Playoff Live Thread: Cavs @ Knicks (ECF Game 1)
2026-05-19Welcome to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in in eight years, Cavs fans. Cleveland travels to Madison Square Garden to take on the mostly healthy Knicks. With O.G. Anunoby probable, the Knicks return to their regular starting lineup. Fortunately, I think the wine and gold match up much better with the Knicks the last two Cavalier opponents. Cleveland has much more size across the lineup than they did two seasons ago, and if they team rebound they should be able to compete. Cleveland’s conditioning is going to be better after two seven game series, and sneaking up on the long rest Knicks is key, especially, in the first and third quarter starts.
Hopefully, JA’s and Mobley’s newfound confidence will carry over, James Harden can box out Hart, Mitchell is the best player from NYC , and Kenny stays with big lineups. If all these things carry the through, then Spida and friends have a good shot. Go Cavs.
LT up
My take on game 1 (beyond the obvious of it sucking beyond suck)?
* A terrible coaching performance by KA
* A physically/mentally/emotionally drained rotation
The first one can change.
The second one? Maybe. But it requires guys not in the regular playoff rotation getting some meaningful minutes and making the most of them.
Playing back-to-back, 7 game series with games every other night is brutal all the way around.
The worst postseason loss to date was Houston G3. Six point lead with 30s and the ball.
And they went on to win the next two.
Its my deep hope, that what happened to James Harden in the 4th quarter of Game 1… is the BEST thing that could have happened to him AND the Cavs. The man is a historic prolific scorer… with horrible habits. Even when he has performed well in these playoffs, I’ve seen numerous plays he “takes off” and lackadaisical decision making and effort. He THINKS he’s playing hard / smart, but… So now, he’s been spotlighted. Now he knows, his coach won’t save him with good decision making. It’s up to him to make the ultimate sacrifice and effort possible on… Read more »
LeBron is famous for taking plays and/or games “off”, and he is arguably the GOAT, so …
Chillmode has been a thing since Tobias Harris was a Magic
I mean yeah but, in the ECF? 2010 against Boston is rhe only year anyone alleged LeBron was slacking in a post-season series (2011 Finals were odd but more of a feeling the pressure thing it seemed at the time).
It’s 95 percent on Kenny for not subbing him out and putting Schroeder back in, and for not using his TOs for reasons I cannot fathom. And secondarily for limiting his options by leaving Tyson in the doghouse. Detroit series is over. Talk to Tyson and get him playable.
Right. He could have even said he did so because Harden was gassed. And yes–get Tyson in the rotation.
I’m still bummed from game one and pessimistic about this series, but weirdly feel better about this team over the next couple years. I don’t think they’ll get over the hump but they’ve shown some fight that I was worried they didn’t have in them. Mobley, Allen, and Merrill seem to have gotten the dear in the headlights look out of their systems. Hopefully Mitchell takes it to heart that they are better when he focuses more on play-making over being determined to score at all costs. Harden is Harden, good one day bad the next, hopefully the coaching staff… Read more »
I absolutely remain confident they can win this series. This isn’t Indiana with Garland down a toe. Don’t know if they “will” win but absolutely they can, and at least maybe we won’t see 8 minutes of prevent offense if they grab another big lead.
Yeah, I feel talent wise they can compete, but am worried that the two 7-game series are catching up with them, the Knicks rest in comparison, and the back-breaker collapse from game 1 will be too much to overcome.
Some light relief ahead of a potentially stressful game.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYkfRW9DrRG/?igsh=c2U5aHpwazUxZnNp
LOL awesome. Makes me miss that squad. Also that might have inspired me to just watch a replay of 2016 finals instead of tonight’s game.
rotation size: I have never been in favor of short rotations in the playoffs. right now, the two clearly best teams are SA and OKC. in last nights game, SA played six guys over 25 minutes, and four guys about 10, a 10 man rotation. meanwhile, OKC (who won) played 7 guys over 25, one at 16, and three around 8 or 10, an 11 man rotation. Meanwhile, the Cavs played seven guys more than 25, one 18 and one 5;a nine man rotation. the NYK played five guys over 30, four around 15, and one six for a total… Read more »
Agreed, KA even spoke about how Indiana leveraged bigger rotations to wear down the Cavs in last year’s playoffs, which provoked the Cavs to focus on conditioning in the run up to this year’s playoffs.
the good Harden versus the bad Harden: like most players, Harden has good days and bad days. FWIW, in my experience, this gets more extreme as you get older. anyway, on Tuesday Harden was OK for three quarters, and the Cavs built a late 22 point lead. at about the eight minutes to go point, it was clear that Harden was out of gas: twice in a row he was 1 of 2 at the foul line and also had a couple three point bricks. I (and many others no doubt) was yelling to take him out, at least for… Read more »
also, Harden led the Cavs in minutes played, despite being out of gas and killing us on D. come on Kenny, pay attention! what are you doing during games, other than hoarding timeouts?
