“It's going to eat at us”- Cleveland Cavaliers’ president Koby Altman addresses key mistakes during series against Indiana Pacers

TOI Sports Desk / TIMESOFINDIA.COM / May 20, 2025, 08:23 IST

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Following a disappointing playoff exit despite a strong regular season, Cleveland Cavaliers president Koby Altman addressed the team's need to improve their mental toughness and ability to perform at the highest level during intense competition. Altman emphasized the importance of making winning plays and maintaining focus, particularly in crucial moments, to succeed in the playoffs.

“It's going to eat at us”- Cleveland Cavaliers’ president Koby Altman addresses key mistakes during series against Indiana Pacers

Cleveland Cavaliers’ president Koby Altman addresses team’s goal for the next season (Image Source: Getty)

For the Cleveland Cavaliers, this regular season has been pretty strong. But they did face a disappointing playoff exit. For fans, players, and team staff, everybody has been upset about it. While the team has a lot of talent, including three All-Stars and the Defensive Player of the Year, the issue pertains to salary cap, and it will be hard for them to make big changes this offseason, but the team shouldn’t have to face any consequences. Team president Koby Altman addressed a press conference regarding the team’s performance so far.

Koby Altman says focusing on performing better for next season

The Cleveland Cavaliers' president Koby Altman addressed a press conference on Monday, where he said the Cavaliers need to focus on improving certain areas to perform better in the playoffs and go further next season.

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Koby Altman said, "I think there's a mental toughness that you have to get by going through these failures in the playoffs, I think people speak to the physicality - It was a physical, physical series against the Pacers. But watch every single series, they're all physical. They're all grabbing hold. They're all pushing from afar.”Further, he explained ‘mental toughness’ matters the most. He said:"There's a mental toughness that we're going to have to get to that a lot of the Pacers had. At the end of some of those games [against the Pacers], that's what we saw. They made those winning plays at the end, They made those winning plays at the end. And as much as we won the possession battle, and dominated the possession battle throughout the playoffs, that one foul-line blockout at the end of Game 2, right? That’s a level of focus and winning that we have to get to, and it’s going to eat at us,” Altman added.He explained, “We’ve become very, very good at the regular season, Eight-two games. We’ve been brilliant [in the last three years]. ... Now the next is, we need to figure out how to win at the highest level when everyone’s juices are up, when everyone’s competing at the highest level, it’s more physical.”While talking from a performance standpoint, he said:“The hard part was the plan that we laid out over the course of the year was phenomenal from a performance standpoint, The year before, we were limping into the playoffs. We didn’t want that. So minutes came down. Let’s elevate them at the end of the year, let’s have some ramp-up. Let’s be our best heading into the playoffs, and we were in the first round," he said.Also Read: Tyrese Haliburton Shuts Down Haters With Playoff Heroics—LeBron James Backs Him Up: ‘Super Cool'Koby Altman praised the team’s efforts for the phenomenal performance, despite all struggles.

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