Recap: Cavs 119, Knicks 101 (or, the DG Show Comes to Broadway)
2022-04-02The Cavs put together 48 minutes of their finest basketball in the Mecca of basketball to come away with a blowout win in the Big Apple, 119-101 against the hapless, postseason-less New York Knicks. Front and center was Darius Garland, who put on a Tony Award performance along with his cast of junkyard dawgs. Let’s dive right in…
1. The Darius Garland MVP agenda heating up
It could easily be inferred that Coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s post-game comments after the Hawks loss were a thinly veiled criticism of his point guard Darius Garland. DG clearly got lost in how important he is to the team and was trying to do too much instead of lean on his teammates. In MVP fashion, DG cleaned up his mistakes and painted a Saturday matinee masterpiece with 24 points, including five threes, 13 assists, and a +29.0 net rating in 36.4 minutes. He got back to his roots, sharing the ball, bombing threes, and being a dawg on defense. There should be no hesitation on PBO Koby Altman’s part offering DG the max extension this offseason. Darius Garland is arguably a top 20 player right now in the NBA and is only 22 years old. Damn it feels good to be a Cavs fan right now.
2. A Whole Pack of Dawgs
The Cavs returned to their roots as a whole winning the assist battle (26-19) and the rebounding battle (43-35). The Cavs top 8 players in minutes all record positive net ratings, showing how locked in as a team they were.
NBA Champion Kevin Love and Lamar Stevens led the charge off the bench, both posting top 3 net ratings and the Cavs posting sub-100 defensive ratings during their minutes. Their defense was incredible, with Love drawing two charges and recording two stocks and Stevens grabbing five rebounds and two stocks.
Lauri Markkanen led all starters in net rating with a +33.5. It was clear J.B. was managing his minutes and it paid off handsomely, with Markkanen being efficient offensively and a force on the boards. Lineups with Markkanen at center were dominant, posting a +125.0 net rating in the four minutes that lineup played.
Isaac Okoro had perhaps his best offensive game of the season, with 16 points on only eight shots, two assists, and a +30.2 net rating in his minutes. The Cavs posted an insane 145.0 offensive rating in Ice’s minutes and the eye test said there’s a different confidence that he’s playing with. He could be in a for a big jump come play-in/playoff time.
Cedi “the Jedi” Osman played some great ball off the bench with 10 points on offense and a block on defense. The Cavs posted a 86.8 defensive rating with Cedi on the court, something that Cedi’s really struggled with over the course of the season. A sign of things to come? Stay tuned.
Caris LeVert may have had his best game as a Cav, putting in a complete two way performance with 16 points, six assists, six rebounds, two steals, and a plus +7.8 net rating. He spent a lot of time running point guard in non-DG minutes, and seemed to be more comfortable playing with his hands on the ball.
Moses Brown put in a heroic performance given the circumstances with 16 points, 13 rebounds double double in 30 minutes. His ability to eat so many minutes without hurting the team is nothing short of amazing, he hasn’t even been on the roster for a month! Take a bow, young Moses!
3. Playoff picture
With the win this afternoon, the Cavs have almost put a stranglehold on the 7/8 seeds for themselves after Charlotte and Brooklyn both took losses tonight. The Cavs could really use one win if not two to guarantee a 7/8 seed. It’ll be interesting to see if Philadelphia will load manage coming off of a back to back, and if J.B. has any designs on load management. It would be impossible to fault J.B. for load managing tomorrow’s game in hopes of going all out for the impending matchup on the road against the Orlando Magic, and for the rest of the season.
4. A quick note on the Knicks
The Knicks have obviously become RJ Barrett’s team in the absence of Julius Randle. Further, the Knicks are in massive trouble with Randle’s contract and performance over the course of this season. Also, it appears that Tom Thibodeau is not even in control of this team, it was rumored he hated (rightfully so) the Cam Reddish acquisition. The Knicks are a cautionary tale about paying lots of money to ball hogging offensive engines (Randle) who don’t like to play within the team construct. R.I.P. 2021-22 New York Knicks!
5. Next up,
Next up are the Philadelphia 76ers tomorrow on a back to back. Things are moving quickly to the postseason, and the Cavs have a great game under their belt to propel them to the finish, Go Cavs!
LT up
Will be interested to see if JB changes anything significant from the last 3 matchups in terms of how we defend embiid. With our bigs gutted and our pg sitch this would be an epic win if we can climb the ladder today.
IN MY HUMBLE OPINION DG IS THE 2ND BEST PLAYER TAKEN IN THE DRAFT THAT YEAR RIGHT BEHIND MORANT—-I KNOW ZION IS A FORCE WHEN HE IS HEALTHY—-KEY BEING … WHEN HE IS HEALTHY—–THOUGHTS ——–KOBY NEEDS TO GET THAT LONG TERM// EXTENSION DONE ASAP WITH DG
Agreed. Not a real impressive class beyond Ja, Zion, & DG.
