Max Strus made his long-awaited 2025-26 Season debut as the Cleveland Cavaliers welcomed the Dallas Mavericks to Rocket Arena on Sunday. 

What should have been a celebratory day, with Strus providing some of the game's biggest fireworks, was spoiled, however, by the Cavs miserable effort and a 130-120 loss to the tanking Mavs. 

Here's what stood out from the brutal loss:

After months away rehabbing from surgery to repair a fracture in his foot, Strus finally returned to action for Cleveland and boy did he find a way to celebrate the occasion. Strus was the second sub of the bench, with 4:53 to go in the first quarter. A little over a minute later he knocked down a three that brought Rocket Arena to its feHe drilled two over the course of the next minute to punctuate his first rotation with nine quick points on three-for-three shooting. He provided plenty of his classic Max Strus moments along the way, tipping out rebounds for second-chance opportunities, hustling for loose balls and being snarky with the refs. 

He ultimately finished with 24 points, the second most on the team, while going 7-of-9 from three, while snagging eight boards and an assist in what was certainly a successful season debut. It's all about Kenny Atkinson figuring out where he fits in the rotation from here. 

You'd be hard-pressed to find a worse James Harden performance since he joined the Cavs at the trade deadline. The Cavs newest star was on a milk carton for most of Sunday's loss. He had two points on two field goals attempted in the first quarter, then went 0-for-4 shooting in the second. 

He added one more bucket in the third on a single shot attempt and then finally found something in the fourth, going 2-for-5 with 4 free throws to score 9 points, but it was way too little, way too. late.

Harden finished with just 13 points, and also 6 costly turnovers. It's forgivable for a Sunday matinee game in March, but simply put, the Cavs need more from Haren. 

Atkinson went as far as calling his team's effort "permissive" after the game. It's a fair adjective to use, especially when it comes to defending the three-point line.

The Mavs entered Sunday ranked 28th in three-point percentage as a team, shooting 33.9% for the season. In their win, they shot 50% as Cleveland struggled to close out at times and really contest many of the looks. 

There just seemed to be a lack of overall effort on that end of the floor and it allowed Dallas to build some confidence early and then just keep that momentum rolling into the second half. 

The Browns aren't the only team in town that has a hard time winning games on Sundays. That Cavaliers' Sunday woes continued against Dallas, with the loss dropping them below 500 on the season on Sundays – the only day of the week they're under 500. 

On one hand, Cleveland has played some of the best teams in the league on Sunday; they lost to the Celtics last Sunday, the Thunder back on Feb. 22, and the Pistons on Jan. 4. That's not an excuse for this one, though, against a Mavs team that is 23 games under 500. 

The bigger discrepancy is with the time of day Sunday games are played. Cleveland is 4-1 in Sunday evening games, but now 1-5 in games that tip on Sunday afternoons

The Cavs better hope they avoid too many Sunday afternoon games in the playoffs. 

Dean Wade was making a concerted effort to be an aggressor early on in this game He had a quick trigger from beyond the arc, pulling up four times in the first half and knocking down two. On a few possessions, he got downhill and attacked the basket as well.

Wade went to the half with shooting 5-of-8 from the floor with 12 points. He followed it up be disappearing in the second half, where he took a single shot. Strus actually closed out the game with the starters in his place. 

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