Last night the five-man lineup that’s caught more flack than any in the NBA the past two years led the New York Knicks to a 109-93 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, a 2-0 lead in the conference finals and their ninth straight playoff win. For a little more than half the game, neither team led by double-digits; for the last 20 or so, the Knicks did almost entirely. In the process, they’ve presented their opponents with an all-new kind of nightmare.
Three years ago, the Cavs were eliminated in five
games by the Knicks. Two years ago, it was 4-1 Celtics. Last year the gentleman’s sweep came courtesy of the Pacers. Now the only double-apron payroll in all the Association — who’s all-in move was trading a quicksilver 26-year-old All-Star point guard (albeit once in the past four years) for a molasses-legged 37-year-old All-Star point guard (albeit once in the past four years) — are in danger of being swept in a decidedly un-gentlemanly manner by a Knick team that marries the traits of Cleveland’s past three conquistadors.
You wouldn’t know off of last night, when no Knick starter played fewer than 32 minutes and Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell were the only Cavs to play more, but the Knicks are the deeper team. Their much-maligned starting five are the superior quintet. Jalen Brunson’s better than Mitchell. Karl-Anthony Towns clears Evan Mobley. James Harden is a first-ballot HOFer, but in 2026 OG Anunoby is the better player. I’d grant you Jarrett Allen may have done more over 82 games for his team than Mikal Bridges did for his, but in the playoffs Bridges has played like he’s worth 10 draft picks. And while Dean Wade looks better with a mustache-less beard than most, Josh Hart looks better doing everything else.
Two years ago New York were down to three healthy players and a couple assistant coaches by Game 7 against Indiana. Last year the Knicks ran seven-deep. That’s no way to win a title. This series, 10 Knicks have played in both games for a total 14-plus minutes, to just eight Cavs. If that doesn’t seem like much of a difference, multiply it by two or three, depending how long this series goes. Then square it by this: since April Fool’s Day, the Knicks have played 17 games and flown three times, all to Atlanta; the Cavs have played 22 (including two Game 7s) and flown nine times. It adds up.
In 2025 the Cavs ran into a Celtic squad on its way to the title. That Boston team featured a five-out offense, with each starter a two-way player. The only answer to that kind of firepower is to feature a five-out offense with five two-way players yourself, but that ain’t easy; if it were, the Mavs would’ve already tried and failed to re-invent it. Hart’s growth as a shooter, crystallized by last night’s John Starks-like explosion from deep, plus the presence of shooters like Miles McBride, Landry Shamet and Jordan Clarkson — all two-way players — means the Knicks can play five-out whenever they want. The only time they don’t play five-out is when Mitchell Robinson is out grabbing 50% of the available offensive rebounds. Pick your poison. Either way, the Cavs look sick.
The 2023 Knicks were just plain tougher than the 2023 “Lights Too Bright” Cavaliers. Darius Garland, Isaac Okoro, Caris LeVert — those are total sweeties. Meanwhile those Knicks featured the sinister, sinewy musculature of RJ Barrett and Julius Randle, plus granite block Isaiah Hartenstein. If you landed from the planet Xylar at the start of that series and just looked at the Earthlings for each squadron, you’d know who was gonna win.
And that, beyond Brunson’s brilliance and Hart’s heroics and KAT contorting the very question of what is and isn’t possible for an NBA offense, is the subatomica powering the Knicks to their 2-o lead. Their power.
In one of the few moments last night when the fourth-quarter lead was double to single-digits, and the game was a Cav three away from squeaky-bum time, OG Anunoby went baseline and got to the basket and just powered the ball through the hoop. It wasn’t a dunk. Wasn’t a lay-up or a floater. It was just literally like when three little kids are all giggling and hanging on their dad’s arm, trying to hold it down, and he just pulls whatever strength he needs from whatever reservoir he has and raises it. The arm doesn’t flow with the grace of its usual freedom, nor struggle or tremble beneath the added weight. It is simply what is going to be, visibly being.
These Knicks are big and strong and good. This new playoff offense of theirs has spawned some interesting new evolutions within its species. Por ejemplo: what is this feeling when the ball moves around and Towns of all people is wiiiiide-open? When Towns-as-shooter is an afterthought, given how good he and his teammates look with him doing more with less? Could there be any sweeter justice from the basketball gods than Towns becoming a superior version of his envious troll, Draymond Green: a brilliant passing big and face-up fulcrum, plus he can actually shoot? And work out of the post?
Donovan Mitchell moved for much of the game like something isn’t 100%. He refuses to confirm that, as you’d expect from anyone in his position. During the game, Kenny Atkinson confirmed to ESPN — during the game! — that he, the coach of the Cavaliers, the team Mitchell plays for, agreed that Mitchell looked off.
WHAT?!
How is that real??
Quoth DWilTheKnicksfan: “Finish strong.” The Knicks continue to play strong. They put the Hawks to the sword the first chance they got, and Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia were your classic no-rope, no-hope one-two. The Cavs are going to play their best* game of the season tomorrow. Elimination games are almost always the hardest to win, but trying to go up 3-0 is often the same energy.
In my lifetime the Knicks have taken 2-0 leads in the ECF twice. In 1993 they followed that up with four straights Ls. In 1994 they lost the next three, before rallying to win the last two. Normally I’d say this time I’ll settle for a split, but I wouldn’t. I don’t think that does these Knicks enough credit. They can finish this in four, both because they are in fact that good, and because these Cavaliers do not exactly have a 2004 Red Sox vibe to them.
The Knicks have learned what works the past few seasons and now represent the best of what the East has been. If they can finish the Cavaliers off sooner than later, they can rest before pitting their best against the West’s.
