The Cavs still have room to grow.
The Cleveland Cavaliers lost in five games to a team they were heavily favored to beat. Koby Altman did his best to explain what happened in today’s end-of-season press conference.
“I think there’s a mental toughness you have to get going through these playoff failures,” said Altman. “I think people speak to the physicality… This was different because it wasn’t like we were getting shoved around.”
It’s true. The Cavs dominated the possession battle and finished the series beating Indiana in all the “hustle” categories. This wasn’t a matter of being physically weak. The Cavs crumbled because they abandoned their identity.
“We’re not tough, like there’s a mental toughness that we’re going to have to get to,” Altman said. “If you want to talk about toughness, intangible, hustle, hustle stats — we actually won that battle. I think it was the mental piece.”
This is a worthwhile distinction to make. The Cavaliers seemingly unraveled at key moments of the series. Many of Cleveland’s issues stemmed from poor execution, not from a lack of physicality. Their historic regular season offense dissolved into an ugly rendition of heliocentrism. The defense was scattered and disconnected. It’s the details that cost them any chance of winning this series.
Cleveland’s core is still young, as Altman highlighted at the start of his presser. Gaining more experience — and adding weight along the way — could get the Cavs where they need to go.
“These are the experiences you have to go through to get to that next level,” said Altman. “I mean, Oklahoma City last year, number one team in the West, then lost in the second round.”
“You keep going down the list, Denver’s core that they’ve kept together and finally breaking through for a championship. It took seven years for the Celtics to break through and win a championship,” said Altman. “This is year three for the core four.”
Every champion takes their lumps at some point. It’s the ability to grow from those failures that pushes each team to the highest level. Cleveland will have to accept that challenge and respond. If they don’t, this conversation will get old fast.
“The heavy lift was, how do we get the best talent?” said Altman. “And now we know we have that in-house now. We have to refine it, right?”
Altman feels confident in the group he’s assembled. Refining that talent and getting them to the next level is the goal. Mental toughness is important — but Altman stressed the need for his team to get physically stronger this summer, as well.
“We have to get better in terms of playoff situations, how do we win on the margins?” said Altman. “How we get stronger, how we’re working on our diet, our sleep, all the stuff that goes into winning.”