the latest Terry\u2019s Talkin\u2019 podcast<\/a>, reflecting on the 136-104 humiliation.<\/p>\nWhat made the loss particularly alarming wasn\u2019t just the score, but star guard Donovan Mitchell\u2019s candid assessment afterward. <\/p>\n
Mitchell told reporters: \u201cWatching them defensively, they make the little rotations, they do the little things consistently. They\u2019re defending champions for a reason, kind of stealing something from them. It\u2019s watching their habits 1 through 15.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement raises an uncomfortable question: Why don\u2019t the Cavaliers \u2013 with their collection of All-Stars and massive payroll \u2013 have those same championship habits nearly four months into the season?<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I think it\u2019s also a philosophical thing,\u201d Pluto explains. \u201cWhen Kenny Atkinson was brought in here, he was brought in here to jack up the offense, fire up more threes, become kind of like the Celtics were when they won the title in that they didn\u2019t talk much about defense, they talked about offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
This philosophical shift \u2013 moving away from former coach J.B. Bickerstaff\u2019s \u201cembrace the grit\u201d defensive mentality \u2013 has transformed the Cavs into what Pluto describes as a \u201cfinesse team.\u201d And that identity is being exposed by the NBA\u2019s more physical contenders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem when a team is kind of offensive-oriented, and sort of what I would call finesse team, is they can be exposed by the grittier, tougher teams,\u201d Pluto says.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s particularly revealing is that the league\u2019s most successful teams lately have all embraced a physical, scrambling defensive style that the Cavs haven\u2019t matched.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndiana is terrible this year, but last year, seeing Indiana, New York, Oklahoma City in the final four, all those are tough-minded teams,\u201d Pluto notes. \u201cYou watch Oklahoma City, they just wear you out. They just keep moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
The roster construction compounds the problem. While players like Craig Porter Jr. and Jaylon Tyson bring elements of that tough-minded approach, others like Darius Garland struggle defensively. Meanwhile, key acquisitions like De\u2019Andre Hunter and Lonzo Ball have underperformed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey made three kind of big moves from the middle of last season to now for veteran players Larry Nance Jr., Ball and Hunter, and all three have been basically, you know, failures,\u201d Pluto says.<\/p>\n
There appears to be a fundamental mismatch between the Cavs\u2019 personnel, their playing style, and the direction of the league as a whole.<\/p>\n
The solution may require Atkinson to deliver some tough love. Pluto references his old high school coach at Benedictine High in Cleveland, Augie Bossu, who would tell underperforming players: \u201cHell\u2019s bells. You\u2019re better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you start with \u2018you\u2019re better than that,\u2019 you\u2019re saying that \u2018I believe in you,\u2019 \u201d Pluto explained. \u201c \u2018There\u2019s more there and we need to get it.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Time is running short for the Cavs to discover that tough-minded identity. With limited trade flexibility due to salary cap constraints, the answer likely needs to come from within \u2013 and quickly.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the podcast for this week:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
If you have a question or a topic you\u2019d like to see included on the podcast, email it to sports@cleveland.com<\/a>, and put \u201cTerry\u2019s Talkin\u2019\u201d in the subject line.<\/p>\nYou can find previous podcasts below. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio – It wasn\u2019t just a bad game. It was a revelation. When the Cavs \u2013 owners…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,305,193,69732,3846,6,71320],"class_list":["post-556384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-basketball","tag-cavaliers","tag-cleveland","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-cleveland-cavaliers-2025-2026","tag-clevelandcavaliers","tag-nba","tag-phoenix-suns-2025-2026"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115946725346147647","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}