The Cleveland Cavaliers made a statement on Wednesday with their win over the New York Knicks. Obviously, beating the reigning champions is a good thing, but it won’t mean much if the team continues to struggle following that victory.
Team leader Donovan Mitchell spoke about his Cavs after the win and said now is the time when the real test begins. Cleveland was coming off two painful losses on Wednesday and didn’t want to get embarrassed by the Knicks. But now they have defeated the champs, and it’s important that they keep it up and not fall back into bad habits.
Moving forward, the team has to remain consistent, according to Mitchell.
“I’m not shocked. We have shown that we can respond,” Mitchell said. “My challenge to the group is Friday, Saturday, Monday, Wednesday … I knew tonight we were going to do our thing. If we are going to be the team that we want to be, now it’s on a consistent basis. It’s not after a tough loss, it’s after a big win.”
The next week will be something of a mixed bag for the Cavs, as they face off against the Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Chicago Bulls, Memphis Grizzlies, and Indiana Pacers. They can definitely pick up a few wins in there, but there will be challenges too.
The Cavaliers can now proudly say that they have beaten both the Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers (although they were also defeated by Philadelphia), which is definitely something to brag about. But that doesn’t mean they have erased all the problems plaguing them.
They won’t continue to win if James Harden reverts to his weak offense and passive defense, for example. And they won’t be able to win more games if the bench doesn’t remain strong. The starting five also has to play exactly like they did on Wednesday.
Mitchell knows that he’s in charge of this team’s identity and morale, and he is in charge of keeping them on track. They just put a big and important win under their belt and are 6-6; that’s a good thing.
But the good thing has to keep going, and it’s vital that the Cavaliers don’t ease up now.
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