Jaylon Tyson Says the Quiet Part Out Loud About the ‘Cruise Control’ Approach

After that The Cleveland Cavaliers’ third straight loss on Sunday nightFor Peyton Pritchard and the Boston Celtics, second-year point guard Jaylon Tyson spoke to reporters about the state of the Cavs as November officially drew to a close.

“I just think we’re in cruise control, right? As a team, I don’t think we’re hungry enough,” Tyson said bluntly in the postgame locker room after the 117-115 loss. “What happened to us last year, it’s a similar thing that happened this year — running out of the gym, getting hit on the glass. Toughness, right? So, I mean, it’s just a common theme and ultimately it’s up to us to fix.”

Once again, the Cavs had to rely on their most inexperienced players to dig them out of a 21-point hole against the Celtics. Tyson, Nae’Quan Tomlin, Tyrese Proctor and Craig Porter Jr. they put on their hard hats to clean up the mess left by the main guys. That’s something Tyson and Cleveland can feel, “one thousand percent,” and, while he didn’t speak for himself, Donovan Mitchell agrees.

“That’s what drives us, honestly,” Tyson said. “I mean, near the end of the third, that’s what got us going, the second unit. And honestly, it’s on all of us to feed off their energy. Don said it: young guys and role players, we shouldn’t have to bring energy every time, right? Like, everybody’s got to bring energy. Everybody’s got to invest in this thing, and that.”

“We just can’t go down by 20,” Evan Mobley he added. “We’ve got to find a way to put in that speed that we had in the third and fourth quarters the whole game. We can’t get down that much and try to come back.”

Plus-minus isn’t always the best story for basketball, but it told the right story in this particular case. In order for wine and gold to wade through the mud and come out dry on the other side, it is necessary to hold each other accountable.

“Unify as a team,” Tyson said. “Do your job and just, like, compete. I want that more than the other team. I feel like teams want that more than us. There’s a target on the back of a lot of our guys. A lot of our guys, right? And it’s everybody’s job to go for it. You want to come at us, let’s go. Let’s make it a dogfight, right? It’s a fight.”

“We have to bring it every time we step on the floor,” Mobley added. “Every second of the game, we can’t give up. We can’t let them … like at the end of the first half, how they went up like that in less than a minute. You just can’t have those little mistakes, and you can’t string them together. But we’re going to watch film, we’re going to watch it, we’re going to fix it, and we’re going to do better.”

Down 7-0 in the first 68 seconds Sunday, Tyson called out Cleveland slow starts.

“We have equipment that we can reach in times when we are in difficult situations, if that makes sense,” Tyson said. “And I feel like we have to hit that gear from the jump. That’s a common theme, from the jump. Even last year, we would never get off to a good start. So we adjust our mindset, get into games, and then hit that gear early and hit teams in the face.

“Because I feel like they just keep hitting us, hitting us, hitting us, and then we go, wait, wait, wait. We’re in cruise control. And then the fourth quarter comes and we’re just expecting a miracle comeback.”

Clearly not holding back, Tyson said the reason he’s so upset is because he and the team know what they’re capable of. One of his biggest takeaways from the loss in Boston, ironically, is that the Cavs can win every game they play.

“I mean, if you look at this whole locker room, we’ve got guys,” Tyson said. “We say it all the time. Like, we’re (them) 1-15. And obviously, we’ve got three of the best players in the NBA. Our starting five, I’ll put them up there with anybody in the NBA. One of the most talented teams in the NBA.

“But talent doesn’t win championships. It’s all the little things, the little things, the hunger. I feel like that’s what wins championships.”

The Cavs are 12-9 and have a chance to make things right on Monday night, the second night of back-to-back games against the Indiana Pacers.

“Everybody wants to be better, everybody wants to win, everybody wants us to be the best we can be, but right now we’re not,” Mobley added. “And so, we have to find a way to fix it.”

“Frustration could help, honestly, a little bit. You use it to fuel improvement. That’s the kind of energy that builds up, and you just use it as fuel, and you get better, and you just can’t have that be a drawback.”

Here’s hoping Tyson’s message doesn’t fall on one ear and out the other for the rest of the group, because it needs to be heard.