‘We’re just hooping on vibes,’ How the surging Cavs have turned their season around

Vibes matter in the NBA. They always have.

The Cleveland Cavaliers built a historic 64-win team last year largely on vibes. Sure, immense talent across the roster is a barrier for entry. But we’ve seen talented squads struggle to play with the joy and harmony the Cavaliers played with last season.

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Even the Cavs themselves had trouble replicating it.

This team fell flat on its face in the first two months of the season. Constant injuries threw multiple curveballs at them, while disappointing efforts and dysfunctional chemistry led to a 17-16 record by late December. Nothing was working, and the team was running out of time to figure it out.

During that brutal stretch to open the season, Kenny Atkinson referenced his championship with the Golden State Warriors — and how adversity can be par for the course.

“Everyone thinks it’s a smooth ride, but it definitely isn’t smooth,” Atkinson said. “That year we won the championship, I think we had a stretch where we went 7-16, we lost 9-out-of-11 at one point, 7-of-8 [in a different stretch] — nothing was screaming championship that season, as a matter of fact, it was like ‘oh my gosh, this is falling apart.”

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That quote feels more relevant now, on February 10th, as the Cavaliers have won 16 of their last 21 games and have the best record in basketball since December 29th. They’ve turned things around in the midst of more injuries and franchise-altering trades.

All the while, they feel more legit than ever before as a result of overcoming their slow start.

“We’re continuing to show that [toughness],” said Sam Merrill after Cleveland’s latest win over the Denver Nuggets. “I say this all the time, it hasn’t been perfect this year. Wasn’t perfect last year, but I think this group is continuing to grow.”

The Cavs began their recent road trip with a few devastating blows. Darius Garland had re-injured his toe just a few games before the trip, while Evan Mobley would go down with another calf injury shortly after. So, Cleveland hit the West Coast undermanned and was promptly dismantled by the Phoenix Suns. It felt like…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/just-hooping-vibes-surging-cavs-130000243.html

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Publish date : 2026-02-10 13:00:00

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