What's happened to the Cavaliers and what they need to do next after loss to Celtics

The Cleveland Cavaliers are starting to face familiar issues with their recent form.

And it was again evident as Payton Pritchard buried a three just seven seconds in, and he led the Boston Celtics with a season-high 42 points as the Cavs dropped another close one, 117-115 on Sunday night.

From starting the season reasonably well, despite being desperately shorthanded, to going 5-5 in their last ten games and losing their last three. It might not be time to hit the panic button yet – but a change needs to be made.

What change might that be? Well, for the vast majority of their loss to the Celtics, Cleveland seemed to be sleepwalking defensively and offensively; things weren't clicking like they did last season.

You could look at injuries and the fact that head coach Kenny Atkinson has had to pick up his shattered Cavaliers and piece them together with super glue. However, that isn’t an excuse now.

The players that have stepped up in the absence of the usual names on the shelf: Max Strus, Sam Merrill and Darius Garland – have indeed stepped up in the early part of the campaign.

But in their last three games, in fact, in the previous seven games, the Cavs haven’t been the team dictating the pace of the game; they haven’t been the aggressors, and against the Celtics, it could not have been more obvious.

Boston was up by 21 points in the third quarter, and cruising, they ran at their pace, at their flow. They were spreading the floor and finding the right players for the right shots.

Mitchell Madness.@spidadmitchell | #LetEmKnow https://t.co/BInPP0qKSJ pic.twitter.com/9TWHgwqr48
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 1, 2025

The Cavs were trailing by 11 with less than two minutes left before they woke up. Donovan Mitchell made consecutive three-pointers to narrow the gap to 114-112 with 20.5 seconds left.

It was still a two-point game with 0.6 seconds left, and the Cavaliers had the ball out of the timeout. Most of those watching, whether it was in the arena or at home, would have thought that a play would have been drawn up for Mitchell to take the last shot.

Yes, he was struggling with 18 points on 7-for-16 shooting, but he is the Cavs’ main offensive threat. Instead, he was the one inbounding the ball.

The final shot went to Evan Mobley, who has struggled with consistency as of late and isn’t the best shooter under pressure. The ball didn’t even touch the rim.

Okay, Mobley led the way with 27 points and 14 boards, taking some of the load off Mitchell. Still, that’s not a shot you want him to take, and he isn’t a person you wish to shoot the ball to force overtime or win.

Cleveland needs to find their groove because it’s in a slump right now. Three straight losses and a trip to the 4-16 Pacers await on Monday (tonight). The Cavs need to find a mean streak; they need to be the aggressors. They have injury issues, but they coped well in the first month of the season.

They need to get that form back.