Report: There remains ‘skepticism’ across NBA about whether Cavs are good enough to break through in playoffs

Ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ matchup against the red-hot Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, Cleveland owns the best record in the NBA this season at 31-4. However, there reportedly still exists skepticism regarding whether the Cavaliers will carry over their level of play into the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

“Despite the evidence that suggests Cleveland is a legitimate title contender, skepticism remains across the league about whether it is good enough to break through in the playoffs,” wrote ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.

“Coaches and scouts point to the Cavs’ depth and frenetic pace — clear strengths in the regular season — as potential disadvantages during the postseason.

“‘I think they’re a really good regular-season team, but when the game slows down and is more targeted, I have some concerns,’ an assistant coach who faced Cleveland recently said. ‘Can Donovan [Mitchell] and Darius [Garland] make a bunch of shots when that happens? That’ll be the biggest question.'”

The shooting of rising star Evan Mobley appears to be something that people around the NBA have an eye on.

“Mobley’s shooting is better, but not good enough,” said another assistant coach who saw the Cavs recently.

Mobley is shooting 41.8 percent from deep this season on 2.8 attempts per contest.

“I think a lot of the questions have to do with if the Mobley [numbers are] real, as far as the shooting,” a scout said. “I don’t think it is. But, if it is, that’s a huge deal.”

There also appears to be some skepticism surrounding Mitchell and Garland as a defensive backcourt.

“Scouts and coaches also pointed to the potential defensive limitations of the Mitchell-Garland backcourt, which teams will target more consistently across a seven-game playoff series,” wrote Bontemps. “One common reference was to Mitchell’s former team, the Utah Jazz, which had a defense built around perennial Defensive Player of the Year favorite Rudy Gobert walling off the paint — like [Jarrett] Allen and Mobley do for Cleveland — to make up for that group’s perimeter deficiencies.”

It’s worth noting that the Cavaliers have established a bit of a track record for getting bounced early on in the playoffs ever since the team traded for Mitchell ahead of the 2022-23 campaign.

In Mitchell’s first playoff stint as a Cavalier in 2023, the Cavs were booted in the opening round despite the fact that the squad held home-court advantage. Cleveland was eliminated by Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks in a gentleman’s sweep that year, with the Cavaliers’ lone win of the best-of-seven series coming in Game 2.

Fast forward to the 2024 NBA Playoffs, and Cleveland managed to win its first series with Mitchell on the roster. The Cavaliers eliminated Paolo Banchero and the Orlando Magic in seven games in their first-round series. Unfortunately, the team then lost to the Boston Celtics in the following round.

Cleveland has arguably its most difficult test of the 2024-25 regular season so far on the horizon. Oklahoma City’s current winning streak of 15 games is the longest in franchise history, and the Thunder (30-5) are just one game back of the Cavaliers for the top record in the NBA.

Fortunately for Mobley, Mitchell and company, Wednesday’s contest will be a home game for the Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Cleveland has lost just one home game since the beginning of the season.