On Monday night, the Cleveland Cavs’ puzzling 2025-26 season continued with a frustrating home loss at the hands of the Utah Jazz. The Jazz were coming off of a 55-point loss to the lowly Charlotte Hornets two nights earlier, but were able to do enough to earn a 123-112 victory on the road over the Cavs, who now sit at 22-19 on the season.
After the game, Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson was understandably frustrated with his team’s performance in the loss.
“Kenny Atkinson feels ‘psychology of sports’ was the difference tonight. After scoring 146 on Minnesota and with Utah taking one on the chin vs. Charlotte, he thinks #Cavs got on their high horse,” reported Spencer Davies of ClutchPoints on X, formerly Twitter.
“We were just kinda playing,” said Atkinson, who also admitted that he had to be better himself, per Davies.
At this point, it’s unclear what high horse the Cavs have to get on, considering how poor they’ve been for large stretches of the season so far.
The Cavs entered this season widely expected to be the best or second-best team in the Eastern Conference at worst, but they have vastly underperformed relative to those lofty aspirations so far, with Evan Mobley still yet to take the leap that so many have projected for him, and Darius Garland also suffering through one of the worst seasons of his career.
At this point, it’s unclear if the Cavs will consider making a trade to try to give this roster a jolt as the deadline approaches. Last year’s deadline acquisition, De’Andre Hunter, has also been among the many Cavs players to underperform this year.
In any case, the Cavs will look to get back in the win column on Wednesday evening against the Philadelphia 76ers on the road. That game is set to tip off at 7:00 pm ET.