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Athens, OH – After a brutal showing in game three, this was borderline must-win territory for the Cleveland Cavaliers heading into game four. That didn’t seem to matter to them. The Knicks’ physicality, defense, and outstanding rebounding helped New York to a 3-1 series lead Sunday afternoon, paving the way for them to upset the fourth-seeded Cavaliers in Cleveland for game five. Despite the starting units’ struggles in game three, Cavaliers’ head coach JB Bickerstaff went with the same starting lineup, with LeVert starting over Okoro. As for the Knicks starters, Quentin Grimes was not active for the Sunday matinee with a right shoulder injury, so Josh Hart got the starting nod in replacement.
First Half:
Early on, it looked like the same sort of start for the Cavs as they had in game three. Mitchell Robinson was his usual dominant self against Jarrett Allen down low, with two points, three rebounds, and a couple of blocks in the first quarter. While the three rebounds don’t stand out on the stat sheet, he was easily the reason New York finished the first quarter with an 11-9 advantage on the glass. Even when he looked like he was contained, he was still able to tap the ball out to his teammates for them to get the rebound. For someone who was an all-star just last season, Jarrett Allen has been bodied by Robinson for a majority of the series, and that will be a big concern not only for the next game but also whenever the Cavs enter the offseason.
Another reason the Cavs were bad on the glass was the offensive aggression the Knicks were playing with early, especially RJ Barrett, Jalen Brunson, and Josh Hart, who combined for 26 of the Knicks’ 30 first-quarter points. Every chance any of them got on offense to attack the basket, they were able to beat their man on the perimeter, forcing one of Mobley or Allen to leave their assignment to try and stop the drive. Once Mobley or Allen came over to play help defense, whichever one of the three aforementioned Knicks was driving would either make the shot, dish it to the unguarded man, or miss the shot but have an unguarded Knicks player ready for the offensive rebound. It’s been like this all series, and it’s something that will have to change if they have any hope of winning another game, let alone the series.
On the other side of the ball, things weren’t much better for the Cavs. Donovan Mitchell only took three shots, making two of them, and Darius Garland had another terrible offensive quarter, shooting 1/5 with his only make being a backdoor cut leading to a dunk. The only real bright side for Cleveland in the first quarter was Evan Mobley having 8 of the team’s 23 points on only five shots.
Factoring in the porous defense, the team’s inability to rebound the ball, and their stars once again not making shots, it was no surprise New York led 30-23 going into the second quarter. What was a surprise for many basketball fans who don’t get to watch every game was how well Miles “Deuce” McBride played for the Knicks after soaking up some of Quentin Grimes’ minutes. He started the second quarter for the Knicks and played tremendous defense on Donovan Mitchell while being a very connective piece of the Knicks’ offense on the other end. One of the biggest conversation points coming into this series was the bench advantage favoring New York, and now it seems they were even deeper than they were getting credit for.
The only other difference between the first and second quarters other than Miles McBride was Isaac Okoro giving the Cavs good minutes off the bench. Since being replaced by Caris LeVert in the starting lineup, Okoro has played pretty well in the limited minutes he’s been given. He was always viewed as the Cavs’ best option defensively on Jalen Brunson, and while his three-point shot continues to allude him (1/5 from three), he made some great drives to the basket with some slick finishes at times.
Other than those two players unexpectedly helping their squads, it was more of the same for both teams. Physical dominance for New York on the glass and defensively on the Cavs stars even when their bench was in. While I already mentioned McBride’s solid minutes, Isaiah Hartenstein also provided the Knicks with some big-time bench production when Mitchell Robinson went to the bench. Cleveland’s offense continued to struggle, with Garland, Mitchell, and LeVert combining to go 6/17 from the field, and the team finished with nine turnovers in the first half. New York went into halftime with a 54-45 lead, which could’ve been much bigger if not for 16 combined points from Cedi Osman and Isaac Okoro off the bench.
