![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mitchell2-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Donovan Mitchell and the Cavs are off to a 10-6 start, well behind last season\u2019s 15-1 pace.<\/p>\n
Addition by subtraction is a time-honored tactic in sports, in life even.<\/p>\n
The maneuver to remove a negative \u2013 trading away a player to break up a jammed-up lineup rotation or letting a malcontent who can turn a locker room into a toxic work environment walk \u2013 can turn marvelously positive for an NBA team.<\/p>\n
But this is not to be confused with the ol\u2019 bean counter\u2019s bromide of \u201cDo more with less.\u201d That\u2019s more like what we\u2019re seeing from the Cleveland Cavaliers these days as they continue their search for the solid footing they had a year ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast season,\u201d in other words? Might not want to put it that way. \u201cLast season\u201d has been brought up often to the Cavaliers, at this point eliciting the same sort of reaction that \u201ccalm down\u201d so frequently does.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve got to let last year go,\u201d star guard Donovan Mitchell said early in his team\u2019s current six-homestand that runs through Indiana on Friday (7 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime<\/a>) and the LA Clippers on Sunday (6 p.m. ET, NBA League Pass<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u201cI think we have to drop the whole, \u2018Well, last year it was this.\u2019 It\u2019s not the same, right? \u2026 There\u2019s different roles, there\u2019s different things. There\u2019s guys who are hurt, guys in, guys out.<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t necessarily put it together, and that\u2019s on this group. It\u2019s not pretty right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Fine, we\u2019ll keep the hindsight tight here: At 10-6 heading into the Pacers\u2019 visit Friday, Cleveland has subtracted five victories from its 15-1 mark through 16 games a year ago. The loss at Boston that ended the Cavs\u2019 15-0 start<\/a> to 2024-25 was a pause, not a veer, because they promptly went 18-3 to reach the second week of January at 33-4.<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t suffer their sixth defeat until Jan. 16<\/a> at eventual champion Oklahoma City. Their 30-8 close from there earned them the second-best W-L mark (64-18) in franchise history, the East\u2019s No. 1 seed and, for Kenny Atkinson in his first Cavs season, the Red Auerbach Trophy as the NBA\u2019s Coach of the Year<\/a>.<\/p>\n After those regular-season streaks of 15, 12 and 16 victories, Cleveland shot through the first round, sweeping Miami<\/a> by an average margin of 30.5 and scoring more points in the last three games (383) than the Heat managed in four (382). Then they went splat against Indiana in the East semis, losing three of the five games at home.<\/p>\n The offense that ranked No. 1 all season went cold in the Eastern Conference semifinals<\/a>: 42.6% shooting, 44 fewer assists than the Pacers (103-147), 41 more turnovers (114-73). Three-pointers became guesswork, a 29.4% (57 of 194) adventure while Indiana hummed along at 42.1% (69 of 164). Defensively, the Cavs\u2019 third-best field-goal resistance got riddled by Indiana\u2019s 50.4% shooting.<\/p>\n It ended at least a round too early for Cleveland last spring against an opponent that had won 14 fewer games. Disappointing, yes, but with a clear mission for 2025-26: Learn from the experience, improve around the margins, and take another step into the team\u2019s collective prime.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not what we\u2019re seeing, however, as the new season wraps its first month. The subtraction from which the Cavaliers have suffered has been a mix of unavoidable and self-induced, with the addition so far only of frustration and defeat.<\/p>\n Losing guard Darius Garland (toe)<\/a> and forward Max Strus (foot)<\/a> to injuries have been the most damaging minuses. The former, an All-Star point guard who initiates so much of what the team does offensively, has appeared in only three games. The latter, who punishes teams over the top with 3-pointers, is still recovering from surgery on his fractured left foot.<\/p>\n Not having two valuable starters might be enough for some to table this whole topic, given that Atkinson and his staff have cobbled together the current 10-6 record out of nine different starting lineups.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s different is,\u201d Atkinson said last weekend, \u201cwe won 64 games healthy last year. That\u2019s kind of the baseline, and your identity\u2019s different. The chess pieces have changed.\u201d<\/p>\n A few deficits remain, though. Things the Cavs as a group and even as individuals can attend to as they push toward a season more reminiscent of what they achieved last year (those stinging words again).<\/p>\n One is rebounding. Cleveland ranked sixth on the glass<\/a> in 2024-25, and fifth in defensive boards<\/a>. Now it\u2019s down to 21st<\/a> overall and 25th on defense<\/a>. That creates a cascade of second-chance failures, more effort expended at that end and nothing good at all.<\/p>\n The team\u2019s free-throw proficiency is down, too, however subtly. A dip to 75%<\/a> from 77.6% might not be a lot spread across 21 games so far, but it was lethal in the loss Wednesday against Houston: 20-of-32 from the line, compounding the 51-39 disparity on the boards.<\/p>\n More toughness and more physical breadth would come in handy for this crew, too. And a little more \u00a0tangible in what\u2019s been missing for the Cavs has been another expected step in All-Star big Evan Mobley\u2019s development.<\/p>\n The reigning Kia Defensive Player of the Year<\/a> is about where he was a year ago in his production, but so far hasn\u2019t shown the extra gear so many fans felt was baked into his progression for Year 5.<\/p>\n All of this has injected urgency for what otherwise would seem a mismatch game Friday against the 2-13 Pacers. If this one goes sideways, what Mitchell said the other day \u2014 \u201cYou can get on somebody every night\u201d \u2013 will dial up considerably.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him\u00a0here<\/a>, find\u00a0his archive here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0follow him on X<\/a><\/p>\n