I have had a couple postings vanish since the loss. I might take another shot at giving my 2 cents worth.
Pull the trigger!
Sorry! When did you post? If you did right after there was an issue for a few hours. Should be fixed
535-1 IS WHAT IS THE RECORD IS IN NBA PLAYOFFS THAT HAD A BIG LEAD LIKE THE CAVS AND LOST ——— NOW 535-2 🤬🤮——- WE HAVE THE DRIVE / THE FUMBLE/ MJ’s SHOT / THE WORLD SERIES “ RELIEF MELTDOWN/ NOW THE 4th QTR -“ IMPLOSION “ ————- WELCOME TO CLEVELAND “ SPORTS LORE “…………….” MORE FRIGGIN BEER 🍺 PLEASE “
How is yesterday’s Game 1 novel in any way?
In a podcast just a few days ago, Nate reminded us of the May 6, 2025 Game 2 vs. the Pacers where the Cavs had a 14-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter and still managed to lose, including allowing Indiana to go on an 8-0 run in the final minute.
Not the first time we’ve all watched this movie with this Cavs team, nor will it be the last.
probably the extremity of the comeback, 22 points up with 7 minutes left is a lot points…. but agreed in general, they do this sort of thing
Boston blew two twenty point leads to the Knicks at home last year in a very very similar fashion. There’s Indiana for us last year but Indy also did the same thing to NY and Milwaukee and OKC.
It’s not just us. The 8 minutes is a nuance but NY is no stranger to pulling this stuff off and choking away big leads is not just us.
every team in the NBA has blown 14 point fourth quarter leads many times.
YEP 👍
are the Cavs so bad that they crashed CtB?
ALOT OF THE MEDIA SAYING “ CAVS ARE PRETTY MUCH COOKED – NO CHANCE OF WINNING THE SERIES “———- HOPEFULLY THAT MIGHT BE THEIR “ BATTLE CRY “ TO FIGHT BACK!!!
most people were saying this from the beginning, so nothing’s changed in that regard LMFAO but this kind of the Cavs thing to humiliate themselves and bounce back so we’ll see if it holds now.
ACTUALLY AFTER SOME THOUGHT I SUPPORT KA s DECISION ON SAYING THE TO s …………. HE CAN USE THEM THIS SUMMER IN THE ROOKIE SUMMER LEAGUE 🤪🤬🤪🤬🤪🤬🤪🤬
BW — LMAO 👍👍—— I THINK AFTER LAST NIGHT KA IS ON THE “ HOT SEAT “ AS FAR AS HIS COACHING CAREER————- IT IS HOW THEY LOST THE GAME AND THEN HIS “ LAME EXCUSE “ FOR HIS DECISION (s)
I had low expectations for this series but that was just a soul-crushing way to get our hopes up and then light them on fire. Hopefully we’re all just being dramatic and the Cavs bounce back and make things interesting, but who knows… that was quite a back breaker last night.
Excited for the brand new online MasterClass series on Bed Shitting being taught by Kenny Atkinson. Enter discount code LETEMKNOW for 20% off for your first class now!
NO DOUBT MAKING FOUL SHOTS ARE VITAL—- AND ( FOR RAOUL ) POSTED BEFORE SERIES STARTED- MEDIA/ TV WANT THE KNICKS IN THE FINALS — GOING TO GET EVERY CALL —- CAVS NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS— HAVE TO HAVE “ US AGAINST THE WORLD “ ATTITUDE
Refs didn’t beat them.They beat themselves.
it was both. no one could have made that comeback with a fair whistle.
Got to make that final shot, Merrill, and got to make free throws to win playoff games, everyone!
