CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers couldn’t keep up with a New York Knicks
team that just has their number. They dropped Saturday’s game 109-97.Three stars of the game
First star: Jalen Brunson
31 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds
Brunson is a certified Cavs killer. He picked up right where he left off last postseason by torching whatever defender Cleveland put in front of him. He got inside the paint and to his midrange floater with ease. And when he didn’t, the outside shot was working as well.
There really isn’t much that you can do when Brunson has
it going as he did here. The Cavs sent some doubles at him and tried to shade their defense toward him. When they got too far, he made the easy pass to the open teammate, never forcing anything.
The Cavs’ strategy was fine. The defense also wasn’t necessarily horrible. Cleveland’s guards competed, but that didn’t matter. Brunson is just too good a shot and decision-maker.
Second star: Donovan Mitchell
37 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block
Mitchell is putting together an impressive season from a process standpoint. He’s doing a better job of looking for his teammates, while also finding avenues to score.
“I think the biggest thing is creating an opportunity,” Mitchell said. “I haven’t shot as many shots as I have in my career, so trying to balance that and figure out trying to make the right basketball play. Sometimes that is shooting. Sometimes that is passing. Sometimes that is running the blitz, and it’s going to help to make me better.”
Mitchell tried to will the Cavs back into this game, scoring 21 in the final quarter alone. But as impressive as he was, a one-man army wasn’t enough to take down a well-oiled machine like the Knicks. Especially when the rest of his co-stars struggled.
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Third star: Karl-Anthony Towns
29 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
Towns is such a difficult player to defend. His outside shot requires him to be guarded out on the perimeter, which opens up the lane for his teammates. If the defensive center leaves, Towns can make them pay with the outside shot. And, if his defender closes out too hard, Towns is quick enough off the dribble to make them pay inside.
This was on display on Saturday. He drew two quick fouls on Mobley in the first quarter by attacking the rim. This changed the complexion of the game. Without Jarrett Allen, the Cavs were forced to turn to third-string center Thomas Bryant for a longer stretch than they would’ve ideally liked.
Towns’s presence can completely change an offense as dynamic as New York’s. Cleveland found that out again the hard way.
Duds of the game
James Harden
7 points on 2-of-9 shooting, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 blocks
The Cavs offense can look lifeless when Harden isn’t able to get downhill. On Saturday, he was a step slow and couldn’t create any separation off the dribble. That limited his effectiveness.
On the other end, the Knicks continually hunted him in mismatches. To his credit, Harden competed. But it wasn’t enough to keep this from being a winning strategy.
This has been less than an ideal start to the season for Harden.
Evan Mobley
12 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 turnovers
Mobley’s ability to win the matchup over Joel Embiid was a deciding factor in Cleveland’s runaway win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Likewise, his inability to do so against New York contributed to the loss.
The foul trouble made it difficult for Mobley to establish any kind of offense inside. This left him as mostly a jump shooter at the start of the game. And since the three-ball wasn’t falling (1-for-5 on the evening), there wasn’t much he was capable of offensively to help jumpstart an offense that needed it.
Cavalier who deserves a shoutout
Peyton Watson
12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists
Watson was useful in this game. He provided some much-needed offense and was helpful as a defender. That’s what you want to see from Watson in this matchup.
Play of the game
Quote of the day
“Not really. In Jauary we went 2-9. I’m not really into measuring stick games). … Let’s say we win by 15. Well, we might get hammered next week by whoever’s in last place by 20. Does that mean we suck? No. You just take it one game at a time and try to get a little bit better.”
– Knicks head coach Mike Brown before the game when asked if this was a measuring stick game
It’s tempting to use this difficult stretch of games as a test for where the Cavs are. And if you were going to use it as one, they wouldn’t necessarily pass.
The more concerning thing is the lack of discernible identity. When they’re playing well, the Cavs can beat anyone, as we saw against Philadelphia. But what does this group hang their hat on? What does better look like for them? And are they taking steps to get there? Those are the questions that matter, and we don’t have clear answers for any of them.
Stat of the game
The Knicks outscored the Cavs 26-8 in second-chance points.
New York retrieved 41.8% of their missed shots (94th percentile). And then they made the most of those opportunities by scoring a quarter’s worth of points on that alone.
“We have to rebound better collectively,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “There’s no one pointing the finger. The guys got to do it collectively. We just got to be better.”
Main takeaway from this game: The Knicks have the Cavs number
I don’t necessarily think the Knicks present stylistic problems that the Cavs can’t solve. An offense that hunts out mismatches with their smaller, but electric, scoring guard isn’t something the Cavs should, on paper, be incapable of countering. Yet, the Cavs are consistently ending up on the wrong side of this matchup. The Knicks have their number, and there’s no way around that.
Atkinson and Mitchell were asked what makes this matchup so difficult afterward. Both pointed to the offensive rebounding as an obvious issue, and one that we all can see. They also both mentioned that the Knicks just understand how to play with each other and use that to seize the openings teams give them.
“They really have solutions,” Atkinson said. “I think their continuity…they just have great chemistry. They’re on a string on both ends.”
“They’ve been through stuff together as a group,” Mitchell said. “They do a good job os seizing mistakes.”
Brunson and Towns were tremendous once again tonight. Their shotmaking carried them in this matchup. But they also did a great job of accepting what the Cavs threw at them, and then having a plan of action for that. If you doubled Brunson, he moved the ball to the open teammate and made the Cavs’ defense scramble out.
Conversely, when they threw doubles at Mitchell, the Cavs weren’t quick to respond. Watson admitted afterward that he doesn’t know to help Mitchell in that situation and that there are “some questions” about their strategy that he would like to ask about. That isn’t the sign of a team that’s on a string and understands what they need to do to be the best version of themselves.
Little things like that are why the Knicks have been better. They understand what they need to do, and the pieces fit together perfectly to make that happen. The Cavs don’t have that right now. And until they do, they won’t be able to get through the roadblock the Knicks have become throughout this era of Cavs basketball.