With DG, we have a guy I am confortable giving the keys to. We have a driver. We have some mobile bigs who can anchor a D in Allen & Mobley. And Mobes could blossom into a unicorn sooner rather than later.
I am not super attached to anyone else, or rather, penciling them in as a starter. Everyone else has either consistency/limitation issues where I could see an upgrade.
Okoro is the most promising. He is limited on offense due to his shooting and is limited defensively guarding bigger 3s due to lack of size. Not good on the glass. If he gets to league average on 3s, look out.
Lauri is a versatile piece who spaces the floor (in theory) and gives good effort on D. Offensive production comes & goes. Not great on the glass or defending the post.
Sexton & Levert are ball dominant scorers who don’t defend well. Sexton has tunnell vision but is better from deep. Levert has better size & is better in P&R. I think both are best as a scorer on a bench unit.
Love can still shoot (38.3% from deep on high volume) and rebound. And pass. Defense limited. He is a bench guy for $28 mil.
Cedi is super streaky.
Stevens & Wade are cheap, scrappy defenders. If they could shoot/score better, they’d be valuable rotation guys.
CLF YOU WOULDN’T BE ANYWHERE NEAR LEXINGTON VIRGINIA WOULD YOU —MY SON DID SOME GOVERNMENT WORK THERE// IN THAT AREA FOR 3 YEARS// BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY // RIGHT BY ENTRANCE TO SHENANDOAH ( PROBABLY MISSPELLED ) DRIVE ——–IF YOU ARE NEAR LEXINGTON// GO THERE AND EAT AT THE RED HEN —YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT !!
I’m very close to Lexington!!! It’s about 45 minutes down the road. In fact, I live on the other side of the mountains from Lexington, just east where I-64 and I-81 split
I’m checking out the Red Hen now, thanks for the rec I’m gonna take you up on that!
AM IN TOTAL AGREEMENT WITH YOU RAOUL—POSTED EARLIER CAVS SHOULD SIGN HIM TO A 2 YR CONTRACT —IN MY OPINION HE IS STILL RAW // IN RIGHT ENVIRONMENT // COACHING COULD BE A SOLID BACK UP —DON’T WANT THE CAVS REPEAT WHAT THEY DID LAST YEAR WHEN THEY LEFT HARD ROCK WALK
Great cap!
I haven’t seen Moses Brown play yet, but am sure digging his numbers. You can’t have too many 7-2, healthy looking guys that can run. If his game develops, he could be a steal!
He’s a bit rough on the defensive end, but there’s undeniable upside there for him.
I’m imagining MB backing up JA and EM — they take a breather, and a bigger guy comes in!
Rather take a chance on him than Ed Davis
C’mon Doc… no need to play Embiid and Harden on the 2nd night of a back to back with the playoffs coming up. Your team scored 144 points last night – they’re ready, right? Get them some much deserved rest!
that’s right, too bad Doc is a bozo
SOME NBA MOCKS HAD THE CAVS POSSIBLY GETTING CALEB LOVE WITH THE SPURS PICK——–THAT BOAT ‘HAS LEFT THE HARBOR ” —- KID HAS MOVED UP ALOT DURING THE TOURNEY WITH HIS PLAY
Perhaps so, but right now the consensus board has him ranked #54, I’d certainly take him!!!
But I could see him moving up to mid to early 2nd round pretty easily.
WILL WATCH REPLAY IN A FEW MIN’S —-THANK YOU CLF FOR YOUR USUAL OUTSTANDING JOB—-YOU ARE CTB’S // MVP—–I GUESS FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON I NEED TO BE OUT SIDE :” CONQUERING THE MRS NOMADS HONEYDO LIST ” AS I WAS A NO SHOW AND THE CAVS WON —–WERE ALL THE BARS FILLED LAST NIGHT IN THE STATE OF N.C. CLF ?? —–CAVS NEED TO SIGN “HOLY ” MOSES BROWN TO AT LEAS A 2 YEAR CONTRACT —THE WAY I VIEW IT // HE CAN BE THE SAME AS IF THE CAVS STILL HAD THE PACERS PICK /… Read more »
hey NOMAD I’m sure Chapel Hill was rocking!!! I’m in Virginia Cavalier country right now so it’s been a quiet night LMFAOOOO
This is entertaining: watch this a few times, keeping your eyes on Toppin.
DG knows how to cook!
wow!
I’ve watched it 50 times and still expect a shot to go up from him each time lol. Sorcery.