After their four preseason games, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 2025-26 season is now officially underway. Prior to its start, they went 1-3 during pre-season, losing the first three matches against the Bulls (whom they played twice) and the Celtics before turning it around for a final pre-season win against the Pistons. Their starting five looked a little different during these four games, giving new roster additions Larry Nance Jr., Tyrese Proctor, Dean Wade, Craig Portor Jr. and Jaylon Tyson some time to shine.
Once they got to game four, however, several of the familiar starters from the 2024-25 team were ready to take the floor, featuring Mitchell, Mobley, Allen, Hunter, and Merrill. As I sat in the stands for this game, it was pretty special to get to see the main crew come back together for the final pre-season game. That 118-100 win reminded Cavs fans of the power of our starting players.
So far in 2025, the Cavs have gotten off to a solid start with their record hovering around .500, but the absence of Max Strus and Darius Garland may be concerning some fans. Personally, I think that this has allowed for other players, such as De’Andre Hunter and Sam Merrill, to step up to the powerful leadership of the stars of the team.
It goes without saying that Mitchell is a leader on and off the court – I could go on all day about all he does and the way he interacts with fans. He brought a young fan out onto the court during warmups for the October 29th game against the Celtics! But I digress. Having some of the main starters out made them show why they are just as important to the Cavs roster as anyone else.
In the first game of the season on October 22nd, the Cavs took on the Knicks and were defeated in a 111-119 loss. In addition to Strus and Garland being out, Hunter also did not play due to a knee injury that went back to the Cavs’ last game of their 2024-25 playoff run against the Pacers.
With the missing players, the starting five included Mitchell, Mobley, Allen, Merrill and Jaylon Tyson, which was his fourth NBA start! I expect to see some big things from him this season. Even with the loss, Mitchell put up 31 points and Mobley, the second highest scorer, put up 22. Newbie Lonzo Ball had a strong six assists, and our giant Mobley did his thing with eight rebounds. The outlier was Allen, who only scored eight points.
After the close loss and an off game for Allen, the team came back hungry two days later against the Nets. With the same starting five as the previous game and Hunter still out, Mitchell came in strong with 35 points, and Merrill and Allen came in strong with 22 points each. Those performances, along with 13 from Mobley and 14 from Portor Jr. off the bench, led them to a satisfying 131-124 win.
The team then had their home opener on Sunday, October 26th against the Bucks. I went to this game, interested to see the matchup between Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee and our Donovan Mitchell, which were the thoughts of many of the fans. Giannis put up an impressive 40 points and 14 rebounds on the game, along with being one assist shy of a triple double.
However, he was the clear leading scorer on his team, with six Bucks players scoring under 10. When looking at the Cavs, every single one of Cleveland’s players who stepped on the court brought in points for the team, which was the clear difference. Mitchell had an off day despite his 24 points, going 9-20 from the field. The power of the Cavs’ team and strong bench came through, showing that they all can (and did) contribute to their 118-113 win.
They followed that up with an easy win against the Pistons, ending 116-95. The Cavaliers outscored the Pistons in all quarters except the last, with the most notable one being the second quarter where we scored 30 to their 17. At one point, the Cavs had an over 30 point lead, but settled with the 21 point win.
Wednesday night, the Cavs played against the Celtics, which was a highly-anticipated game for many fans even with their leading star, Jayson Tatum, who will still be out for months with an Achilles injury. Jaylon Brown of the Celtics came on strong with 30 points for the game, as did Sam Hauser, scoring 21 points.
Cleveland, despite the wide spread of scoring across the team, did not have anyone score over 20, as Tyson and Mobley were the highest scorers with 19 each. Tyson’s performance in this game shows that he can be a clutch player for this team, taking on a role similar to Ty Jerome of last season. I think he has incredible potential, and Kenny Atkinson must agree, having put him in some starting positions already.
I am eager to see where this team ends up as the first month of the NBA season continues. Our Cleveland hearts ache for a championship win, and this team is fired up to make that happen.
