ESPN analyst Ben Golliver thinks the Cleveland Cavaliers may have a problem that every contender wants but not every contender has: a true playoff closer.
In Golliver’s view, Donovan Mitchell and James Harden are the kind of star names that light up a regular season, but neither one has proven he can be trusted to finish off a postseason game when everything tightens up. Both are elite players.
Both have put up huge numbers. And both have also been part of some brutal playoff letdowns.
Harden is back with Cleveland after the Cavaliers brought him over from the LA Clippers last season, and his first year in town was productive enough on paper. He averaged 20.5 points and 7.7 assists per game in the regular season, then followed that with 19.2 points and 5.5 assists per game in the playoffs.
Mitchell has been just as important to the Cavs’ rise. Since Cleveland acquired him from the Utah Jazz in 2022, he has averaged 26.7 points per game in the regular season and 27.3 points per game in the playoffs while wearing a Cavaliers uniform. Across his career with the Jazz and Cavaliers, Mitchell enters this season at 25.1 points per game in the regular season and 27.8 points per game in the playoffs.
Harden’s résumé is still one of the strongest in the league’s history. He has played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, Clippers and Cavaliers, and his career averages sit at 24.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game in the regular season, along with 22.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game in the playoffs.
His peak seasons came with plenty of hardware, too. Harden made the NBA Finals in 2012 with the Thunder, who lost to LeBron and the Miami Heat in five games. He has also been named to 11 All-Star teams and eight All-NBA teams, won Sixth Man of the Year in 2011-12 and took home MVP honors in 2017-18.
Cleveland’s last postseason run showed how far the team has come, even if it still fell short of the finish line. The Cavaliers beat the Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons to reach the Eastern Conference Finals last season for the first time since 1992 without LeBron James on the roster. The New York Knicks, who won the 2026 championship against the San Antonio Spurs, then swept Cleveland out of the conference finals.
The Cavaliers re-signed Harden to a three-year, $97 million contract this summer. He held off on signing until September because he was giving Cleveland time to get LeBron, who went to the 76ers.
Now the pressure shifts to what happens next. Whether Mitchell and Harden can finally turn all that production into a championship remains the question.
Golliver pointed out that even getting to the NBA Finals is no easy task, with the Knicks and 76ers standing out as major threats. And if Cleveland does break through in the East, the road still looks steep: the Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves or Denver Nuggets could be waiting out West.
In Other News...
Cavaliers May Have Found The Wing Help This Roster Needed
Mario Hezonja is back on an NBA roster, and the Cavaliers are taking a low-risk look at a player whose journey has taken him through several seasons in Europe. Cleveland brought him in on a one-year minimum deal as part of its effort to shore up wing depth, and early exhibition games have suggested there may be something worth exploring here beyond simple camp competition.
Hezonja has looked more physical and athletic in those tune-up minutes, which is exactly the sort of trait that can matter for a team trying to build a sturdier bench behind its core. If that carries into the season, he could give the Cavaliers a useful option on the wing and potentially bring more to the table than Dean Wade did in that reserve role, even as the larger question remains how much of this early promise translates once the games count. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics Exposed A Cavaliers Problem Kenny Atkinson Has To Solve
The Cavaliers preseason opener offered Kenny Atkinson an early look at both the promise and the problems still waiting to be sorted out. Cleveland fell to Boston 124-113, and while the score mattered less than the process, Atkinson had plenty to like from the way Peyton Watson attacked with creativity and athleticism, along with the work of second-round pick Meleek Thomas and Craig Porter Jr.
What stood out most, though, was how often the Celtics kept creating extra chances, a reminder that the Cavs front line has some clean-up to do before the games count for real. The rebounding issues were hard to miss, and with James Harden out as a precaution because of ankle soreness, the opener became less about the final result and more about how quickly Cleveland can tighten the details that tend to decide better teams. [Read more 🡒]
Tyrese Proctor Just Made Clevelands Guard Battle A Lot More Real
Tyrese Proctor has already done the part young guards usually hear about and then have to prove later. After getting feedback from Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson, he put real work into strength training and showed notable physical improvement, a sign that Clevelands development message is landing with him. For a team trying to sort out its backcourt depth, that matters, especially with Proctor working to carve out a role in a group that also includes Craig Porter Jr. and Meleek Thomas.
Proctors case gets stronger because he is not just adding muscle, he is absorbing lessons from established scorers around him, including Donovan Mitchell and James Harden. That kind of daily education can speed up the learning curve, but the Cavaliers still appear to be looking for a very specific defensive profile before they settle the backup guard rotation. So while Proctor has made this competition more interesting, the final shape of the bench remains very much up in the air. [Read more 🡒]