The streak was supposed to end tonight. The Cleveland Cavaliers were without Donovan Mitchell, their star-scoring sensation who can inspire comebacks. Moreover, the Brooklyn Nets controlled the majority of the game, even leading as much as 18 points. However, the Cavs’ pride over winning games from such situations looks to be ever-rising.

They pulled through in the second half and sealed the game in the fourth quarter. In the absence of Mitchell, Darius Garland took the reins and delivered arguably one of the best performances this season. He scored 18 in the fourth quarter to support the Cavaliers’ lockdown defense. The Nets were left without answers. Yet, it was Garland who emerged as the annoyed party.

“I’m sick and tired of comebacks, but we played hard. We play hard for 48 minutes. Not shooting the ball the best, so our defense is taking a stand. J holding it down, Evan holding it down, Isaac coming in playing some minutes. It was an all-around team effort, so it was a good win,” Garland said about their fight back tonight.

Donovan Mitchell also reflected on some of these thoughts when they narrowly beat the Hornets four days ago. That time, the Cavaliers let their lead slip. But the message to the team was “we shouldn’t have been in that position,”. During this 15-game winning streak alone, the Cavs have found themselves trailing by more than 15 points three times.

However, as perplexing as it might be for a team with the best record in the NBA this season, it comes down to how they handle such adversity. So far, they have barely made any errors in finding ways to overcome their abysmal positions. But yes, when the intensity amplifies as it does in the playoffs, such lapses could cost them heavily.

No need to worry for the Cavaliers

Tonight was a great example of the things that tend to go wrong for the Cavaliers. From the numbers alone, the top seed in the NBA has been uniformly great in all parts of the game. It’s just recently that their starts tend to be slow, which allows their opponents to take charge of the game early.

Is that something they need to be worrying about? Honestly, if that was a regular occurrence, the Cleveland Cavaliers wouldn’t be sitting on 55 wins right now. Each team in the NBA goes through spells where things don’t flow as per the usual standards. It’s a long season and fatigue possibly sets in.

At the same time, this happening so close to the postseason could lead to some issues. If the Cavaliers aren’t durable, it could open up the possibilities of a potential upset in their breathtaking season. Yet the trick up their sleeve is the amount of weapons they have. Even if their backcourt doesn’t flourish, the likes of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen can become the focal points of their offense on slow nights.

Tonight, the towering duo combined for 44 points, breaking through the Nets’ interior defense. And another thing that always works in the postseason is exquisite defense. Opponents average just 111 points against them. And the Cavaliers have thus far beat rivals by an average of 11 points.

By hook or by crook, they have managed to score over 110 points. This was the first time they didn’t during their win streak, and they missed off by one point. So as concerning as it may seem, a few tweaks and recovery should solve their current woes.