Kenny Atkinson didn’t need a second look to know what went wrong in Cleveland’s opener. The Sixers turned up the heat, and the Cavs never really found a clean answer.
“They upped their pressure and physicality. It was pretty clear. We did not handle it well,” Atkinson said after Cleveland blew a 29-point lead, via Zach Weiss of Sports Illustrated.
That kind of collapse is hard to ignore for a team trying to move beyond its playoff stumble against the Knicks. Still, Atkinson framed it as a lesson for a veteran group that has to absorb the hit and move forward.
“These are great experiences. This is how you build character, how you build resiliency, how you figure things out,” he said.
“I look at it as a positive; we’ve got a veteran team. We’ll bounce back and get ready for Brooklyn.”
Cleveland’s first half gave the picture of a team in control. The second half showed how quickly that can disappear when the pressure rises.
“We did some great things in the first half and played Cavs basketball, but then they really imposed their will,” Atkinson said.
Now the challenge is immediate. The Nets come next, and the Cavs will be looking to prove they can answer adversity instead of folding under it.
Brooklyn has problems of its own after an opening-night loss, and the assignment in Cleveland starts with making Donovan Mitchell uncomfortable. Mitchell was sharp against the Sixers, posting 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting with 10 rebounds.
Sameer Kumar of Sports Illustrated also pointed out the Nets will have to deal with the tandem work of James Harden feeding Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley inside. That kind of interior pressure can tilt a game fast if Brooklyn can’t keep it under control.
On the other side, Julius Randle gave the Nets a few encouraging moments in their loss to the Hornets by getting downhill and opening things up for teammates, including Michael Porter Jr. Brooklyn needs more of that as its young guards keep working through the early stages.
Egor Demin went through the opener without a made 3-pointer, while rookie Mikel Brown Jr. showed flashes in his debut. Jordi Fernandez has plenty to sort through with that backcourt ahead of a meeting with a seasoned Cleveland group.
Toronto, meanwhile, has started 2-0 without needing its cleanest offensive night. The Raptors beat the Wizards, 112-102, on Friday despite going just 7-of-34 from three and committing eight turnovers from Scottie Barnes, who still led the team in scoring and rebounding.
The edge came on the defensive end. Toronto held Washington to four made field goals in the first quarter and built a double-digit cushion from there, as Jeremy Brener of Sports Illustrated noted.
Winning on the road while shooting like that is a good sign. Doing it over and over is a different matter.
The Raptors now head to Minnesota for a Sunday matchup with the also-unbeaten Timberwolves, and the formula looks simple enough: keep bringing the defense, and clean up the turnovers.
In Other News...
Cavs Opening Night Collapse Raises An Ugly Early Question
The Cavaliers looked ready to put a bow on Opening Night with a runaway first half against Philadelphia, leaning on a strong start that had them up by 29 points before the game completely flipped. Instead, the Sixers took over after the break and turned what had felt like a comfortable season opener into an immediate reminder that early leads do not mean much if a team cannot sustain its edge.
For Cleveland, the most promising part of the night may have been the play of Mario Hezonja, whose return to the NBA gave the lineup a jolt on both ends even as the finish went sideways. The bigger concern is harder to ignore: when Philadelphia tightened the screws, the Cavaliers frontcourt stopped producing enough to keep control, leaving an ugly early question hanging over a roster that expected a far smoother start. [Read more 🡒]
Evan Mobley Reignited A Cavs Concern Fans Know Too Well
The Cavaliers season opener followed a familiar pattern for a team trying to take the next step, with a solid first-half performance giving way to a loss after the lead slipped away in the second half. Evan Mobley was central to the early surge, giving Cleveland a much-needed lift on offense while still serving as the defensive anchor the club leans on so heavily.
Mobleys value on that end has never been in doubt, but the bigger question remains how often he can keep his offense engaged when the game tightens. For a Cavs team that needs more from him than rim protection and the occasional burst, the opener only sharpened the focus on whether he can bring the same presence across all four quarters. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Need To Stop Putting The Wrong Burden On Donovan Mitchell
Donovan Mitchell has never needed much help proving he can score, and that is still the clearest way for the Cavaliers to get the most out of him. The issue is not whether he can make plays for others, but whether Cleveland is asking him to spend too much time doing it when his best value comes from attacking as a scorer and forcing defenses to react to him.
The guard rotation should be built around preserving that focus, with the ball-handling load leaning more heavily on others so Mitchell can stay in his preferred lane. His assist totals can look useful on the surface, but they are often more a byproduct of how the game unfolds than evidence that the Cavaliers are best served by making him the organizer every night. [Read more 🡒]