Cavaliers Notes: Culture, Mitchell, Tyson, Process

One of the hardest things a team can do is try to rebuild an identity from scratch after the departure of a superstar, but that’s what the Cavaliers have done in the years since LeBron James‘ second departure, Dave McMenamin writes for ESPN.

“When LeBron left, we just fell flat on our faces because we just weren’t rooted in anything,” a team source told ESPN. “We weren’t rooted in anything foundational in terms of culture or team-building or player development. We were just rooted in the culture of LeBron.”

After several years of slowly setting pieces in place, the Cavs’ rebuild took a leap forward when they brought in Donovan Mitchell. The athletic shooting guard quickly became a steadying influence on the team, both as a leader in the locker room and a rising tide on the floor. His leadership emphasized empowering and preparing the younger players on the team for the rigors that come with being a top team in the league.

“Four years without him, in the rebuild: one play-in game,” a team source said of Mitchell. “Four years with him: four playoff appearances, three second-round appearances, a conference finals appearance.”

With Mitchell in place, the Cavaliers became one of the most successful regular season teams in the league, but the highest levels of playoff success still eluded them. Sources told McMenamin that the second-round loss to the Pacers in 2025 was like “getting punched in the face” for the team that had the second-best regular-season record in the league. That disappointment created the necessary conditions to trade Darius Garland for James Harden this season.

“We needed to change … I said it even before we won these two series. We’re a better team,” coach Kenny Atkinson said of the Harden deal. “I’ve been saying, ‘We’re a better team, we’re a better team, we’re a better team.’ And even though with James, it’s not perfect because we’ve only been together [for] two and a half months. …I’ll take the character and kind of toughness we added over that.”

We have more from the Cavaliers:

• Mitchell appeared limited by an injury of some sort in Game 1, which prompted conversations, including on the broadcast, about his health status during Game 2, which he started more tentatively than usual. He denied any such injury, writes Stephen Whyno of AP News, saying that he felt “great.” However, Atkinson was less ready to dismiss the idea. “Donovan, he’s not complaining about it to me,” the coach said. “I did see him trying to work through it — probably some stiffness. But I asked him if he wanted to come out in the fourth quarter and he’s like, ‘I’m fine,’ so I think he’s fine.” Game 3 on Saturday night will be Cleveland’s seventh game in 13 days, whereas the Knicks got well over a week to rest after their second-round sweep of the Sixers. The Cavs star isn’t letting that be an excuse, though. “We’re not tired,” Mitchell said. “We’re not tired. We’re ready to go for Game 3.“
• Jaylon Tyson was one of the Cavs’ standout role players this season, raising his points per game from 3.6 as a rookie to 13.2 in his second year while making 42 starts. After playing just 10 minutes over the last three games of the team’s seven-game series against the Pistons, Tyson didn’t see the court in Game 1 against the Knicks. Atkinson said after the first loss that he wasn’t ruling out Tyson and that his decision had been more about how he felt about the group that was already on the floor, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “He’s still alive. We’ll need him,” Atkinson said prior to Game 2. “Don’t know if it’s tonight, but he’s right there. We were playing well with the group we had out there most of the game. He’s in the bullpen warming up.” The 6’6″ guard ended up playing over 10 minutes on Thursday, the most playing time he’d seen since May 9, but he struggled to find the range from deep, going 0-for-3 on three-pointers.
• Despite the 2-0 hole the Cavs find themselves in, they believe in the way they’ve approached the series, Joe Vardon writes for The Athletic. “Our process was right tonight,” Mitchell said after Game 2. Despite not taking a single shot in the fourth quarter, Evan Mobley used the same terminology, saying, “It was definitely the right process. There’s definitely a few possessions you want back and a few turnovers and stuff like that, but overall, I feel like we played a pretty good game.” One aspect of the Cavs’ process was forcing the ball away from Knicks star Jalen Brunson and into Josh Hart‘s hands. For a quarter, it looked like it was working, but Hart caught fire beginning in the second quarter and finished the game with 26 points on 5-of-11 shooting from three.
• Still, the Cavaliers aren’t heading back to Cleveland feeling defeated, writes ESPN’s Jamal Collier. “That’s just how our whole playoffs have been, our back against the wall,” Jarrett Allen said. “We like to keep things interesting. We like to keep everybody stressing about what the next game is going to be like. This is no different from what we’re doing now. We’ve got to take care of home court.” The Cavs shot just 25.7% from three in Game 2, with sharpshooters Max Strus and Sam Merrill combining to go 1-for-11. They’re relying on their role players finding the range now that they’ll be at home for the next two games.