The Cavaliers have heard the label before, and they have no interest in pretending the regular season is disposable.
Cleveland has spent enough time in the public eye as a team that piles up wins from October through March, only to get dismissed when the games matter most. Even after reaching the Eastern Conference Finals last season, that chatter never really disappeared.
But inside the locker room, the view is different. Donovan Mitchell made that clear when he pushed back on the idea that teams can simply flip a switch once the playoffs arrive.
“You can’t just show up in April and expect to figure it out,” said Donovan Mitchell. “I think the normal NBA fan might not fully understand that concept… This is a building block; it’s time spent, it’s adversity.”
Mitchell also pointed to another layer of what the regular season is actually for - not just wins and losses, but the moments that expose who a team really is.
“I think Joe Mazzula said something like, everyone loves each other in training camp, but come December, January, when you’re missing shots, when we have to get a stop, who are you then?” said Mitchell. “That all comes in the regular season.”
Kenny Atkinson echoed that thinking, stressing how much the standings matter in a league where even a short skid can change everything.
“I think it’s more important than ever,” said Kenny Atkinson. “[Getting] playoff seeds, home-court seeds, it’s going to be an absolute battle.
There’s no waiting. We’ve got to fight for the playoffs and fight for a good seed.”
That urgency has already shown up early for Cleveland. The Cavs opened by blowing a 29-point lead against the Philadelphia 76ers, then almost coughed up a 22-point fourth-quarter edge to the Brooklyn Nets a few days later.
Those kinds of games are painful in the moment, but Mitchell said they can also become part of the team’s growth.
“We don’t really have much to prove to people, so to speak, until we get to May and June,” said Mitchell. “But I think this is where these two games very well may help us in April, May or June.”
That, in the end, is the Cavs’ case for why the regular season still matters. It is where habits form, chemistry gets built, and a team learns what it can lean on when the pressure rises. Mitchell put it plainly.
“I don’t think you can just show up physically and mentally in the playoffs and be like, I’m ready to go,” said Mitchell. “You need to build that chemistry”
In Other News...
Peyton Watson Is Giving The Cavs Something They May Really Need
Amid the early-season chaos around the league, Peyton Watson has given Cleveland a different kind of lift in a recent overtime win, the sort that tends to matter more when games tighten and possessions get ugly. The Cavaliers have plenty of scorers they can lean on, but Watsons value showed up in the areas that dont always make the highlight reel, with his activity helping swing momentum on both ends while the team keeps sorting out its rotation.
The offense still has a bit of a project attached to it, though, and that is the piece Cleveland will keep watching as the sample grows. Watsons size and defensive energy are already giving the Cavaliers something they can build on, but the next question is whether his shot becomes reliable enough to make him more than a situational weapon as the season moves along. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Win Still Exposed A Frustrating Problem Mobley And Allen Haven't Fixed
The Cavaliers got the overtime win they needed against Minnesota, but the box score still pointed to a nagging problem that has followed them at times this season. Even with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen anchoring the front line, Cleveland was hurt on the defensive glass, and the Wolves extra chances kept possessions alive in a way that made the game far harder than it should have been.
For a team built to defend at a high level, the issue goes beyond two big men doing their job. Rebounding on the defensive end has to be a full-team task, with guards and wings helping close possessions before they turn into second opportunities, and this one offered another reminder that the Cavaliers still have work to do there if they want to make wins look cleaner. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Win Just Sparked An Officiating Debate Fans Will Be Talking About
The Cavaliers overtime win over the Timberwolves is already the kind of result that gets replayed, but the NBAs Last Two Minute Report added another layer to the discussion. The league identified two officiating mistakes that worked in Clevelands favor, while also backing several other calls from the final stretch, including the non-flagrant ruling on Donovan Mitchell and a foul on Jaden McDaniels.
What stood out most was how thin the margins were late, when every whistle can reshape a games finish. The report said a key call should have gone the other way on the final possession of regulation, and it also marked an overtime foul involving Mitchell and LaMelo Ball as incorrect because the contact was deemed incidental, leaving plenty for fans to debate even after the result is in the books. [Read more 🡒]