The Cavaliers were very good in November and December last year. They started 15-0 and later in the season won 16 straight games. No one cared that they won 64 games in the 2024-25 regular season when they were eliminated by the Pacers in five games of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Cavalier s were not a good basketball team in November and December in the current season. No one cares about that stumbling, slow start now. The Cavaliers (35-21) ripped through the Brooklyn Nets, 112-84, on Feb. 19 at Rocket Arena to win for the 11th time in their last 12 games. The only hiccup in the streak was a 126-113 loss to the Suns in Phoenix on Jan. 30 in the first game of a five-game road trip out west. Everything is coming together with less than two months left in the regular season. Confidence is busting through the locker-room walls. “I felt a renewed energy tonight, a belief,” Coach Kenny Atkinson said. “I really felt it with our defense. I hadn’t seen this level of defense locked in all year. That comes from confidence. When you’re not confident, you’re not as aggressive.” The Nets (15-39) were held to 30 of 87 (34.5 percent) shooting. They were 14 of 49 (28.6 percent) on 3-pointers. It was as though the Cavaliers in the first three months of the season had become stale, even as they started playing better. President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman shook things up by trading De’Andre Hunter to the Sacramento Kings for Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis, trading Darius Garland to the Clippers for James Harden, and trading Lonzo Ball plus two second-round picks to the Jazz. Ball was dead weight on the Cavaliers’ roster. Harden scored 16 points against the Nets. He dished out nine assists like he had been with the Cavaliers from the first day of training camp — not just two weeks and four games. But Atkinson praised Harden’s defense after the game. “We’re super confident,” Evan Mobley said after scoring 10 points and snaring nine rebounds against the Nets. “I think we have a great team. “A lot of new guys came in — a whole new team, but everyone is clicking very well. I like our pieces.” Jarrett Allen missed nine games in late November and early December with a broken finger. It was so painful that he couldn’t catch a basketball. Forget about trying to fight for one when battling another player for a rebound. But now he is playing better than at any time since he was acquired in a trade with the Nets in 2021. Allen scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against the Nets. He has been a chief beneficiary of the Harden trade. The game was the first for Mobley since the reigning Defensive Player of the Year suffered a calf injury Jan. 26 in a game with the Magic. The Cavaliers went 6-1 while Mobley healed. Would Allen continue to excel with Mobley back in the lineup? The answer Feb. 19 was a resounding yes. “J.A. didn’t take a step back,” Atkinson said. “He might have taken a step forward. I thought he was the most energetic and dominant on both ends. And James was elite. I’ll give a shoutout to his defense.” Dean Wade missed three straight games with an ankle injury before the game with the Nets. It was the first for Mobley and Wade since the Harden trade. Wade started against the Nets because he is one of the best defenders on the roster. Atkinson plans to continue using the starting lineup of Wade, Mobley, Allen, Harden and Donovan Mitchell to set a tone defensively. The next four games will be a measuring stick for the Cavaliers. They face the Hornets in Charlotte on Feb. 20. The Hornets, a deceiving 26-30, won eight of their last 10 games. They meet the Thunder (42-14) on Feb. 22 in Oklahoma City and then host the Knicks (35-21) on Feb. 24. ...read more read less