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The Cleveland Cavaliers came into tonight’s game against the New York Knicks fighting for their season, facing elimination on their home court. It was a game the Cavs had to win in order to keep their season going.
In this must-win, the Cavaliers never led in this game and would go on to lose this game by a final score of 106-95.
Game five was the series summed up with the Cavs not being able to control rebounds or making baskets, with the Knicks out rebounding the Cavs 48-30, and 17 of those rebounds for the Knicks came on the offensive side of the ball.
The best player for the Knicks tonight was Jalen Brunson, Brunson ended the game with 21 points to go with 4 rebounds of his own. Brunson who signed with the Knicks in the offseason continued to show tonight how much that signing boosted the franchise.
Brunson was one of six Knicks to score in double digits tonight, the second leading scorer for the Knicks tonight was R.J Barrett, who had a slow start to the series and finished tonight’s game with 21 points, to go with four rebounds of his own.
Coming off the bench for the Knicks was Immanuel Quickley, Quickley ended the game with 19 points and the other Knick to come off the bench for the team and score in double digits was Obi Toppin, Toppin ended the game with 12 points of his own.
Julius Randle came into the series with a bad left ankle and reinjured that ankle tonight, before the injury Randle had 12 points for the Knicks tonight, it is unclear what his status will be for the Knicks in the semifinals as he did not return in the win tonight for New York.
The Cavs stars did not play well for most of the series and that struggle for Donovan Mitchell continued tonight. Despite finishing the game with 28 points, Mitchell struggled from to shoot the ball tonight. Mitchell was 11/26 on his field goal attempts today and could not get going on offense tonight.
Darius Garland had a quiet 21 points in the game tonight, Garland struggling from three-point range tonight with only making one three-pointer today. Garland fouled late in the game and received a standing ovation from the crowd as his season was ending.
Caris LeVert and Issac Okoro were bright spots for the Cavs tonight, LeVert ended the game with 17 points and Okoro ended the game with 10 in an effort that kept the Cavs in it until the fourth quarter.
The rebounding struggle for the Cavs’ big men continued, Jarrett Allen had four rebounds, and Evan Mobley had nine in the final game of the season.
The Cavs’ offseason now begins and the Cavs will look to get added depth at point guard and will try to fill out the roster for another playoff run next season.
