Cavs’ internal strength could be overlooked postseason intangible | Marla Ridenour

INDEPENDENCE — The Cavaliers’ text chain may break the NBA mold for activity with its jokes, memes and running commentary on eye-catching social media posts.

Road trips usually include a team dinner, all sitting down together to laugh, tell stories and relive on-court mistakes that drew unusual reactions from the coaching staff.

On those special evenings some will linger longer than others, but there is never any question about going in the first place.

The Cavs’ bond took root last season, when friendships deepened and their chemistry became tangible. But those on the inside acknowledge that something has changed in 2023-24.

Even with the additions of Max Strus, Georges Niang, Tristan Thompson, Sam Merrill and Craig Porter Jr., their closeness feels more special.

“This year I feel like it’s exploded,” center Jarrett Allen said of the team’s connection.

With a goal of improving on last season’s embarrassing first-round playoff exit against the New York Knicks, the Cavs’ kinship could be an overlooked intangible in their postseason push.

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When it comes to basketball basics, the keys to their contention in the Eastern Conference are easy to identify. Good health. Indefatigable aggression from Allen and Evan Mobley. A continuing 3-point barrage. MVP-caliber play from five-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell. A return to pre-injury form by Darius Garland. An improved bench that has challenged coach J.B. Bickerstaff to expand his rotation. Attention to details like foul shooting and minimizing turnovers.

There are doubters, like former Cavalier center Kendrick Perkins, who called them a “second-round team at best” during a Feb. 13 appearance on ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption.” Perkins said he doesn’t believe the Cavs are physical enough to handle East foes like Boston, Milwaukee, Miami and the New York Knicks, who ended the Cavs’ 22-23 season in a five-game series in April.

But the Cavs have something they didn’t have then — more trust.

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What Bickerstaff called the “aha moment” in that regard came Dec. 23 at Chicago. Garland was out with a fractured jaw, Mobley was sidelined after left knee surgery. The injury list also included Mitchell (illness), Caris LeVert (left knee) and Merrill (right wrist). Bickerstaff’s lineup had only two players — Allen and Strus — currently starting, along with Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade and Porter. The bench was down to four, including little used Damian Jones and rookie Emoni Bates.

But all five starters scored in double figures as the Cavs pulled out a 109-95 victory.

“We trusted each other and we didn’t have anything to lose,” Allen recalled. “Nobody was betting on us, even we were, like, ‘Oh, man, we’re down a lot of people.’ But we still went out there and did the job. I think that translated into how we’re playing now. We’re moving the ball, we’re making it work with what we have.”

Bickerstaff thought back to that night, when “we were down everybody.”

“The guys that were available just stepped up to the point where we were getting comments from our opponent about how well they were playing together and how the ball game was flowing and the movement and all those things,” Bickerstaff said on Feb. 12. “I think that was a signature moment.”

It has not been lost on some in the organization that the last time the Cavs were this tight knit came during their championship season of 2015-16.

While that team was built around the big three of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, the spark for their chemistry was Channing Frye, acquired in a February trade.

Former general manager David Griffin said the Cavs would not have rallied from a 3-1 Finals deficit against the Golden State Warriors to win the title if Frye had not broken the locker room cliques.

“I guarantee you we don’t,” Griffin, now executive vice president of basketball operations for the New Orleans Pelicans, told the Beacon Journal in 2019. “It’s impossible that we would have had the fortitude we did as a unit if [Frye] doesn’t do what he did.

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“It’s not like he set out with the mission of ‘I need to unite everybody.’ He was just Channing. He made fun of everyone for acting like everything was so difficult. He made everybody laugh at themselves. Once they started doing that and coming at it from a viewpoint of gratitude, things got quite a bit easier.

“We didn’t roll 15-deep to dinner until Channing got there. When you’re going through the playoffs having team dinners and everyone shows up together so they can all make fun of each other, that’s a really powerful emotional currency.”

This season’s Cavs had no such catalyst. Their bond has come from spending more time together.

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“Dating back to the summer we’ve had a lot of meetups with the team,” LeVert said. “We met up in Greenwich [Connecticut], where Donovan’s from. We went to Miami for a couple of days. Went to Vegas for Summer League.

"We go out to dinner a lot. We go chill out a lot together. We have a group chat where we’re always messing with each other. We enjoy being around each other and we enjoy seeing each other succeed.”

Allen pointed out the key to why their get-togethers have made them stronger.

“When it’s not mandatory, that’s the main thing,” Allen said. “You can be together and if it’s mandatory nobody’s going to really feel like it’s true.”

Garland can also see and feel what’s happened internally.

“The camaraderie is great,” Garland said. “This team definitely likes playing basketball with each other. Most importantly, we’re super cool off the floor, which makes this a lot easier because we can talk to each other, we can hold each other accountable. We can have hard conversations. It’s not really the basketball piece, it’s just us hanging out off the floor, having little conversations, going to dinner, stuff like that.

“It’s pretty special over here. We have a good group.”

The evidence is in the way the Cavs have played in 2024, with winning streaks of nine and eight games. At the All-Star break, they were 18-2 since Jan. 3, 23-5 since Dec. 16. A packed schedule for the final 29 games could prove daunting, but their emotional currency has already been banked.

Asked if the chemistry is better than last season, LeVert said, “I would say yes because I think winning kind of adds a little extra to it. When you on crazy winning streaks like we have twice now, it just brings you even closer together.”

There’s no guarantee that will be enough to help the Cavs advance further in the playoffs than last year. There’s no certainty that the group’s inner strength will help them vanquish a more physical foe.

But Allen could envision a scenario when such intangibles might become important.

“When things get tough, you’re going to fall back on what you know,” Allen said. “And if you fall back on playing with each other, the bond that we’ve created, I think we’ll be just fine.”

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Additions bolster Cavaliers' core of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland