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. 

Cavaliers knock Knicks 119-101

  The Cleveland Cavaliers entered Madison Square Garden in desperate need of a victory to solidify their chances of finishing seventh in the Eastern Conference in the first of two weekend games.

They left town with a big win over the New York Knicks by a 119-101 score that held their place in the standings with only four games to go in the season.

Darius Garland (24 points, 13 assists) and Moses Brown (16 points, 13 rebounds) each posted double-doubles with seven Cavaliers scoring in double figures.

Cleveland hosts Philadelphia tonight in Cleveland before the final week and the last three games of the season.

Swashbucklings

1)  The Cavaliers scored the first five points of the game and never trailed during the game but even more than control of the game was the team managing to put an awful game against Atlanta behind them quickly.

With a battered and to a degree inexperienced in a playoff chase, it did show some maturity in how the situation was handled with a fast start and strong effort.

2) The Knicks had been eliminated from playoff contention earlier in the week and they were playing without Julius Randle, so one could say they had little to play for.

However, Cleveland putting the Knicks down early and not allowing the Knicks to feel like they could hang around and steal a game that would mean little to them but a lot to Cleveland was a key factor in the attitude of both teams.

3) Darius Garland was as expected the best player on the floor with his double-double but Garland nailed five three-pointers.

Garland's shooting still has a little room to potentially improve but if he could do that and that's not a guarantee he will be able to do so, Garland might be the type of point guard that you can build teams around.

This Cavalier team seems to have been built around not having one star that is above the team in stature but like it or not, Darius Garland could throw a wrench into that plan.

4) Another surprising performance from Moses Brown with a 16/13 in thirty minutes of play makes me really believe that Brown may have a place on this team next season.

Brown hit seven of ten shots and although he is a more traditional big man as far as his offensive game goes, Brown has the type of energy that can play well off the bench.

Brown will need to expand his shooting range even a little bit and he needs lots of practice time as a rim protector but I can see him as the big man that spells Jarrett Allen next season.

5) The Cavaliers' win moved them to a two-game lead with four to play over Atlanta for the seventh spot (Atlanta leapfrogged Brooklyn after the Hawks defeated them yesterday) and just as importantly a three-game lead over Brooklyn and Charlotte.

That's important because Cleveland would really like to be seventh or at worst eighth.

That spot places them in a position to have to win only one game to advance out of the play-in level and either one or both would be in Cleveland.

Falling to ninth or tenth would force Cleveland to win two games and at least one (ninth) or two (tenth) on the road.

Cleveland hopes to have Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen in the lineup for the play-in series but the path will be easier if they can hold on and stay in the seventh slot.

Conversely, the Cavaliers are two games behind Chicago for the sixth spot which would avoid this scenario.

Cleveland's four games remaining are Philadelphia at home, road games at Orlando and Brooklyn before wrapping up next Sunday at home against Milwaukee.

Chicago will have a three-game homestand against Milwaukee, Boston, and Charlotte before ending the season at Minnesota.

Atlanta finishes with a road trip to Toronto followed by a home game against Washington before their final two games on the road at Miami and Houston.

Sloppy Cavaliers beaten in Big Apple

    The Cleveland Cavaliers played their worst basketball game of the season in a 102-81 loss at Madison Square Garden to the New York Knicks.

The Cavaliers shot an awful 34 percent from the floor and only thirty percent from behind the three-point lead the loss.

 Cleveland trailed by fourteen at the half, but as the third quarter progressed, the Cavaliers got as close as three points before the Knicks pushed the lead back to sixteen by the end of the third quarter with the game never getting close after that.

Darius Garland led the Cavaliers with 24 points.

Cleveland will next play Minnesota in a home and home that see the Cavaliers travel to Minnesota on Sunday with the Timberwolves playing a rematch on Monday.

Swashbucklings

1) Nights like this are going to happen with a team like the Cavaliers.

