On Monday, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Sacramento Kings by 12 points in De’Aaron Fox’s return to action. The loss dropped Cleveland’s record to 4-6 on the season.
Cleveland’s locker room was reportedly “quiet” and “gloomy” after the team’s matchup against the Kings.
“It was quiet inside the visitor’s locker room at Golden 1 Center late Monday night,” Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor wrote. “Melancholy. Gloomy. Somber.”
Cavaliers star guard Donovan Mitchell spoke to the media after the game and expressed frustration with how the team has performed so far this season.
“I said come to me after Game 10,” Mitchell said. “Well, this was Game 10. Gotta figure this s— out. I think the biggest thing now is finding a level of consistency.”
Mitchell did say that he doesn’t think it’s time for Cleveland to hit the panic button just yet but suggested that there needs to be a sense of urgency.
“I don’t think this is panic button,” he said. “It’s not the best feeling, but we have to figure it out. I think it’s more of a, ‘Let’s go’ attitude as opposed to what it was a few games ago.”
The 27-year-old scored a team-high 22 points in the loss but did not shoot the ball efficiently overall, seeing as how he went 7-of-21 from the field. He did go 4-of-9 from behind the 3-point arc and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line, however.
One of the few bright spots in Cleveland’s defeat was the play of Max Strus, who is off to a great start in his first season in a Cavaliers uniform. Strus finished with 19 points, five rebounds and four assists in 34 minutes of playing time. He also knocked down five 3-pointers.
In 10 appearances with the Cavaliers so far this season, Strus is averaging a career-high 14.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per contest. He’s shooting 36.7 percent from outside the 3-point arc.
Cleveland’s next two games are against the Portland Trail Blazers and Detroit Pistons, two of the worst teams in the NBA. But after playing Detroit, the Cavaliers are in for a tough stretch of games.
They will take on the Denver Nuggets on Nov. 19, Philadelphia 76ers on Nov. 21, Miami Heat on Nov. 22 and Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 25.
If the Cavaliers can’t figure things out soon, their season could turn ugly fast, considering how difficult their schedule will be later this month. Hopefully, Cleveland will be able to pick up wins against inferior teams in the Pistons and Trail Blazers before it faces off against some of the better teams in the league and really gets tested.
