Knicks end Cavaliers season in five

  The same storyline occurred in game five of the Eastern Conference quarter-final series as in the previous four- the New York Knicks were just too physical and tough for the Cleveland Cavaliers and just as in three of the last four games, it was the Knicks emerging triumphant in the game 106-95 and in the series, four games to one in eliminating the Cavaliers and ending their season earlier than expected.

Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with twenty-eight points with Darius Garland supporting with twenty-one.

Swashbucklings

1) It all came down to rebounding and I don't remember who said this first but a paraphrase is this- "rebounding is about effort".

Who wants the ball more and in this series, it was clearly the Knicks who wanted the ball more.

2) Offensive rebound stat- Mitchell Robinson 11 Cleveland Cavaliers 4. Ugh.

3) Cleveland spent the series allowing Mitchell Robinson to resemble the new Ben Wallace and Robinson again bullied Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen in a manner that brought thoughts of Adam Sandler's playground domination in "Billy Madison".

Robinson finished with thirteen points, eighteen rebounds, eleven of those on the offensive end.

4) As for Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, the two standouts of the Cleveland frontcourt combined for ten points and thirteen rebounds- each number less than Mitchell Robinson alone from two of the players that the franchise is building around.

5) Donovan Mitchell led all scorers but an underrated problem that I haven't seen mentioned is how Jalen Brunson outplayed Mitchell for the second consecutive playoff season.

Brunson controlled Mitchell last season in the Dallas-Utah series and it's the main reason that Brunson earned such a large contract from the Knicks in free agency.

Now Brunson has convincingly shown that it is not a fluke and while Mitchell may be the superior player, Brunson has something about himself or his game that takes something away from that of Donovan Mitchell.

6) Cleveland's bench was a weak spot all season and it was in this series as well but looking back on the decision, the Cavaliers made two mistakes in evaluating.

The first is placing their eggs in the Ricky Rubio basket so that the veteran would return in the middle of the season and return to the form that saw him play so well in Cleveland last season before the injury.

I'll admit that I thought Rubio would bounce back by playoff time at least but it never happened.

Rubio notched DNP's in two of the five games against New York and in the three games that he did play, Rubio's court time was five, five, and six minutes in those games.

7) The other was assuming that Dean Wade could at least equal what Kevin Love would or could do as a big man off the bench that could add rebounding and three-point shooting.

Wade didn't play in game five and played in only two series games for terms of seven and four minutes.

I am very leery of counting on Wade for next season and somewhat leery of a Ricky Rubio return, although giving Rubio a training camp to return to playing shape will give the Cavaliers more of an idea of what he can do.

8) Another problem that I see for next year is a similar issue that the team had at the trading deadline this season- they simply have few tradable assets of value.

Outside of the four franchise building blocks of Mitchell, Garland, Mobley, and Allen, Cleveland literally has nothing else that can bring them the help that they need to improve.

With the massive draft haul the team sent to Utah for Donovan Mithcell, the team cannot trade a first-rounder for several years due to the "Stepien Rule" and I just don't see Cleveland being able to do a lot in improving the roster a great deal.

They may be in a spot of riding the horses that they have and hoping for the best.

9) While the Cavaliers did return to the postseason and that's a success, it's hard not to feel disappointed by both their play and their early exit.

I'll go further again, Cleveland doesn't know how long they will have Donovan Mitchell other than this season and two more.

Mitchell has another season with a player option at the end of the contract, it's almost a guarantee that Mitchell will refuse to pick up that option.

I think I'm safe in saying this- Cleveland will need to show Donovan Mitchell some improvement with a longer postseason run next season or the following season will become all about the future contract status of Mitchell.

The pressure begins now.

Knicks win Game Four, Cavaliers backed against the wall.

 The Cleveland Cavaliers needed a strong game in game four against the New York Knicks in order to even the series.

What they received was an uneven one that allowed the Knicks to hold off a second-half rally and win 102-93 to take a three-to-one lead in the series.

Cleveland will now need to win three remaining games in a row or their season will come to a disappointing end.

Darius Garland led Cleveland with 23 points and ten assists in the defeat.

The series will return home Tuesday for game five.

Swashbucklings

1) Donovan Mitchell is certainly entitled to a poor performance occasionally and sadly, this one came when the Cavaliers needed him most.

Mitchell finished with only eleven points on five of eighteen shooting and missed all of his three-point attempts.

