now. There are still about ten games left in the season, which is more than enough to right the ship.
Cleveland was so dominant throughout the rest of the season that they still have a comfortable lead on the Boston Celtics for the first seed in the Eastern Conference.
The playoffs are right around the corner, so it's best for the Cavs to iron out the kinks now, as opposed to faltering in the playoffs once more.
Related: Donovan Mitchell's Shocking Reaction to Cavs Losing Streak
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This story was originally published March 24, 2025 at 5:32 PM.
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