The Cleveland Cavaliers must improve their rebounding, and the Houston Rockets showed why on Wednesday night.
While the Cleveland Cavaliers have continued to improve and get healthy since the start of the NBA season, they’re far from a perfect team, and there are still plenty of areas where they must improve.
Kenny Atkinson has been vocal about the Wine and Gold needing to be better in one clear area, and the Houston Rockets exposed this weakness during Cleveland’s loss to the Western Conference contender on Wednesday night: rebounding.
Even with having two near seven-footers in the starting lineup in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, the Cavaliers just simply aren’t a great rebounding team. They currently rank 21st in the NBA, averaging 43.6 rebounds a game.
When facing a team that thrives on crashing the glass, such as the Rockets, this flaw was only more apparent.
Houston outrebounded Cleveland 51-39 in their victory, and the Rockets grabbed five offensive boards in the first quarter alone. There are many reasons the Cavaliers lost this game, but the fact that Houston scored 21 second-chance points while Cleveland scored just 6 is a glaring factor in the loss.
Nov 13, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers center Evan Mobley (4) brings the ball up court in the first quarter against the Toronto Raptors at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn ImagesCleveland’s coach admitted that rebounding and crashing the glass a clear strengths of the Rockets, and they showed that against the Cavaliers.
That said, when it comes to focus on the Cavaliers and where they are most improved, Atkinson said after the loss, “Yes [there is a concern]. We need to rebound the ball better… We missed a lot of shots, but we’re not getting the offensive boards. We got some there at the end, but a little too late.”
Of course, the blame may go directly to the Cleveland frontcourt, but Allen (7.6 rebounds per game) and Mobley (8.6 rebounds per game) are, in a large part, doing their job. Rebounding is a team effort that includes forwards boxing out and guards crashing the glass; it can’t be all on the big men.
Kenny Atkinson knows the Cavaliers are capable of being a good rebounding team because he’s seen it before, but it’s just an aspect of the game that needs more stress.
“I felt like last year in the playoffs, we did a pretty good job [of rebounding]; best team in the playoffs in the possession game. So, we can do it, just got to, you know, focus on it a little more.”