Professional sports is much more complicated than the rules of the game. There are financial and economic aspects, interpersonal and communication intricacies, and of course, physical health.
But the mental side may be the most important one. It is definitely paramount for the flailing
Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavs were humiliated
123-112 at home to the woeful
Utah Jazz, a team that was coming off a 55-point loss at the hands of the equally woeful Charlotte Hornets. It was the latest in a long list of puzzling losses amidst a season that is not only frustrating, but starting to slip away completely. On the flip side, Utah is not competing for a playoff spot, and they don’t have any pressure to win games. They are just trying to be better than their last time out on the court, and against the Cavs, they most definitely accomplished that.
“They were desperate, they were physical, and they won the aggressive match,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said about the Jazz after the game. “They won the mental battle.”
Atkinson said several times in his post-game press conference that the Cavs’ loss was due to “the psychology of sports”. Less than a month ago, he
said after a loss to the Houston Rockets that he felt the game was over in the first quarter because the Cavs “weren’t ready for the fight.”
This has become a common theme, and not just this season. In years prior, the Cavs seemingly wilted when it meant most, were unable to get up off the mat after they got punched, and failed to put forth the effort needed to win the biggest games. But now these mental lapses apply to any game, not just the biggest and most important ones.
“I got to do a better job of putting appropriate fear into the team,” Atkinson continued. “They (the Jazz) were desperate. We just kind of played.”
The Cavs are now halfway through the season and sit outside a secured playoff spot at seventh in the Eastern Conference. That is a far, far cry from where they were predicted to be at this point of the year. To come out and “just play,” given the seemingly dire situation they are in as the most expensive — and most disappointing — team in the league, is alarming in more ways than one.
Atkinson and his coaching staff have to do better. This was also said about former Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who is thriving in
Detroit with a roster that has clearly bought in to what is being asked of them: Be tough and relentless every single night.
“We try to warn them verbally, like ‘Hey, these guys (the Jazz) are going to be ready to bounce back,’” Atkinson said when asked about what he could do to help win the mental battle. “These guys are pros, they know the circumstances. Sometimes you have a letdown, you think it’s going to be easy.”
Verbal warnings. Reminders. Assuming that the players will just “get it” eventually. None of these have worked this season, nor have they in years past. Bickerstaff was blamed for being unable to reach the locker room, and now Atkinson is starting to be saddled with the same thing.
The common denominator is the players.
Jarrett Allen said in the locker room following the loss to Utah that he “absolutely” feels these things are correctable, but it didn’t seem firm. Donovan Mitchell was so quiet with his post-game answers that they were hardly audible a few feet away. A few hours later, the rumor of
De’Andre Hunter wanting to play elsewhere started circulating. The Cavs are going through the motions of an NBA season, plodding through games and saying the same public relations speak, without having accomplished the things that give them the excuse to do so.
Cleveland is, at this moment, lacking a galvanizing veteran who keeps everyone in line. For the Jazz, Kevin Love and Georges Niang are being relied on to
fill in the gaps that head coach Will Hardy cannot reach. In Detroit, Tobias Harris is so valuable to the locker room as an accountability force that the organization is hesitant to trade him despite a clear ability to improve their roster (on paper) by doing so.
Remember when
Marcus Morris saw the Cavs’ locker room as missing something? Many felt this was because of the head coach lacking a voice, and perhaps in some ways it was. However, the conference-leading Pistons appear to be one of the finer-tuned teams in the league — led by that same coach the Cavs used as a scapegoat nearly three years ago.
The Cavs have already lost more games this season than they did last season, and we haven’t hit the mid-point of January. Health has certainly not been in their favor, but it shouldn’t matter against teams like Charlotte, Chicago, or Utah. They simply look like a team, as Atkinson said, that is “just playing”.
The reason the players are unable to muster the desire to play up to their potential remains a mystery, and one Atkinson may or may not be trying to find. Chalking up losses to “the psychology of sports” sure seems like a coach throwing his hands up at the problem that clearly has not been solved.
With this group, it is fair to wonder if it ever will be.
