Cavaliers Coach Takes Bold Stance On Loss To Pacers

As Atkinson pointed out, the team posted a defensive rating of 118.6 in the third as well. Leaving him feeling as though his team just wasn't really ready for the second half. Or that they had simply let its foot off the gas, especially once Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton was ruled out for the game.

"It was one of those nights, but we kinda deserved it," Atkinson asserted. "Giving up second chance points, fifty-fifty balls.

"We've gotta give better halftime speeches I think. What were we up at halftime 13? Our standards gotta be higher, like I think we tend to relax when we get these leads."

The game seemed to serve as a reminder that even the best teams are susceptible to lapses in focus.

"We just gotta come out with a sense of urgency, we've done it all year," said star guard Donovan Mitchell after the game. "The past three, we've kinda – I don't wanna say chilled – but didn't come out with the same aggression, so that's on us. We gotta go back in the film room and gotta be ready coming out of the half."

Mitchell seemed to provide a small moment of hope in the fourth quarter that the Cavs were poised for a run, when he scored the first seven points of the quarter for Cleveland. It wasn't nearly the spark it initially seemed. The loss could end up serving that purpose though.

"You always wanna learn through wins," said Mitchell. "When you lose, you kinda look back and figure out what's going on. But we've done a lot of positive things and to have this, it's always good to learn, it's always good to have these moments. Obviously, you wanna learn through wins but to have this happen before the road trip, sure you can say it's good for us. But I think for us it's just a matter of locking back in and doing what we do."

Off nights are certainly bound to happen. However, in a season where Cleveland entered the day 33-4, the Cavs have seemed almost immune dud performances. In a somewhat unique schedule setup, though, they will get opportunity to make amends for Sunday's letdown, when they battle the Pacers in their barn on Tuesday night.

"We went an entire month without a loss so, I mean it was due for one, just didn't know when it was gonna come," said Darius Garland. "Tonight was the night. But year, we're playing again Tuesday. They gotta come see us again."