These last ten days have been complicated for the Cavaliers. With a victory against the Sixers and the return of Donovan Mitchell, JB Bickerstaff's players were full of ambition to conquer the West. A “road trip” to unite the group after a delicate period, marked by seven defeats in ten matches. Unfortunately, from the first evening in Denver, this series of trips turned into a nightmare.
Like the Bucks, the Ohio franchise has collapsed in recent days. In addition to this 29-point loss against the Nuggets, they also lost by 21 points in Phoenix, then by 19 and 26 in Los Angeles, against the Lakers and the Clippers. Fortunately, they crossed paths with Jazz to find a little smile again.
” We are disappointed. We needed this victory,” regrets Isaac Okoro. “It’s just a very disappointing loss. We all know that right now we need victories. I wanted her so much. »
A qualification for the playoffs which remains to be validated
The lack of consistency in the game is obviously a problem with one week remaining in the regular season. The problem is that they have not validated their ticket for the playoffs.
Certainly, Donovan Mitchell's teammates are guaranteed to at least play the “play-in”. But after remaining in the top three in the East for a long time, they moved back to 5th place, behind the Knicks, and have lost, for the moment, home field advantage for the first round of the playoffs!
“This one hurts”, confirms Darius Garland after the loss against the Clippers. “We move on to the next one. There are still three games to play. We need to increase our intensity and focus to be able to win these next three games and prepare for the playoffs.”
Fortunately, to finish the regular season, the Cavs will host in their last three meetings. They will welcome the Grizzlies, the Pacers before finishing against the Hornets. That is to say two teams out of three which are clearly below the 50% victory mark. Suffice to say that they have their destiny in their hands to avoid the “play-in”, and regain home advantage over the Knicks and the Magic, who are ahead of them.
