The Cavaliers are hitting a rough patch, and it’s no longer something they can brush off as just a blip. Cleveland has now dropped six of its last nine games, and Sunday’s overtime loss to Charlotte was a particularly tough pill to swallow - not just because it was a loss, but because the Cavs didn’t score a single point in the extra five minutes.
That’s rare in the NBA. Doing it against a Hornets team that’s struggled defensively all season?
That’s a red flag.
Two nights before that, it took a 48-point explosion from Donovan Mitchell just to squeak past the Wizards. And Mitchell wasn’t exactly celebrating after the game.
“This is a good win, but it’s also not a good win,” he said. “We can’t be in this situation.”
That’s a star player recognizing the bigger picture - that needing near-50-point nights to beat bottom-tier teams isn’t sustainable.
The troubling part isn’t just that Cleveland has lost games - it’s how they’re losing them. The Cavs have developed a habit of playing down to the level of their competition.
That stretch includes a loss to a depleted Warriors squad missing Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green. These aren’t just any losses - they’re missed opportunities to build momentum and bank wins against beatable teams.
Injuries have definitely played a role. Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, Sam Merrill, Lonzo Ball, and Larry Nance Jr. have all missed time.
And now Evan Mobley is out with a calf strain. That’s a lot of key rotation pieces either sidelined or trying to play their way back into rhythm.
Garland, in particular, hasn’t looked like himself since undergoing toe surgery in the offseason. He’s still trying to find that burst, that control, that made him such a dynamic playmaker.
But even with the setbacks, there are reasons for optimism. When Cleveland’s core group is on the floor together, they’ve been dominant.
The Cavs still sit around the top 10 in most efficiency categories - a sign that the foundation is solid. The problem is, that margin for error shrinks fast when even one piece of the puzzle is missing.
With a tough stretch of games looming, the Cavs don’t have much time to find their footing. The talent is there, the metrics back it up, and the ceiling remains high. But if they don’t start stringing together consistent performances - especially against teams they should beat - this slide could become something much more serious.