Well, it was great while it lasted. But there’s no need for the Cavaliers to be overly disappointed that their eight-game winning streak has reached an end.
Instead, as they say, the goal would be to just go out and start a new one. Right? Right.
What irks the Cavs is that they seemingly had their game against the Clippers in the bag. That is, until the Clippers went on a 17-1 run as the Cavs’ offense sputtered.
Nor did the Cavs do a great job of getting back on defense during that stretch. Basically, when you allow an opponent to rally in that fashion, odds are, you’re not doing anything right.
Still, the Cavs (8-2) remain second in the Eastern Conference entering Wednesday’s road game against former coach Mike Brown and the feisty Kings.
Interestingly, the Cavs also gave up a major run in their season-opening loss to the Raptors. So that’s two major fourth-quarter runs for the opponent, two losses for Cleveland.
The first step is recognizing their mistakes. The next is doing the necessary things to keep them from happening again.
“The biggest thing is we’ll learn from this,” guard Donovan Mitchell told reporters. “(The Clippers) did a lot of things that we’ll see come playoff time. It was a test.”
You can safely say that 90 percent of the time, coach J.B. Bickerstaff‘s bunch has been fantastic. And no one in the NBA is gonna finish 81-1. So the Cavs were due to lose. They just don’t want to lose like this — not when the game is supposedly seconds away from garbage time.
But hey, it’s the NBA. Anything can happen, and often does.
“It’s nothing to overreact to. We’re not in the locker room freaking out,” Mitchell said. “It’s going to be a lesson, and we’re going to get better.”
Bickerstaff agreed.
“Through all the hype, we’re a team that’s still building, and we understand that,” he said. “So as a coach, you don’t expect to win them all. You expect to have some adversity and some ups and downs, but it’s what happens next.”
Cavs Notes
- Cavs guard/forward Dylan Windler will begin to receive Platelet-Rich Plasma treatments in his injured right ankle, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Windler has yet to appear in a game this season after suffering the injury just before the first preseason game.
- Mitchell is fourth in the NBA in scoring average (31.2 ppg), trailing only Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, Warriors guard Steph Curry and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, respectively.
- Mitchell is also third in the NBA in 3-pointers made per game (4.1), behind Curry (5.3) and Pacers guard Buddy Hield (4.2).
- Meanwhile, Jarrett Allen is tied for third in the NBA in rebounding, averaging 12.2 a game. He is tied with Antetokounmpo.
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