2) Darius Garland scored only two points and at the half, Garland appeared on his way to his second stinker in a row against the Knicks.

And then the second half started and Garland caught fire, scoring the first fourteen points of the half and twenty-two of their first twenty-four.

Cleveland took the leaf for the first time all game after that run but would give it back by the end of the third period, trailing by two before being outscored by seven in the final quarter.

3) A series-long theme continued as the Knicks kicked the Cavaliers around on rebounds, beating them by fourteen overall and by ten on the all-important offensive rebound list.

I'm not sure how Koby Altman will achieve this considering his lack of resources but I'd consider a player that hits the offensive boards hard as an important need for next season.

4) Isaac Okoro did play seventeen minutes as a reserve, scoring nine points on a surprising nine shots in those minutes.

Okoro did connect on four of those but that's pretty high for a player that is often offensively challenged.

5) Cleveland did use veteran Danny Green, who was signed late in the season for his outside shooting and veteran leadership.

Green played four minutes, didn't attempt a shot, and finished without a stat other than a lone personal foul.

6) I'll save the obvious thoughts until the actual end of the series about the season disappointing Cavaliers fans but I will state this- should the series end in five rather than six and end in Cleveland losing two of three home games in front of their fans, the season will be even more disappointing than losing in six games with the season ending in New York.

It may be only for the dreaded "Moral Victory" but young teams doing things for the first time sometimes need a moral victory or two as part of the maturation process.

Cavaliers drubbed by Knicks

  The Cleveland Cavaliers were underdogs entering game three of their Eastern Conference series in New York against the homestanding Knicks and they promptly showed why as the New York Knicks swamped the Cavaliers 99-79 to give the Knicks a two-to-one lead in the series.

Donovan Mitchell led a listless Cleveland offense with twenty-two points.

Game four returns to the World's Most Famous Arena for a Sunday tussle.

Swashbucklings

1) Simply an awful shooting night for the Cavaliers, who shot thirty-eight percent from the floor and a terrible seven of thirty-three from beyond the three-point arc.

Not sure how I can make that sound worse but it seemed even worse if you were watching the game.

2) Darius Garland was unable to approach his terrific stats from game two and his shooting in game three was downright brutal as Garland connected only four times from twenty-one shots to finish with an anemic ten-point evening.

Cleveland will need a far better performance from Garland in game four in order to tie the series.

3) Cleveland decided to start Caris LeVert after his strong game two and LeVert finished with seventeen points after starting in place of Isaac Okoro.

4) Okoro did see more court time than in his two minutes in game two, scoring seven points and making both of his shots in twelve minutes of mostly garbage time.

Suddenly, I'm starting to wonder about Okoro's long-term role in Cleveland.

5) Jarrett Allen hit all of his shots and you'd think reading that stat that Allen had a big game.

Allen only shot three times, finished with six points, and five rebounds, and disappeared for most of the game in a disappointing evening.

Allen wasn't alone in a rough night but other than Darius Garland, he might have been the most glaring disappointment.

6) Issac Okoro's seven points equaled the remaining output from the bench and in a blowout, you would think someone would have hit a few shots to post a good stat line.

7) Game four is must win for Cleveland as I just don't think the talent difference is vast enough to win the final three games of the series.

But I think game four is very possible to win for the Cavaliers.

Game three was the return of playoff basketball to New York after a long absence and the crowd was sky-high for the game.

I'm not sure the Knicks or the crows can match that intensity for game four and that might give Cleveland just enough of an edge to even the series and regain home court advantage.

Cavaliers even series with Knicks 107-90

    The Cleveland Cavaliers overcame a slow start to dominate from the second quarter forward to defeat the New York Knicks 107-90 in game two of their Eastern Conference series.

Darius Garland led Cleveland with 32 points with Caris LeVert popping in with 24 off the bench.
Donovan Mitchell finished with 17 points and 13 assists to aid Cleveland in their win.

The deadlocked series moves to New York on Friday for game three with game four on Sunday afternoon.

Swashbucklings

1) Give Darius Garland credit for his drives to the basket and for even attempting a rare slam over half the Knicks frontcourt.

Garland has had a difficult job in unofficially handing over the reins as the team's superstar to Donovan Mitchell and still has handled it with quite a bit of class.

2) Garland scored 26 of his 32 points in a first-half explosion and would finish the game with six three-pointers from ten attempts.

