Winning an NBA championship is a lot like building a modern-day hotel.
From the street level, what the Cleveland Cavaliers have constructed looks impressive.
They’ve got a star attraction in Donovan Mitchell. A powerful front-court tandem in Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. A microwave-type second scorer in Darius Garland. And some decent depth.
Watching the building take shape has been impressive. It’s even got a catchy name: Remake by the Lake.
It started with missing the playoffs in 2022 with Garland as the leading scorer, Allen as a first-time All-Star and Mobley as an impressive rookie. Lauri Markkanen and Collin Sexton were also key players on that team, but not for reasons you knew at the time.
Watching the star-driven Warriors and Celtics in the NBA Finals, it became obvious: The Cavaliers weren’t going anywhere with Garland as their headliner.
So Mitchell was acquired from the Jazz at the expense of Markkanen, Sexton and others, allowing the streaky Garland to become a potent second option while Allen and Mobley focused more on defense and rebounding. A solid foundation had been created.
The Cavaliers lost in the first round of the playoffs in 2023. Unfazed, they plowed forward with the philosophy: If we provide valet parking, people will start filling our hotel.
It doesn’t work that way. Yes, the Cavaliers, with basically all the same pieces, won a playoff series in 2024, but it hardly counted. It came against a not-ready-for-prime-time Magic team, before the Cavs got a serious dose of reality in a shellacking at the hands of the Celtics in the Eastern semifinals.
And that’s when the Cavaliers realized: If you want to attract people to your hotel these days, you have to have a penthouse — a place where people have such a great time visiting, they decide to spend the night. Or week.
So the Cavaliers built a retractable-roof restaurant led by a new chef (Kenny Atkinson) and even threw in a heliport (De’Andre Hunter) and a world-class bartender (Ty Jerome). Oh my goodness. With wind-swept views so crystal clear you can see the new Ohio State hardware shining in the distance, a party that started on Halloween hasn’t stopped.
But now it’s about to be Mother’s Day and there’s the 2025 issue: How good is our food? After all, this is a restaurant, not a fraternity date-pleaser, and if you’re going to attract Mom, you’re going to need more than Cake by the Lake.
And the fact is: The Cavalier menu isn’t 5-star yet.
Sure, Cleveland might have enough of an assortment to deal with a second-rate Pacers team. But to advance out of the East, you’re going to have to beat Boston, and the Cavaliers aren’t there … yet.
They need to refocus to 2026 and take a cue from the Knicks, who have been there/done that with the Celtics.
In order to beat Boston, you need …
To match up with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. As currently constructed, the Cavaliers do match up … with Mobley on Al Horford and Allen on Kristaps Porzingis. In other words, they have great dip, but stale chips.
A bright-lights-embracing second scoring option. As we saw in the Finals last year, the Celtics can suffocate guards with the best of them. Yes, Mitchell poured in 35, 35, 31 and 41 points against Boston this season. But Cleveland’s two wins came with no Brown or Derrick White once, and no Jrue Holiday or Porzingis the other time.
The fact that the Cavaliers lost games in which Mitchell scored 35 and 31 points is most troubling. Blame Garland, who shot 25-for-76 (33%) overall and 9-for-27 (33%) on 3-pointers in a series in which Payton Pritchard was on the floor for a total of 116 minutes.
In restaurant jargon: The steak is good; the potatoes are rotten.
You have to take advantage of Tatum’s matador-level defense. He did a great job of standing next to Dallas’ offensively challenged big men in last year’s Finals, and likely would get that same assignment on similarly skilled Allen in this series.
What the Cavaliers need is … dare we say LeBron III? Hey, promise to bring along Bronny and agree to draft Bryce next June and he just might fast-track Matchmake by the Lake.
That would force Tatum to guard somebody and give Cleveland a far more dependable second option.
Call him the maitre d — the people-magnet for your lovely rooftop experience. At that point, the building will be complete and immediately become a nightmare landmark for all New Englanders traveling overhead.
Next season, you’d have a Hot Take by the Lake. Even in Cleveland.
For now, the Cavaliers have only a prayer: Go Knicks.
And even that likely would result in Heartbreak by the Lake.
This news was originally published on this post .
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