The Cavs season ended Wednesday night as the Knicks led from start to finish and defeated Cleveland 106-95 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Game 5 of their first-round series.
The Knicks win the series 4-1 and advance to the second round of the playoffs, where they will play the Miami Heat.
Here’s the Bottom Line of the Cavs’ loss to the Knicks:
Bottom Line:
As stated in Game 4, Cleveland got outworked, outmuscled, outhustled, and beat up by the Knicks in this series.
In Game 5, New York had 17 offensive rebounds, leading to 20 second-chance points, and Cleveland only had three. In total, New York outrebounded the Cavs 48-30. The only game the Cavs did not get outrebounded in was Game 2, the only game they won in this series.
New York outrebounded Cleveland 227 to 186 in this series.
Jarrett Allen was a disappointment in this series. It’s one thing to be outplayed by an Embiid or Jokic type, but it’s another thing to get outplayed and outworked by Mitchell Robinson(8.0 ppg and 9.8 rpg). Allen had a solid season and must get stronger in the offseason. He was a non-factor in this series(9.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg in series).
Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Isaac Okoro played in their first playoff series, and all three players were up and down in this series. Garland had a great Game 2 and second half in Game 4. Mobley led the team in rebounds(10.0 rpg), and Okoro had a few moments, but again, they were inconsistent.
Donovan Mitchell was brought to Cleveland to get them to playoffs; he did that. However, he didn’t play like a superstar in this series. Not all his fault, as the Knicks did a good job of limiting his scoring, but great players find ways. It was reminiscent of what happened to him in last year’s playoffs in his final season in Utah in the first round against the Mavericks(39% shooting from the field); he struggled in that series and against the Knicks(43% shooting).
People will question the coaching any time you lose, as the Cavs lost in this series. J.B. Bickerstaff could have been better. They never controlled Jalen Brunson, maybe we should have seen more of a hustle guy like Lamar Stevens, and he could have found a way to get Mitchell loose, but this is a young team, and they played like a young team.
Cleveland will have to get consistency from the small forward position. Okoro, Dean Wade, Stevens, and Caris LeVert were inconsistent this season, and LeVert, who will be an unrestricted free agent, could be that guy. They also need more bench help.
Cleveland has little cap space and draft capital after the Mitchell trade, so they might have to be creative. Maybe Okoro could be a trade piece, but wondering how much that could get for him.
The Cavs made the playoffs for the first time since 2018 and the first time without LeBron James since 1998. They won 51 games, which is also impressive. The future is still very bright in Cleveland. Allen is still a very good center, Mobley will get a year better, Garland is an All-Star caliber player, Mitchell is still big-time, and they’re all young, so this team is on the upswing. However, losing to the Knicks in five is a huge disappointment.
