Cavaliers legend urges team to fix bad habits as regular season slips away

The Cleveland Cavaliers just aren't contenders in the 2025-26 NBA season.

At least, not yet.

On Monday, Jan. 19, the Cavaliers played host to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the defending champions, for the first meeting of a two-game regular season series. While it was expected to be a somewhat competitive matchup, especially considering they were the two best teams in the league last season, the outing really wasn't.

The Cavaliers fell by over 30 points, 136-104.

For the entire first half, Cleveland looked asleep, barely responding to momentum-shifting sprees from the Thunder and being unable to knock down shots offensively. By the time they woke up, the game was already practically put to bed.

It has been a recurring issue for the Cavaliers this season, as they often fail to find their energy and urgency until it is too late.

Head coach Kenny Atkinson has been vocal about the team's need to start and finish games strong, and now former Cavaliers have joined the discussion.

Before the loss to the Thunder, former Cavalier Daniel "Booby" Gibson, who competed with the team for seven seasons, said on The Full Court Cleveland show via the BIGPLAY Sports Network that the team needed to start building better habits. The Cavaliers cannot just waltz into games and expect to win, with mentalities like that being a blatant reason for why teams get walloped when the playoffs roll around.

"The habits that you build in January win you a title," Gibson said. "It's not just showing up when OKC is here. It's showing up with the same mentality for everybody that's in front of you."

"You don't win a title, but the habits you build in January win a title." #LetEmKnow @BooBysWorld1 explains that the building blocks of the postseason are forged right now.

presented by @drinkgaragebeer https://t.co/NOf9JoUhv4 pic.twitter.com/oczTNqSoT9
— Full Court Cleveland (@FullCourtCLE) January 19, 2026

Gibson isn't wrong...not at all

Heading into Monday's outing against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Gibson went on to claim that the matchup for the Cavaliers serves as a preview for how good they can be.

"We're [the Cavaliers] are trying to prove that we belong at a certain level in the East," he said.

Since the start of the season, they've never been able to sit atop the standings, as losing skids have hindered most of the campaign. The team's longest winning streak this season has been four games, with streaks over three games occurring just four times.

On the negative end, they've lost two games or more in a row six times, a mark they hit last season through 82 games, not just 43.

One of the more surprising things about the Cavaliers' lack of success is that Mitchell currently is the third-highest points per game scorer in the Eastern Conference. He's averaging 29.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists a night on shooting splits of 48.9% from the field and 39.1% from beyond the arc.

If the guys around Mitchell can start to get more consistent and play with a series Game 7 type mentality, then they'll have a chance to start churning the wheels back in the right direction.

The team is without guards Darius Garland, Max Strus and Sam Merrill for a bit more time due to injury, with the coaching staff needing the depth to start stepping up and providing relief to Mitchell.

The Cavaliers will next be back in action on Wednesday, Jan. 21, with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m. EST. They'll be matching up against the Charlotte Hornets, who sport a 16-27 record and are slotted 12th in the Eastern Conference.

Normally, the Cavaliers would be considered the favorite, but with how they've been playing recently, this game will probably end up being a toss-up.