A dominant win over the Minnesota Timberwolves ignites hope for the Cleveland Cavaliers, but whether or not they can replicate that effort consistently remains a key question for the remainder of the season
There's been a growing discomfort around the Cleveland Cavaliers for several months now, but especially now that the New Year has arrived.
Once considered the favorites in Vegas to win the Eastern Conference, the wine and gold entered Saturday two games over 500 on the season. Bad habits, lack of effort, poor shooting and injuries have defined their 2025-26 season to this point. The first three items have often been attributed to the last one, with plenty of people holding out hope that once this team got fully healthy, they'd be okay.
But hope is not a strategy, and with Kenny Atkinson trotting out 21 different starting lineups to this point in the season, concern was teetering on full-fledged panic.
A rematch with the Timberwolves provided some signs of normalcy, though. Atkinson found a starting five that worked, featuring the core four of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, with sharpshooter Sam Merrill at the three.
That group combined for a whopping 110 of the Cavs 146 points in what was one of the most prominent wins of the season. Jaylon Tyson's 23 points off the bench made for five scorers who eclipsed the 20-point plateau.
The effort was also there on defense, where Cleveland forced 15 turnovers and scored 22 points off of them. 10 of those turnovers were steals. Getting back into transition was smoother, and after a rough first half contesting perimeter shots from Minnesota, that phase was much better in the second half.
Certain individual performances were finally there, too. The Cavaliers have promised a better version of Mobley this season, one where he's a focal point of the offense and is enabled to take over games when needed. It was on full display in the second half of this game, where the 24-year-old willed his way to the key over-and-over.
He scored 16 of his 24 points in the second half of play, seven in the fourth. It was one of the first times this season that Mobley was willing to assert himself late in a game to help fuel a win.
Garland was also special, dropping 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting. What stood out was how involved he was off-ball, with his teammates getting him the ball as a cutter to the basket, or in good spots to pull up. It was maybe the most fluid he's looked all season, while continuing to battle through that nagging toe injury. Could he be feeling more like himself?
All these things are encouraging signs, and there have been others over the last three weeks or so. The question for this Cavs team remains whether or not they can turn those encouraging signs into consistent results on the floor night-after-night.
A win streak where many of Saturday's same trends remain would go a long way in restoring some faith in the wine and gold, both internally and externally. There's no better time for it either, with the calendar officially flipping to January.
Saturday proved there is still reason to believe in this Cavaliers team, but in a season defined by inconsistencies, seeing is believing with this group. They'll have to prove it to all of us.