Cavs are hoping to learn from surrendering a 29-point lead on opening night

CLEVELAND — Surrendering a 29-point lead in the season opener to a conference rival wasn’t exactly how the Cleveland Cavaliers drew up the start of their season.

“It sucks, it’s frustrating,” Mario Hezonja said two days after the loss.

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As maddening as that loss was for the Cavs — especially after how last season ended against the New York Knicks — being able to play with leads is a skill. And it’s a skill that is becoming more important to learn in a league that large comebacks are seemingly more common than ever. The Detroit Pistons erased a 22-point deficit to defeat the Boston Celtics on opening day. And the Knicks and Indiana Pacers had incredible success the last two postseasons due in part to their ability to overcome large deficits.

Practically speaking, there’s two reasons why we’re seeing teams surrender leads.

“Live-ball turnovers are up, and three-point variance,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said when asked why we’re seeing more comebacks.

“That’s the NBA. People shoot so many threes, so you got a lot of variance. You got the turnovers, and you got the rebounding. It all equals a possession game.”

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Atkinson used Thursday’s game as an example of that. In the first half, the Philadelphia 76ers had eight more turnovers than the Cavs. In the second half, the Cavs had 13 more giveaways than the Sixers. “You lose the possession game, now they got more opportunities. Now a big lead can evaporate.”

There’s also a mental component to playing with a lead that the Cavs need to master.

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“There’s a ton of a particular mental training that you have to have for that,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said when asked about playing with a lead. “I think when people look at leads, they automatically think you are the sole reason why a team is up big when in reality the other team is just as much a culprit of why they’re down 22 as to why you’re up 22. So I think it’s a dual relationship…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cavs-hoping-learn-surrendering-29-004100002.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-25 00:41:00

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