Have The Cavs Officially Turned Over A New Leaf?

Entering Wednesday night, everyone expected the Cavs to win, even without their star point guard in Darius Garland. What we didn't expect is for Donovan Mitchell to have such a poor night when it comes to scoring.

Looking for a place to practice sports betting and prepare for January 1? Visit betJACK Training Camp to get started today!

Neither of these things ended up playing into the outcome, as the Cavs took care of business at home comfortably, winning and also covered the 8.5-point spread that was in their favor.

No disrespect whatsoever to the Orlando Magic, who are just a super young team that is still a few pieces away from being a good team. They are getting there, and drafting Paolo Banchero was clearly a step in the right direction, as he has been on fire in his first five NBA games.

Still, I understand it is hard to think that they could have turned the page against a team like the Magic so early in the season. 

Think back to last season; time and time again, when one of their top players missed a game or one of their top players had a bad game, it seemed like they just folded and played down to their opponent, resulting in losing games they had no business losing.

Again, it was only one game, but it seems like they have completely turned over a new leaf.

Mitchell was just 5/17 from the floor and 1/7 from three-point range last night. While he impacted the game in other ways, he was clearly not his normal self. The past few games that Garland has been out, Mitchell has carried them, scoring 30-plus every night.

So, what did we see when Mitchell was off his game and Garland was missing? 

A bunch of young guys who stepped up to the challenge and got it done in comfortable fashion. Evan Mobley asserted himself with some offensive dominance, Jarrett Allen played to the mismatch down low, and Dean Wade stepped up in the starting role and did his job.

Again, who knows how last years Cavs team would have handled a game like this, considering how they played down to some opponents throughout the year. One game is a very small sample size, but last night was yet another massive step in the right direction for this young Cavs squad.