Talent-wise, the Cleveland Cavaliers can hold their ground against any team in the league. They've shown that they can be dynamic enough on defense and explosive enough on offense to beat anyone in a seven-game series.
Character-wise, however, it's a different story, and it begins with the stars. Way too often, Donovan Mitchell and a random role player are the ones who step up while the rest of the core four go missing in action.
That's especially true of Evan Mobley. He has a worrisome tendency to disappear in big moments and against top opponents, and that was evident again in Tuesday night's lopsided loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Cavs can't afford another Evan Mobley disappearing act in the playoffs
Mobley finished the game with six points on four shots, four rebounds, four assists, no steals, and no blocked shots. He only played 21 minutes, went to the line twice, and had just one turnover. That's mostly because he was actually hiding from the ball; otherwise, he would've had at least another one.
It's not that he can't have a bad game on the road against a team that has made big strides on the defensive end of the floor. What should worry the fans and the team is the fact that he was completely disengaged on both ends of the floor. He didn't ask for the ball, he didn't try to make up for his lack of offensive contributions with a strong defensive effort, and his body language was just off.
It's impossible to deny that Mobley is one of the most talented players in the game. Everybody has seen what he's capable of when he's locked in; he has a Kevin Garnett-Anthony Davis-type two-way dominance, and watching him flick that switch on and off that often is just frustrating at times.
Mobley has yet to take another leap in his development, and while he often posts decent numbers, he's making superstar-type money, and this just isn't enough. The Cavs need to know what they're going to get from him night in and night out, and the baseline should be much higher than it is.
Donovan Mitchell can't do it on his own. Jarrett Allen also has a history of postseason struggles, and adding James Harden to the mix may not necessarily help their case. Mobley needs to step up before the fans and the team give up on him and realize that he's much closer to a finished product than to the potential superstar most scouts thought he'd become.