The Cavs can't win a championship like this. Full stop.
I've been sounding the alarm for weeks, long before the writing was on the wall that this could be the Cleveland Cavaliers' eventual fate if they didn't get their act together. Now, as another loss threatens to send this season further off the rails, I can't shake the words of the wise philosopher Thanos: "Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same."
Dreadfully, destiny appears to be arriving in Cleveland in the form of a 5-7 record. The Cavaliers are officially on crisis watch. At 5-6, they're already looking nothing like the championship contender fans expected, and another couple of losses could send this team into a tailspin of epic proportions.
We didn't sign up for this. Nobody was expecting Cleveland to spend November fighting to keep its head above .500, especially after last season's Eastern Conference Finals appearance. Unfortunately, the schedule isn't interested in anybody's expectations.
The Cavaliers were warned about this stretch
We've been discussing the dangers of Cleveland's early schedule for weeks. Minnesota, Philadelphia, Oklahoma City and New York were never going to provide much breathing room for a team still searching for its identity.
The Cavaliers needed to approach this stretch with urgency, knowing that even a few careless performances could quickly turn a respectable start into something considerably uglier. Instead, they've stumbled their way to five wins and six losses, including an embarrassing 124-112 defeat against Charlotte that was somehow even worse than the final score suggested.
Cleveland trailed by as many as 33 points against the Hornets. The Cavaliers were outrebounded 49-32 and watched another opponent expose their lack of physicality. Now they're heading into Madison Square Garden to face the one opponent that seems almost guaranteed to make their problems worse.
The Knicks have Cleveland's number, all 10 digits
The New York Knicks have become the Cavaliers' personal nightmare, and recent history offers very little reason to believe Wednesday will be any different. New York swept Cleveland in last season's Eastern Conference Finals, winning all four games by double digits. The series ended with a humiliating 130-93 demolition on Cleveland's home floor.
Apparently, four consecutive beatdowns weren't enough. The Knicks returned to Cleveland on November 7 and handed the Cavaliers another loss, this time 109-97, with Jalen Brunson scoring 31 points and Karl-Anthony Towns adding 29. That's five consecutive losses to New York, with Cleveland losing those games by an average of nearly 18 points.
Making matters worse, New York seems to have righted the ship after its own rocky start. The Knicks have won five of their last six games, while Cleveland is still trying to remember what consistent basketball looks like. One team appears to be finding its rhythm. The other looks increasingly capable of losing to anybody. And somehow, we're supposed to feel confident about this matchup?
A loss Wednesday would drop the Cavaliers to 5-7, two games below .500 and dangerously close to turning an underwhelming start into just full-out panic mode within the organization.
Perhaps Donovan Mitchell delivers one of those performances where he decides to personally rescue the franchise. Maybe Evan Mobley finally gets enough offensive opportunities to make New York regret overlooking him. It’s possible Cleveland remembers that rebounding is actually part of basketball.
There's always a chance the Cavaliers shock everybody, including those of us who've spent weeks warning that this was coming. Is that rational optimism? Probably not. But until the final buzzer sounds, I'm choosing to believe Cleveland might somehow pull this off. At least, I hope so.
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