referenced<\/a> his championship with the Golden State Warriors \u2014 and how adversity can be par for the course.<\/p>\n\u201cEveryone thinks it\u2019s a smooth ride, but it definitely isn\u2019t smooth,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cThat year we won the championship, I think we had a stretch where we went 7-16, we lost 9-out-of-11 at one point, 7-of-8 [in a different stretch] \u2014 nothing was screaming championship that season, as a matter of fact, it was like \u2018oh my gosh, this is falling apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
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That quote feels more relevant now, on February 10th, as the Cavaliers have won 16 of their last 21 games and have the best record in basketball since December 29th. They\u2019ve turned things around in the midst of more injuries and franchise-altering trades.<\/p>\n
All the while, they feel more legit than ever before as a result of overcoming their slow start.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re continuing to show that [toughness],\u201d said Sam Merrill after Cleveland\u2019s latest win over the Denver Nuggets. \u201cI say this all the time, it hasn\u2019t been perfect this year. Wasn\u2019t perfect last year, but I think this group is continuing to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cavs began their recent road trip with a few devastating blows. Darius Garland had re-injured his toe just a few games before the trip, while Evan Mobley would go down with another calf injury shortly after. So, Cleveland hit the West Coast undermanned and was promptly dismantled by the Phoenix Suns. It felt like this could be another two steps backwards for a team that had just started to gain momentum in January.<\/p>\n
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Instead, the team rattled off four consecutive wins and picked up some new talent along the way.<\/p>\n
Jarrett Allen put up a historic 40 points and 17 rebounds to beat the Blazers. After that, the Cavs dealt Garland for 11-time All-Star James Harden in a gutsy, all-in move that shocked the NBA. Cleveland proceeded to thrash the LA Clippers one night after the trade \u2014 before welcoming Harden to their lineup for a thrilling win over the Sacramento Kings later that week.<\/p>\n
The Cavs then traveled to Denver for their final game of the trip. Playing in high altitude after a grueling two-weeks away from home took a visible toll on them. They looked exhausted, at times, and trailed for 43 minutes of the game. Yet they never folded, and it was a combination of Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, and Jarrett Allen who pulled this team across the finish line for their fourth straight win.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found a way to get it done,\u201d said Harden. \u201cIt\u2019s our second game [together]. No practices, a couple of film sessions, not the way it\u2019s supposed to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting this team back into a groove is one thing. Inserting another ball-dominant guard into the mix without throwing off the chemistry is another challenge altogether. Pulling off both of those feats in consecutive comeback victories is special. This Cavs team is harkening back to the good vibes that made them successful a year ago.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere are so many things that we\u2019ve found, and we still haven\u2019t practiced yet,\u201d said Mitchell. \u201cWe\u2019re just hoopin off vibes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Talent can only get you so far. The Cavs saw this for themselves in November and December. But as the front office pushes the right buttons to add more talent to the roster, the Cavaliers have responded by getting themselves organized and on the same page. Winning only makes the process that much easier. Just as quickly as things fell apart, they can come back together again.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s go time,\u201d said Harden, before heading back to Cleveland for his home debut. You won\u2019t want to miss it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vibes matter in the NBA. They always have. The Cleveland Cavaliers built a historic 64-win team last year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,305,193,3846,765,791,301,187,864,576,568,164,560,1178,3627,192,6,472,477,1166],"class_list":{"0":"post-594659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","12":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","13":"tag-colorado","14":"tag-darius-garland","15":"tag-denver","16":"tag-denver-nuggets","17":"tag-donovan-mitchell","18":"tag-evan-mobley","19":"tag-getty-images","20":"tag-golden-state-warriors","21":"tag-james-harden","22":"tag-jarrett-allen","23":"tag-kenny-atkinson","24":"tag-la-clippers","25":"tag-nba","26":"tag-phoenix-suns","27":"tag-sacramento-kings","28":"tag-sam-merrill"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116046748126435044","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594659","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=594659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}