A Bloodied Mouth Can Still Bite
The Cavs lost a heartbreaker to the Boston Celtics in Boston Tuesday night, dropping their first game of the season nearly a month into the schedule. In a game where Cleveland was missing almost every available wing player [Dean Wade, Isaac Okoro, and Caris LeVert were all marked out alongside Max Strus who has yet to play this season] and had to start Sam Merrill, the first half went as poorly as possible. A sluggish first half was the culprit that dug themselves too deep of a hole to climb out of in the second half, though they surely tried and nearly accomplished the comeback. Darius Garland had his worst shooting game of the season, going 3-for-21 from the field, 0-for-6 from three. Despite all that, and including a hard shoulder to the jaw of Donovan Mitchell from Jaysom Tatum that left Spida’s mouth oozing blood, the Cavs only lost the game by three points. The battle might have been lost, but the larger point was made: Cleveland is not backing down from teams this year.
Let’s clear some things up here: any 15-0 stretch in the NBA, even if it mostly comes at the mercy of teams the likes of Toronto, Charlotte, and the Joel Embiid/Paul George/Tyrese Maxey-less Sixers, is a legitimate winning streak and makes a team a contender. Call it a soft schedule all you want, but good teams beat the bad ones, and Cleveland has been a wrecking ball on the season. They have the most points per game in the league, 123.3, and the highest point differential on a per game basis as well, 11.4. They are now 4-1 against teams that were .500 or better, and are 8-0 in 10 point games. Every sign has pointed to this Cleveland team being legitimate and the improvements by the players are sustainable.
Losing the undefeated season was inevitable, but Cavs fans can rest easy that they didn’t drop the streak in a trap game like Sunday seemed lined up to be when Mitchell sat for rest purposes. The rock fight between Boston and Cleveland will continue on in the season, hopefully as both squads continue jockeying for the No. 1 seed into the spring. The wine and gold warriors have the taste of blood in their mouths now, and even though it’s their own after a hard luck loss, they seem poised to strike out for more as this season continues.
