In the fifth game of the season, the Cleveland Cavaliers proved their worst vice is still holding them back from their NBA Finals dreams.
Cleveland entered the 2025-26 regular season as the favorite team to win the conference in both the regular season and postseason. Through five games, the Cavs have fallen short against two of their greatest threats, the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics. In the 125-105 defeat against Boston, the Cavs' uninspiring effort showed exactly what they need to fix before it dooms their season to another sorry finish.
In the first quarter, the Cavaliers kept pace with Boston's three-point barrage, knocking down 10-of-12 threes as a team. By the end of the first period, Cleveland held a 42-40 lead. Through most of the second quarter, Boston and Cleveland went blow-for-blow in a tightly-contested battle of two Eastern Conference titans.
Once the Celtics exposed the Cavs' biggest weakness, however, they earned a 20-3 run to finish the half with a 15-point lead. The Cavaliers had no answer for Boston's run, never bringing the game back into being competitive.
Rebounding is going to be the death of the Cavaliers
The same flaw that led to the opening night loss to the Knicks reappeared against Boston. Against highly-physical and high-volume shooting teams, the Cavs' rebounding disappears. With 109 total three-pointers attempted between both teams, Boston outworked the Cavaliers to grab long rebounds on a miss.
Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen combined for six total offensive rebounds. Three Celtics players collected five offensive rebounds individually. Both Allen and Mobley were out-rebounded by both of Boston's starting bigs. Mobley finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, but Allen grabbed only six total boards.
It is easy to see the advantage the Celtics enjoyed in frontcourt rebounding, but that Achilles heel extends beyond just Mobley and Allen. As a team, the Cavs gave up 18 offensive rebounds to the Celtics, which led to 23 second-chance points.
Against a team that shoots the most three-pointers in the NBA, the Cavaliers cannot idly watch a long rebound fall into the hands of a rival. Allen will certainly face the majority of the ire for an undeniably bad performance, but every Cavalier is to blame. Rebounding is a team effort, especially with missed shots that sail past the free-throw line before being collected.
De'Andre Hunter, Jaylon Tyson and Craig Porter, Jr. were the only non-frontcourt Cleveland players to record an offensive rebound throughout the game. Hunter and Donovan Mitchell grabbed a fair share of defensive boards, but their inability to create extra possessions or limit Boston's second chances made their rebounding efforts underwhelming at best.
Despite a great game by Tyson, the Cavaliers need players like him and Hunter to chase down long rebounds on both offense and defense. Their mix of athleticism and positions on the perimeter give them the best opportunities to fill that need for the Cavs. Against Boston, however, no Cavalier showed a willingness to make the extra effort on a missed three.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have set high expectations for themselves this year, aiming their sights on the Larry O'Brien trophy. With the same core players that have represented wine and gold for the last three seasons, allowing the same exact brutal flaw should serve as an embarrassing wake-up call, because another year of ignoring their chance to fix it could be their last.