What Are These Cavs?
Donovan Mitchell with 7 overtime points. James Harden with 30 points and some clutch free throws(? And honestly, some clutch missed free throws to keep the game clock running). Evan Mobley with the last five points of regulation to tie up the game. Jarrett Allen with a strong double-double and a game-best +14. Max Strus goes 6-of-8 from 3 on his way to 20 points and many more hustle plays throughout the game. Yes, your Cleveland Cavaliers just sealed a Game 5 win over the Detroit Pistons to go up 3-2 in the series, gaining a chance to close out the Best-of-7 matchup with a win on Friday in Cleveland. Fun times in Cleveland again, at least we’re not Detroit, pure joy.
And yet, these Cavs feel like they have no identity. Yet.
Not since I was a single man going on dates with literally anyone that would talk to me on dating apps have I asked myself “What are we?” as often as I have this year with these Cleveland Cavaliers. The lineups changed, the personnel changed, but the confusion remained. They were too good to play that bad, they were too bad to ever play good again, they were hurt, healthy, and having a hard time stringing any answers together. This went on the entire season. Then it bled into the postseason.
Gone was Darius Garland, though that had become somewhat normal for late-season Cavs of the past as well. James Harden stepped in, but Playoff James Harden has ghosted his teams more than those dating app girls after one meetup. The only extended fun stretch from the Cavs’ regular season came directly after acquiring Harden for Garland, but soon James didn’t stay locked in on defense and was messy with turnovers enough times that his sometimes-yucky offensive style of stepback 3s and foul-baiting to go with epic passing wasn’t quieting the doubts that old-but-healthy Harden was not worth young-but-bad-toed Garland. So the Cavs aren’t Harden’s team, that’s for sure. So the young star left behind must be the answer…
Evan Mobley won Defensive Player of the year last season (mostly because blood clots took Wemby out of contention, but still). He had fully arrived as an All-NBA level player and was expected to make the leap on offense to better match his defensive prowess. Instead, Mobley spent the year stuck in second gear. He was only a little worse in scoring this year, dropping to 18.2 from 18.5 last year, but his free throw and 3pt percentages tanked from last year’s 73% and 37% to this year’s 61% and 30%, respectively. By eye test, he looked more passive with the ball in his hands. Bringing the ball up, working in the post, and making live-dribble plays from the perimeter all looked worse year-over-year. The Cavs were expected to make the jump to title contention this year on the back of Mobley making the jump to offensive leader, but those both fell short. If only the Cavs had another All-NBA player to fall back on…
Donovan Mitchell made 1st-Team All-NBA last year for the first time in his career. He might make that again this year. His scoring totals went up this year and his efficiency has remained its typical terrific truth. There isn’t much of an argument for anyone but the Spida as the second best player in Cavs franchise history. So why doesn’t this team belong to him, and him alone? Mitchell may be the Alpha, the beginning of where the Cavs are, but an NBA team’s identity is defined more by its Omega, where it ends up. Mitchell often takes the last shot in quarters and close games. Yet he will defer to his backcourt mates in the clutch nearly as often. Harden, and Garland before him, were given their chances to take over whenever they saw fit. There doesn’t appear to be an ego issue from any of these guards when it comes to clutch time, and maybe that is a quiet issue. More of Mitchell playing hero ball for stepback 3s is not the answer for what the Cavs should be, but then what else is? Maybe it’s not a question of what these Cavs are, but what they can be.
Mobley can be a two-way star like he was tonight, showing flashy offense with a driving dunk on Jalen Duran while pulling in multiple tough rebounds all night. Mitchell can overcome his poor shooting night by lighting up the overtime period with his only three and a layup off of more Strus hustle. Harden can overcome his past playoff failures because he doesn’t have to be the entire offensive system like many of his past teams. Allen already overcame his “lights too bright” infamy against the Toronto Raptors in Round 1, but every time he fights for boards and throws down nasty dunks off lobs, he is the one shining brighter. Strus, Sam Merrill, and Dean Wade are all stars in their roles, with Dennis Schroder showing just enough flashes of FIBA Germany scoring styling that he gets more minutes than regular season staples Keyon Ellis and Jaylon Tyson.
The Cavs won 64 games last regular season. They were buzzsaws to the Miami Heat in the playoffs after that, then were buzzsawed by the Indiana Pacers in the next round. Indiana took the Finals to seven games last year, and may have won with a healthy Tyrese Halliburton, so that bloodbath was maybe justified for the Cavs. This year, the Cavs “only” won 52 games, spending most of the year catching up to expectations they couldn’t live up last year. But in the now, Cleveland has put themselves in position to be better than last year when it counts most. A trip to the Eastern Conference Finals to face the New York Knicks is right there for us.
So what are we? Sorry, old habits. I mean, what are these Cavs? If they win this series, we will find out they are greater than the sum of their parts, and, on merit, are true contenders. Who knows what after that?