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It felt like the season was over when the news broke that the Cleveland Cavaliers would be without Evan Mobley and Darius Garland until at least early 2024. Garland is vital for everything Cleveland does on offense while Mobley is critical for the Cavs to match the Minnesota Timberwolves in terms of defensive prowess.
In the chaos and despair that comes with a season-altering set of injuries, it's easy to come back to the beginning and think that Cleveland's season is toast. It puts on blinders and does not see the forest for the trees, or in this case, the Cavs still have Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen, both All-Star-worthy players, on their roster.
The injection of talent is still a solid enough foundation for Cleveland to navigate uncharted waters without Garland and Mobley. Even more so when the Cavs struggle to find consistency or an overall identity on the court. But when Cleveland opened up their multigame homestand against the Atlanta Hawks, the first game in the wake of the news about Garland and Mobley, there was a gleam of hope almost immediately.
Cleveland took it back to basics in their dominant 127-119 win over Atlanta by sticking to what took them from pretenders to contenders: defense.
The Cavs were more than prepared to clip the Hawks wings by hounding star guard Trae Young on defense and then exploiting Young's lack of defensive skills on the other end of the floor. Granted, it wasn't just Young that Cleveland bullied; Atlanta is also one of the NBA's worst defensive teams. By turning up the pressure and constantly turning the screws on the Hawks, the Cavs roared out to a 41-28 lead after the first quarter and never looked back from there.
“It's a moment where you can take a step away from all the shit that goes on around you and just focus on what you love to do,” said Bickerstaff pregame. “Just focus on what you love to do and the stuff that you put your heart, soul, and blood into and just focus on that for two hours.”
Sure, there were times when Atlanta found themselves within striking distance of Cleveland, especially in the closing moments of the third quarter, but it seemingly didn't phase the Cavs. That's surprising, considering that J.B. Bickerstaff said that the overall situation for Mobley and Garland “felt like shit.” But, as Donovan Mitchell shared before the win over the Hawks, the Cavs wouldn't let this divide them. Instead, losing two key stars is something that would bring Cleveland together.
“For us as a group, we got to find a way to just -together,” said Mitchell. “That's the biggest thing. We got to do this together.
“I'm not going to make it seem like we're down in the dumps…we got guys now that are ready to go and step up and that's why we made the moves we made We got Vert, Max, Craig, George, Sam, Dean, Isaac, the list goes on & on. We've got to do it by committee.”
What Mitchell said became clear when he locked in defensively against former head coach Quin Snyder. He didn't have the flashiest scoring numbers – finishing the game with 22 points on 33.3% shooting. But Mitchell's two-way play was the same mindset as everyone else on the roster. The Cavs had a firm understanding of where and what makes them such a successful team most nights and that's just locking in on the opponent defensively.
It may not be the most efficient way to win whenever Cleveland's opponent isn't Atlanta's putrid defense. Regardless, it gives the Cavs something to lean on and helps them find balance in the chaos of losing two of their most important players. It's beyond vital that Cleveland could lock up a win after suffering a rough three-game losing streak. But it's even more impressive that they found a possible identity to carry them through this injury-riddled rough patch.
