The Cleveland Cavaliers lost one they’d probably like to have back. The Dallas Mavericks beat them 130-120. Let’s go over today’s winners and losers.

I planned on giving Max Strus a winner today, regardless of the outcome. Playing in your first game since May of last year is a moral victory all on its own. That’s something to be proud of.

And then Strus hit his first three three-point attempts and set Rocket Arena on fire.

“The expectation is that he’s as close to his identity as possible,” said Kenny Atkinson before the game. “That means how hard he plays, his enthusiasm, kind of the intangibles. Those are the expectations.”

Strus blew away any expectations you might have had for him in his debut. Simply clearing the final hurdle and returning after nearly half a year of recovery would have already been enough. But Strus has taught us not to underestimate him. He always finds a way to overdeliver.

“Under promise, overdeliver,” said Aktinson. “I remember last year, he was out, I wasn’t expecting a lot, and we got way, way more than I thought.”

Today was a lightning-quick reminder of how valuable Strus is to this team. It’s not just his ability to become a human flamethrower from downtown, but also to ignite the crowd and elevate everyone else around him. He’s the ultimate teammate and someone who is impossibly easy to root for.

Welcome back, Max.

Defensive identity is something the Cavaliers have repeatedly mentioned throughout the season. They want to be known for their defense first, offense second. But as of late, any semblance of a defensive identity they had has been slipping away.

Before their previous beatdown over the Mavericks on Friday, the Cavs had fallen to 16th in defensive rating over the last two weeks. They showed a strong effort on Friday, but reverted to some of their worst tendencies on Sunday afternoon.

How about stopping the ball before it gets to the paint? Or maybe paying attention to the play when your man doesn’t have the ball? Help defense is important. But overhelping doesn’t actually help anyone. Failing to rotate and recover is as certain a death blow as there is in sports.

The Mavericks looked comfortable all day long. That’s not a good sign for your defense. Dallas drove to the paint and sprayed the ball out for quality three-point shots throughout the game. It’s no wonder they hovered around a 50% from downtown for the first three quarters.

Sure, you can say the Cavs miss Jarrett Allen. He’d patch up some of their issues in the paint. But the complete and total inability to stop penetration isn’t being solved by the bigs. And containing three-point attempts isn’t their primary job, either.

In short, Cleveland’s backcourt has some serious soul-searching to do before the playoffs begin.