After they saw their four-game winning streak end at home against the Miami Heat, the Cleveland Cavaliers were frustrated. Max Strus described himself facing the Heat, his former team, as awful since the Cavs, his current team, were getting shredded on the perimeter. Cleveland head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said that the team was riding an emotional roller coaster during the game, especially after the drain that came with beating the Philadelphia 76ers in overtime.

When the final buzzer sounded, Bickerstaff made it clear: the team needed a break to mentally and emotionally recharge. Thankfully, Thanksgiving was the next day and a perfect opportunity for the Cavs to step away from basketball for a bit and catch their breath after a topsy-turvy start to the season.

“Our jobs are extremely difficult, mentally and physically, because of what we go through,” said Bickerstaff to ClutchPoints. “So any opportunity you have to kind of take a step back and revisit your priorities is a good thing. I think that's what Thanksgiving is all about.

“You have a game like Philly that leads into a game like Miami where emotions are high, then low and there's that roller coaster. Everybody just needs a day to rest after that.”

Cavs recalibrate 

Max Strus, Cavs

Strus, who had an awful experience facing the Heat, agreed with Bickerstaff's sentiments. The Chicago native had a good portion come visit and stay with him in Cleveland, where Strus hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. While he hired a staff to cook for them since he, “makes the big bucks now”, Strus feels that stepping away for a bit, even if it was only for 24 hours, was key for the Cavs.

“It was nice to get away from it,” said Strus to ClutchPoints. “A lot of my family's here, well not my whole family, but my family came down and I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time so that was stressful in of itself. But, it went well and it was just a good day just to be with family and to get away from basketball.”

Jarrett Allen, meanwhile, is a huge advocate of this approach already and appreciated that Bickerstaff and his teammates embraced the mentality of simply taking a breather.

“I'm a big guy on stepping away from basketball even if it's for a day out of the month,” Allen said to ClutchPoints. “You just need to time to reset. I don't think anybody can focus on one singular thing that much so it's good to step back and actually focus on what's important.”

While Thanksgiving gave the Cavs the perfect opportunity to reset and refresh, Allen has a point. The NBA regular season is an 82-game grind and, like Bickerstaff said, it can be incredibly draining both mentally and physically. Finding small opportunities, like Thanksgiving or the major holidays during coming up in December, can be those breathers Cleveland needs to keep rolling.

Usually, a team saying they need a break this early into the season could seem mildly concerning. But, like their mantra built around Kid Cudi's Surfin, the Cavs are riding their own wave and ignoring the outside noise. Sometimes, the wave you ride can be a wipeout and you need to pull back and wait for the swell to rise again. These small breaks are so infrequent that they're vital for a team to make it through the regular season, especially after tough losses to teams like the Heat.

Now, Cleveland has reset and refreshed themselves and are primed to tango with the Los Angeles Lakers in the first game of a back-to-back.