A tale seemingly as old as time came to an end in one of the least expected and opportune ways for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
They couldn’t keep a regular-season streak going back nearly four years afloat as they fell in a 130-120 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday. Donovan Mitchell led the way for the Cavs with 26 points and 11 assists. Rookie forward Cooper Flagg countered with 27 points and 10 assists for the Mavs.
“Just not good enough defensively,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said in a postgame conference. “They never felt us. They got comfortable, they got confidence. We start the half, it was kind of the same story.”
Cleveland rolled out a lineup featuring Keon Ellis and Dean Wade in the starting five alongside Mitchell, Evan Mobley and James Harden for the second night in a row. Max Strus made his season debut for the Cavs off the bench following a foot injury that had sidelined him since before the start of the 2025-26 season. The former Chicago Bull ended the game with 24 points in about 23 minutes on the floor as he proved to be a 3-point spark plug off the bench for a waning Cavaliers offense in the first half. The newfound bench captain came at a much-needed time for the shorthanded Cavs, who were still without their starting anchor in Jarrett Allen after he missed the last five matchups, including Sunday, with right knee tendonitis.
“It was a pretty amazing performance after seven months without playing an NBA game,” Atkinson said. “Maybe the best I’ve seen. With that period of absence, to come into an NBA game and have that performance, it was great.”
A tale of contrasting tides would define the Sunday showdown, with the Mavs pulling away with notable leads before the Cavs came storming back.
Though Cleveland looked disoriented as the Mavs took an early lead behind a stout paint attack, it still managed to stay on pace with Dallas as Wade found his stride with a trio of buckets. The long-tenured Cavalier would end the quarter with nine points as he served as a much-needed early crutch for the Cavs, who would trade blows with the Mavs as they continued to use a formidable paint punch to stay ahead of The Land’s own on their home court. A slow 2nd-quarter start nearly ground Cleveland’s offense to a halt until Mitchell and guard Dennis Schröder decided to take the wheel with some highlight scores of their own. Mitchell, now in his fourth year with Cleveland, would become the fifth NBA player to earn at least 15,000 points since he first entered the league with the Utah Jazz in the 2017-18 season, according to a Sunday tweet from the Cavaliers.
A 3-point barrage all but put Dallas in the driver’s seat in the first quarter before a welcomed hero in Strus lit a much-needed spark in his first few minutes off the bench. Though Cleveland found its moments from the 3-point line, the Mavs surged past their season average from beyond the arc with a surprising 15 makes on 30 tries from long-range. It would be their highest clip since early December, when Dallas hit a dead-even 50% of its 3-pointers in a victory over the Miami Heat. A near-even effort from the arc was led by P.J. Washington, who splashed home three shots on four tries. The Cavs, who hold one of the league’s more persistent 3-point attacks with just over 40 attempts per game, failed to match despite the boost from Strus.
“It was an inexcusable defensive effort today,” Atkinson said. “But give Dallas credit. I thought their energy level is higher. When your energy level is not there, now you have to use your savvy and experience and be in the right positions. You might not have a game where you’re super active, and that happens, but there were may too many mental breakdowns.”
Mobley started to show the same signs of life from the paint as Cleveland’s last victory over Dallas in the second quarter, where he started to get into rhythm from the restricted area as he was fed by some of the Cavaliers’ leading passers. The youthful forward highlighted his night with an alley-oop from Mitchell, who took on the role of quarterback as he lobbed up a pass through a tight window to one of his tallest receivers. Mobley’s presence as a screen setter and a roller complemented an inside game that paved the path to 18 points by game’s end. Still, it wouldn’t be enough to counter a tidal wave of Dallas scores in the third quarter, where rookie wing John Poulakidas helped guide the Mavs to a 13-point difference and 40 total points in the quarter.
Cleveland split its short regular-season series against Dallas following the Sunday loss. It last lost to the Mavs during the regular season in 2022, when now-Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić scored a game-leading 35 points to parry 32 from now-Detroit Pistons wing Caris LeVert. The Cavaliers will move to 15-10 against Western Conference opponents and 18-7 against squads who are below .500. Cleveland seemed to find its bearings as it bobs in and out of the win column with a dominant 138-105 victory over the Mavs on Friday, where a former Defensive Player of the Year in Mobley led the charge with a dominant 1st-half performance.
The Cavaliers will move on to face the Milwaukee Bucks, who improved to 28-39 following a Sunday win over the Indiana Pacers. The Bucks, who once started the season at 5-2 following a close win over the Pacers, have won two of their last 10 games as they continue through one of their more turbulent seasons in recent memory. The Cavs are 2-1 against Milwaukee in their regular season campaign following a February loss to their Midwestern counterparts, which saw seven Bucks end the night in double figures as they barely scraped by Cleveland in a 118-116 victory.
The Cavs will tip off against the Bucks at 8 p.m. EDT on Tuesday in Fiserv Forum. The game will be broadcast on NBC, Peacock and FanDuel Sports Network – Ohio.
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