The Cleveland Cavaliers lost their fifth game of the season.
They’re now 33-5 and continue to sit atop the Eastern Conference, but it was a tough setback nonetheless.
When asked about that, Donovan Mitchell had some simple explanations as to what went wrong.
Mitchell talked to the media about how their defense collapsed while they also started missing shots (via Daryl Ruiter).
Donovan Mitchell: missed shots + defensive lapses = loss for #Cavs pic.twitter.com/BSAhKiLO03
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) January 13, 2025
Of course, that doesn’t say much.
Then again, the game of basketball can be very simple at times.
The Cavs played strong defense in the first half, but they couldn’t keep that intensity up in the final two quarters.
They shot 27% from beyond the arc, far below their league-best average from downtown.
On top of that, they allowed the Pacers to shoot almost 47% from the floor.
The Cavaliers won’t have a lot of time to regroup and get it together.
They will be on the road to take down the Pacers again on Tuesday night.
They must avoid getting themselves in the same position they were when they dropped consecutive games against the Atlanta Hawks.
As great as they’ve been this season, you never want to be exposed by any potential postseason foe.
Even so, given their performance this season, there are no reasons to sound the alarms.
This team is still on pace to win over 70 games.
And while we still have more than half of the campaign ahead of us, they should be able to keep this up.
NEXT: Darius Garland Has Honest Admission About Loss To Pacers
