{"id":1952358,"date":"2026-05-24T09:30:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T06:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1952358"},"modified":"2026-05-24T09:30:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T06:30:51","slug":"knicks-physicality-leaves-cavs-with-nothing-in-their-legs-and-not-much-in-their-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1952358","title":{"rendered":"Knicks\u2019 physicality leaves Cavs with nothing in their legs and not much in their hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CLEVELAND \u2014 The bill has come due, and the account is overdrawn. That\u2019s where we\u2019re at with a Cleveland Cavaliers team that didn\u2019t handle its business properly in the first two rounds of these playoffs.<\/p>\n

Now there\u2019s nothing left.<\/p>\n

Nothing left in their legs. Nothing left to celebrate. Nothing left to say.<\/p>\n

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No team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, and this certainly doesn\u2019t look like the squad that will be the first. Cleveland\u2019s dismal fourth-quarter effort in Saturday\u2019s 121-108 loss to the New York Knicks in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals was a disgrace. They looked like a team that has quit.<\/p>\n

Fatigue has been a major theme in this series, and there\u2019s little doubt the Cavs are exhausted, but a lot of that is their fault. They\u2019ve played 13 games in 25 days because they allowed both of their previous series to reach seven games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did it to ourselves,\u201d Donovan Mitchell said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s absolutely right.<\/p>\n

They were the more talented team in the first round and should\u2019ve disposed of the Toronto Raptors in five games. They should\u2019ve beaten the Detroit Pistons in six.<\/p>\n

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Had the Cavs closed out the Pistons in Game 6 at home, their first game against the Knicks in these conference finals would\u2019ve been last Sunday, when they looked terrific in closing out the Pistons. Maybe they don\u2019t blow a 22-point lead in the second half of Game 1 against the Knicks if it was last Sunday.<\/p>\n

Had they beaten the Pistons in six, they would\u2019ve had three days off to rest before Saturday\u2019s Game 3. This could\u2019ve been a different series. Maybe.<\/p>\n

Of course, we\u2019ll never know. What we\u2019re left with is players who look as if they\u2019ve given up. They never led in Game 3. They didn\u2019t get a fast-break basket until the fourth quarter and were outscored 17-4 in fast-break points. Mitchell and James Harden combined to shoot 4 of 17 on 3-pointers. Their legs are gone. So is their spirit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did think their physicality and energy level was much higher than ours,\u201d Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. \u201cKind of just call it what it is. Credit to them. I thought their physicality got us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Knicks<\/p>\n
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\n Knicks push Cavs to the brink of elimination with comfortable Game 3 victory\n <\/div>\n
\n Get out your brooms: Knicks’ sweep appear imminent as Cavs can’t find answers at home.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Atkinson has had a miserable conference finals, beginning with the timeout debacle in the second half of Game 1. Mitchell hasn\u2019t looked like himself for much of this postseason.<\/p>\n

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He hasn\u2019t shot it well. He has no burst. Everyone continues to insist he is healthy, which makes this worse. Either they\u2019re lying or there\u2019s something larger going on. He\u2019s had his share of May injuries in the past, but he\u2019s never looked like \u2026 this.<\/p>\n

Against Toronto, the excuse was the junk defenses the Raptors sent at him. Unorthodox traps from unorthodox angles. Against Detroit, it was dealing with Ausar Thompson, one of the league\u2019s best defenders.<\/p>\n

What is it now? What\u2019s left? Why can\u2019t he get past Knicks defenders? Why is he 9 of 28 from 3 in this series? Is it really just dead legs? Is that really a viable excuse at this point?<\/p>\n

He seemed to grimace after getting fouled in the first half Saturday night and limped around the court momentarily. Injuries are part of who he has been in the playoffs since he came to Cleveland. If they\u2019re going to declare him healthy, we have to take them at their word, at least for now.<\/p>\n

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The Cavs have been positioning themselves all season to present Mitchell with a new four-year extension worth about $277 million this summer. As he nears his 30th birthday this fall, he has not looked in this postseason like a player worth that type of investment.<\/p>\n

He remains the most important player on this roster, but he has struggled to adapt alongside Harden. One of the biggest questions following the trade to bring Harden to Cleveland was whether their games could coexist. Both stars wanted this to happen, and both have been eager to make it work. Nevertheless, it has been clumsy at times in these playoffs.<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Taylor<\/p>\n
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\n Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce sit courtside for Game 3 of Knicks-Cavaliers\n <\/div>\n
\n Although Swift may be the bigger global star between herself and Kelce, the latter may be the bigger basketball fan of the two.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Harden plays a specific style of pick-and-roll that is a slow pace and doesn\u2019t require a lot of motion. It can be difficult for teammates who aren\u2019t used to that style. Mitchell typically plays at a faster tempo. To his credit, Mitchell has tried adapting to Harden. In the series against Detroit, while Thompson was guarding him, Mitchell\u2019s cutting and constant motion drew Thompson into the play and allowed him to get close enough to Harden for a key steal late in the game. The Cavs\u2019 solution was for Mitchell to stop moving and go to the other side of the court whenever Thompson was guarding him.<\/p>\n

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For as lousy as Harden looked early in the Detroit series, most of the Cavs\u2019 best looks in this series with the Knicks have come with him, not Mitchell, running the offense. The Cavs have tried staggering the two stars\u2019 minutes as best they can, but there is going to be inevitable overlap. None of it is working. Mitchell\u2019s rhythm is off whether Harden is on the court or not.<\/p>\n

Making it to the conference finals was a breakthrough for this organization and worth celebrating, but the players\u2019 energy and effort since they got here leave plenty to be desired.<\/p>\n

An important offseason awaits, with contract decisions to make on Mitchell and Harden and the inevitable debate on whether to pursue Giannis Antetokounmpo. LeBron James looms over all of this, too.<\/p>\n

Despite reaching the conference finals, a maddeningly inconsistent team throughout the regular season and the playoffs now has a losing postseason record (8-9).<\/p>\n

New York fans, meanwhile, descended on Cleveland by the thousands for Game 3. Mitchell grew up a Knicks fan 45 minutes from Manhattan and once thought he was heading back home before the Cavs swooped in and acquired him.<\/p>\n

Mitchell has routinely been adorned with \u201cM-V-P\u201d chants in Rocket Arena over the years. This time, with the game long decided and Cavs fans heading home, Mitchell was merely a bystander as Jalen Brunson stepped to the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to boisterous \u201cM-V-P\u201d chants. Cleveland historically has one of the best home-court advantages in the NBA, but on this night, it had fallen into enemy hands. The Knicks\u2019 takeover was complete.<\/p>\n

First, they took the Cavs\u2019 seats. Then they took their hearts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 The bill has come due, and the account is overdrawn. That\u2019s where we\u2019re at with a Cleveland Cavaliers team that didn\u2019t handle its business properly in the first two rounds of these playoffs. Now there\u2019s nothing left. Nothing left in their legs. Nothing left to celebrate. Nothing left to say. Advertisement No team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1952358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1952358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1952358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1952358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1952358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}