When Garland has an outside shot dropping in, it forces teams to worry about both Garland and Donovan Mitchell, which opens things up for Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen closer to the basket.

It's all a trickle-down from the top.

3) As for Donovan Mitchell, he did finish with "only" seventeen points but added in a playoff career-high thirteen assists and Mitchell was more than effective.

The Cavaliers are best when they have four or five players between 15-20 points rather than Mitchell pouring in 40 plus and I think Mitchell knows that, which is why he's willing to pass the basketball when a player is especially shooting well as Darius Garland was in the win.

4) Jarrett Allen was called for a flagrant foul for a late-game under-the-basket collision with Julius Randle.

While I think the flagrant foul was a fair one, I do wonder why Randle, who entered the series with some wear and tear injuries, was even in the game at that point (Late in the game with Cleveland leading by around twenty), let alone driving to the basket.

5) Isaac Okoro was in the starting lineup but you would never know by the stat sheet as Okoro committed two fouls in the first three minutes, was benched by J.B. Bickerstaff, and never left the sideline for the remainder of the game.

6) This move meant more time for Caris LeVert, who led the team in forty minutes of play and scored twenty-four points on nine for sixteen shooting.

LeVert is a tough player to count on due to his inconsistency but on his good nights, LeVert is a massive help off a Cavalier reserve squad that badly could use his scoring.

Knicks bully Cavaliers 101-97

   The Cleveland Cavaliers had a home-court advantage for their first playoff game without LeBron James since the days of Mike Fratello as coach. 

Yet, in the end, the old barbs from the pre-LeBron days re-emerged as Cleveland was bullied on the offensive boards and couldn't rebound the ball when the game mattered most as the New York Knicks took game one of the Eastern Conference series 101-97 in Cleveland.

Donovan Mitchell led all scores with 38 points with Darius Garland in second spot on the team with seventeen.

Game two will be in Cleveland on Tuesday night.

Swashbucklings

1) The Knicks needed to be sure of the status of Julius Randle entering game one and it was the Cavaliers dismayed to see Randle in the lineup.

Randle finished with nineteen points and ten rebounds and despite shooting only seven of twenty from the field, Randle was the key to the New York win as he grabbed several big rebounds in the waning minutes of the game with the biggest on the final possession with Randle grabbing an offensive rebound that forced the Cavaliers to foul rather than having a chance to win the game with the last shot.

2) New York savagely pounded Cleveland on the boards, winning that battle 51-38 and especially on the offensive side, where the Knicks grabbed seventeen to eleven but again dominated in that area in the late stages of the game with seven offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter.

3) The rap on the Cavaliers teams of the eighties and nineties was a lack of physical toughness and this team has a similar reputation to prove wrong.

Game one only fed that assumption as the Knicks bullied the Cavaliers around with the arguable exception of Jarrett Allen, who finished with fourteen points and fourteen rebounds.

4) Darius Garland finished with seventeen points but only one assist and disappeared in the fourth quarter.

I'm mildly concerned that Garland is almost allowing too much to be given to Donovan Mitchell and may fall into sidekick mode, which makes the Cavaliers overly dependent on the dynamic Mitchell.

5) Cleveland's bench is one of the weakest in the playoff field and it showed in game one with only Cedi Osman scoring more than three points from the bench with his nine.

Osman played fairly well but Caris LeVert was just one for seven and missed all three of his attempts from three-point range.

Cleveland is depending on their starters to post big minutes in this series but is hoping to receive a big series from someone off the bench.

So far that's only been Cedi Osman.

6)  The Cavaliers suffered from major three-point problems in the loss to New York as they connected on only ten of their thirty-one attempts.

Donovan Mitchell hit six with Cedi Osman and Darius Garland each nailing two but twenty-one misses is a lot for a team that is hoping to open space by forcing the opponent to respect the long range game.

7) Give Cleveland credit for battling back late in the game as they trailed by double-digits and by eight with minutes remaining before a nine-point run put Cleveland up by one with a little over two minutes to go.

But New York would score the next five points to re-take the lead and Cleveland could never get closer than two before the games end.

8) Every playoff game is important in its own way but game two will now carry special importance for Cleveland.

Home court has already been lost unless they win a game in New York to regain the edge later in the series.

With the Cavaliers holding a losing road record for the season, a loss would not only put them down two games with the next two in New York, it would also mean that to win the series that Cleveland would need two wins in the Big Apple to eventually win the series, so it could prove to be the pivotal point in the series.