8 Takeaways from Cavs 122-110 loss to Trail Blazers: ‘We just got to be better’

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Trail Blazers 122-110 in a way that has become all too familiar this year. They struggled to hang with Portland’s pace, didn’t make enough threes, and couldn’t dictate terms on either side of the ball.

Donovan Mitchell addressed the media after the game, leaning against the nearly floor-to-ceiling whiteboard in the team’s locker room. On the other side of the door leading to the shower area, you could hear Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds playing.

“Every little thing is gonna be alright.”

It’s difficult to believe that message right now. Things seem anything but alright with the Cavs.

The Trail Blazers play a style that the Cavs struggle with. They operate at one of the quickest paces in the league, get out in transition, and apply defensive pressure in the backcourt. These are the exact things you want to do against Cleveland as seen in their losses to the Toronto Raptors and the Miami Heat.

The difference between the Blazers and those teams is that they’re not particularly good. They lack the personnel and skill to enforce their style against most of their opponents. It’s why they had only won two of their last 10 games heading into tonight and were on the second leg of a back-to-back.

This should’ve been a scheduled win for the Cavs, but it wasn’t. They simply can’t combat this style. That’s concerning in a league where seemingly every team is trying to play faster and faster.

The book is out on the Cavs. If you want to beat them, just run.

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The offensive process is a mess. Half of Cleveland’s 92 shot attempts came from beyond the arc, and they only made 25% of them.

Missed threes create long rebounds, and those long rebounds turn into easy transition baskets for your opponent. Portland capitalized on that as they were in the 89th percentile for adding points off of live rebounds.

It’s also nearly impossible to have a good offense when you aren’t getting to the basket. The Cavs were in the 36th percentile for shot attempts at the rim, 29th percentile for accuracy at the rim, and attempted 15 fewer free throws than their opponent. Throw in not getting offensive rebounds, and you have the recipe for a stagnant, lifeless offense that’s completely reliant on Mitchell to do everything.

This isn’t just a one-game thing either. Head coach Kenny Atkinson has repeatedly talked in his postgame press conferences about how his team needs to find a better balance. We’re over a quarter of the way through the season, and things aren’t getting cleaner on that end. And I’m not sure there’s a straightforward path to it getting fixed.

Darius Garland is the one who can theoretically change that. He’s among the few players on the roster who have the skills to create for himself and others off-the-dribble. But this version of Garland can’t.

Garland was a step or two slower on Wednesday than he was when fully healthy last season. The off-the-dribble moves that would normally create separation simply aren’t doing so with any regularity. This has been a common theme throughout most of his games back.

When you’re already undersized for your position, losing a little bit of athleticism can take you from being one of the best players at your spot to just mediocre. Isaiah Thomas is an extreme example, but once he lost some of his burst, he went from being an MVP candidate one season to being nearly unplayable the following.

I’m not a doctor, and I’m not going to pretend to be one, but there’s no guarantee that his mobility drastically improves this season. Toe injuries are incredibly tricky, especially for someone whose game relies so heavily on stopping and starting. Maybe this is something that could improve with additional time off. Maybe he’s just going to have to learn to play with a plate or spacer in his shoe. Either way, the Cavs aren’t going to be an elite offense if this is how Garland is going to be moving around.

This core doesn’t work without Garland in the long and short term. His playmaking and ability to get the shooters and bigs involved aren’t replicated by anyone else on the roster. Additionally, his contract goes from being deserving to a negative asset quickly, which significantly impacts how the Cavs navigate building an elite team around this core.

The Cavs also need more out of De’Andre Hunter. Effort has been an issue with the team as a whole, and specifically so with Hunter. He isn’t aggressive at the point of attack, isn’t moving forcefully on or off-ball, and is mostly just floating on both ends. Being an undersized power forward magnifies these issues.

Hunter is too skilled and too important to this team right now to be turning in performances like this.

One of the most concerning parts about the loss was how well Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley played.

Mobley scored 14 of his 23 points in the first quarter. He was aggressively attacking on and off-ball exactly how you’d like him to. The scoring didn’t carry over for the remainder of the game, but the defensive impact was still there.

Atkinson said afterward that Mitchell was merely good and not Superman. While we’ve seen him play better, pouring in 33 points while going 9-13 inside the arc is elite. Not being able to get the three-point shot to fall was an issue as he missed nine of his 13 attempts from deep. Although a handful of those came late in the fourth when he was trying to will the team to victory.

The Cavs shouldn’t need heroic performances from their two best players to overcome a bad Trail Blazers team playing on the second night of a back-to-back. But that’s how things stand. They needed over 40 from Mitchell to beat the struggling Indiana Pacers. This formula isn’t sustainable.

I’m not sure how things get better. Jarrett Allen, Sam Merrill, and Max Strus returning to the lineup will help. They will meaningfully raise this team’s floor. However, the bar coming into the season was a championship. Unless there’s a major trade, that doesn’t seem possible unless Garland’s mobility returns and this team can stay healthy.

Mitchell isn’t as worried, at least not yet.

“I think it’s upsetting, but there’s room for growth,” Mitchell said. “There’s an upside to this. I’m not going to sit here December [3rd] and say the sky is falling and we’re panicking. No, honestly, this is something that we’ll look back on on film and get better and better and better and better.

“Now I gotta tell you, if we’re in March and we’re having this discussion, then yeah [that’s a problem]. Even in January and February. Right now, take this on the chin. Take this on the chin. …

“Last year was an anomaly. We came out, made some changes, and it just worked. That’s just not how the league is. … It’s going to take some time to work itself out. But on the flipside, as players, we stil got to do our part on a nightly basis for it to work.”

You can’t tell if adversity is a good or bad thing in the moment. Some teams break apart by going through a tough stretch like this after a playoff disappointment. Others use these moments to redefine who they are and are better off because of it.

As of now, we don’t know if everything is going to be alright with this team.

“So I wouldn’t say I’m concerned,” Mitchell concluded. “But we just got to be better.”