They simply aren't going to be able to win very often without their best game and this certainly was with perhaps the exception of the Boston loss their worst game of the season.

2) Thirty-four percent shooting isn't going to win many games, even against other mediocre teams such as the Knicks.

3) This was one of the sloppiest games that I have watched in a while as well.

One third-quarter sequence saw both teams go up and down the floor three times with layups and point-blank shots that both teams missed.

It was one of those times that you were glad that fans weren't in the building!

4)  Cleveland did have a good night from Darius Garland, hitting nine of seventeen shots, four of which were launched from beyond the three-point line.

Garland did take a shot to the shoulder that he had injured earlier in the season and cost Garland multiple games on the sideline.

It must have looked worse than it was as Garland remained in the game, but when I first watched the replay, I figured Garland was going to lose more playing time.

5) Andre Drummond grabbed his usual rebounds but finished with only four points on two for seven shooting.

Drummond played twenty-four minutes to Jarrett Allen's twenty-six and I wonder if this is moving forward in trade talks.

6) Cleveland seems to struggle against physical teams and in both games against the Knicks, New York has ground the Cavaliers down and have succeeded in making them settle for lesser shots and around the boards.

7) Isaac Okoro's game wasn't great, but the picture was cool and showed off the Knicks alternate uniforms.

I didn't care for them as they reminded me of the black Cavaliers uniforms of the nineties.

No thanks.    

Drummond carries Cavaliers to win over Knicks

        Andre Drummond may have been motivated by the Cleveland Cavaliers acquisition of Jarrett Allen or he may have been auditioning for a potential suitor, but Drummond picked up the Cavaliers and carried them to a 106-103 victory over the New York Knicks in Cleveland.

Drummond finished with 33 points and 23 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers with Cedi Osman finishing with 25 points to lead the starting five that saw each starter finish with double-figure points.

Cleveland was scheduled for a doubleheader on Sunday and Monday against the Washington Non-Bullets, but the battered Cavaliers will have a long respite as Washington's Covid-19 outbreak has caused both games to be postponed.

Cleveland will host the Brooklyn Nets next Wednesday and hopefully will see the two newest Cavaliers, Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince, face their old team in their Cleveland debut.

Swashbucklings

1)  The trade rumors started about six seconds after the announcement of the Cavaliers' involvement in the four-team trade, but Andre Drummond immediately showed what some team might be getting, should they decide to trade for a big man for their playoff run.

The best way to get out of a town is to play hard, perform well, and make teams want you.

More players in all sports need to take heed of Drummond's example.

2) Andre Drummond's 30/20 was the first for a Cavalier since Carlos Boozer in 2004 (Can it be 17 years since Carlos Boozer played in Cleveland?) and was only the sixth time for anyone in Cavalier history.

3) I'll never forget Carlos Boozer and the stunt that he pulled.

When players bemoan a franchise's lack of loyalty, remember Carlos Boozer and how players aren't always a shining beacon of honor either.

4) The Cavaliers won this game with only eight players, the starting five, Lamar Stevens, JaVale McGee, and two minutes from Dean Wade. 

The five starters all played forty minutes or more and hopefully after the extra days from the Washington postponements and getting Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince on the court will keep Cleveland from being this light on the bench for a while.

5) It wasn't Andre Drummond that took the most shots in this game.

Drummond took eighteen, but it was Cedi Osman that fired up the most shots with twenty,

Fortunately for Cleveland, Osman hit ten of them and five from three-point land.

I'm torn on Osman, who I think will be a solid player with occasional streaks of top-level play.

Those streaks will come and go with an unpredictable outside shot.

6) Kevin Porter Jr. arrived on the bench for the first time this season and he was very involved among the injured players on the bench rooting the team on.

I'm not sure of the status of Porter, but the Cavaliers have been far too secretive with why Porter isn't playing and when he may be expected to return.

I don't need specifics, but a date of when they hope to have Porter at practice would be fine to start.