Second Half:
Whatever coach Bickerstaff said during the halftime break clearly seemed to resonate with Darius Garland, as he had Cleveland’s offense absolutely HUMMING to start the second half. Cleveland went on a 6-1 run to start the third quarter before Knicks’ head coach Tom Thibodeau called a timeout. All three of Cleveland’s buckets during the run were either scored or assisted by Darius Garland from a pick-and-roll set. Following New York’s timeout and a Julius Randle fadeaway jumper, Cleveland went on a 12-4 run, leading to another Knicks timeout. Throughout that run, Garland was responsible for either the assist or the basket on five of the six Cavalier buckets. You could tell he was starting to feel himself again as coach JB Bickerstaff went to his former all-star guard early and often in the third quarter, out of sets that Garland has been highly effective out of (the pick-and-roll).
However, you can’t go on a run with just offense, and Cleveland’s defense forced several New York turnovers during those runs. No matter who was guarding Brunson, they were being physical with him, and blitzing him every time he got past the first guy. But the best part about the tough stretch of defense Cleveland played there was the fact that Brunson barely ever got past his man, meaning Mobley and Allen didn’t have to leave their rebounding position to play help defense. This forced the Knicks into either bad turnovers or a rushed three deep into the shot clock.
Following Cleveland’s best couple of minutes of basketball since game two, Jalen Brunson went back to being the best player on the court. Whether it was getting his own shot or drawing multiple defenders and finding the open guy, he seemingly made the right play on offense throughout the second half of the third quarter, and his teammates were rewarding him by making their baskets. But Cleveland was able to hang around themselves thanks to Garland’s outstanding quarter of basketball, leaving New York with a slim 73-71 lead after Brunson hit a dagger three-pointer at the end of the third.
It seemed like there was hope for the Cavs to be able to win this game and go back home with the series tied 2-2 following their tremendous third quarter. All they had to do now was play sound, no-foul defense and rely on Mitchell and Garland to be the stars that they are. But of course, since Garland was having a good game, Mitchell decided to have his worst playoff performance of all time.
Now, obviously, he didn’t just decide to be horrendous offensively. New York did a good job double-teaming Mitchell and forcing him to not only get rid of the ball quickly but also rely on his teammates that don’t have a proven track record of playoff success to, well, be successful. While some of them were successful (I.e. Mobley and Garland), it still comes down to how your best player performs in these types of situations. Much like Garland in game three where he struggled to make anything no matter how open he was, Mitchell was settling far too often for mid-range jumpers instead of driving right into the teeth of the defense to at least try and draw some contact. When the mid-rangers didn’t fall, he didn’t seem to change his offensive aggression as much as the Cavs needed him to.
Once New York’s crowd got louder seemingly every time Mitchell missed a shot, the Cavs’ offense began to look like a shell of itself, much like they did for six of the 7 previous quarters in Madison Square Garden. A couple of hustle plays later by Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart on the offensive glass seeled the 102-93 win for New York as they now lead the series 3-1 with a shot at ending it in Cleveland for game five. If there was ever a time for the Cavs to put another game-two-type of performance together, it’s now or game five will mark the end of the 2022-2023 Cleveland Cavaliers season, and I’m not ready to stop watching Cavaliers’ basketball just yet.
Notable Player Performances:
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Donovan Mitchell: 11 points (5/18, 0/4 from three), 4 rebounds, and 5 assists
Darius Garland: 23 points (9/16, 2/4 from three), 10 assists, and 2 rebounds
Jarrett Allen: 14 points (7/11), 4 rebounds, and a steal
Caris LeVert: 14 points (4/10, 2/6 from three), 9 rebounds, and 2 assists
New York Knicks:
Jalen Brunson: 29 points (11/22, 5/9 from three), 6 rebounds, and 6 assists
RJ Barrett: 26 points (9/18, 0/6 from three), 2 rebounds and 8/13 from the free throw line
Mitchell Robinson: 12 points (5/7), 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks
Josh Hart: 19 points (7/16, 1/4 from three), 7 rebounds, and 2 steals
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