…but that cannot be the takeaway from this game, right? Even a 50% 3-point shooter misses half of them, and thanks to Mitchell Robinson, the Knicks shot worse (66%) than the Cavs (70%). The media is skewering the coaching staff, and rightfully so. This team was gassed from two seven-game series and needed timeouts. Then, they needed anyone but James Harden on defense. Kenny, make the call and put another defender in there. All the Knicks will do is switch to Harden if he’s out there…
AN INTERNATIONAL COACH ( AUSTRALIA- FOR YOU SIMMO ) WHO I COMMUNICATE ON A DAILY BASIS JUST TEXT ME TO CHASTISE KA ON HIM NOT CALLING TO ‘s —— HE NORMALLY SUPPORTS COACHES DECISION s BUT REALLY AMPED UP HIS KA ‘s DECISION ( LACK OF) MAKING 🤬🤬🤬
after every loss in any sport many state that the coach is an idiot. I usually do not agree much. however this time I do, as follows:
with eight or so minutes to go it was clear that Harden needed a breather and/or benched — he went 1 of 2 at the line twice in a row, put up a couple of brick 3 pointers. also in the third quarter we had been killing them with Schroeder on the floor. any competent coach would call a timeout and adjust the lineup. just saying.
I’ve not seen a fanbase turn on a coach as quickly. Cavs internet baying for his blood.
People may forget–or not care–but this is Kenny’s first trip to the conference finals as well. His defense of his mistakes is what I believe is infuriating the fan base.
The time outs are almost indefensible, though Phil Jackson refused to call them at one time (he had a guy named Jordan, a guy named Kobe)…
The defensive approach on Brunson is indefensible. The same basic action tried nine straight times (with the same basic defensive approach) yielded eight Brunson field goals. Blitz Brunson and get the ball out of his hands.
Yep.
multiple very bad calls went against the Cavs in the fourth quarter, at least 10 points worth.
VERY GREAT POINTS WINDMILL——- AND GUESS WHAT – WE ONLY HAVE 1 DAYS REST SO KA YOU HAD BETTER LEARN FROM GAME ONE WHAT YOU SHOULD DO DIFFERENTLY !!! ——“ NO MORE EXCUSES—— GIVE US SOME BETTER COACHING/ RESULTS!!!
CAVS ARE SIMILAR TO NE OHIO WEATHER GOING FROM HOT TO COLD 🥵🥶
Heavy legs. Harden and Kenny really rough. Gotta be better.
Gotta play 10 next game I think. But solving “point KAT” in Game 1 is a great start.
The “prevent offense” is so stupid. Just play the same basketball you were ALREADY playing, when it’s running the other team off the court. If the old man’d tired, put Schroeder in, or use Donovan-Strus-Tyson/Merrill to get the ball up-court.
It was a surprising tactic for sure, def spoke to coaching staff’s concerns about fatigue. But it interrupted the run of play, which is what worried so many people. “Don’t flirt with your form”. It was like the opposite of a team heat-check.
Anyone else notice last few games Kenny has stopped challenging calls when his players are begging him to challenge?
I AM SURE YOU ARE CORRECT SINMO ——/ KA WAS PROBABLY VERY GOOD DEFENSIVE PLAYER AS HE IS VERY SKILLED AT. “ DEFLECTING “ 🤬🤬🍺🍺
I imagine him shrugging, crediting the other team, referencing fatigue vs freshness, the home crowd effect, “things like this happen”.
Haven’t had the stomach to watch Kenny’s presser. I imagine he didn’t take responsibility for the disaster though. Please tell me I’m wrong.
He chalked it up to fatigue affecting the Cavs’ on court play down the stretch, several times. Which I’m sure is true since they were coming off a Game 7. But that just begs the questions: (1) Why didn’t you put Tyson’s bad Detroit series behind him and get him back in rotation since he could be helpful versus Bridges & Josh Hart and the Knicks aren’t as chippy as Detroit; (2) what else were your unused timeouts for if not to rest players; and (3) why stick with Harden down the stretch when he’s gassed and playing like ass?
One way you know that this was a sudden & unexpected collapse – a bunch of Knicks fans left the building with 8 minutes to go and missed seeing the win.
HARD FOR ME TO POST THIS- BUT KJG “ NAILED “ IT IN THEIR ARTICLE ON CAVS LOSS
TFI ( TOTALLY FUCKING INEXCUSABLE). TO WIN GAME ONE WOULD HAVE BEEN UNBELIEVABLE—-/ TO LOSE LIKE THEY DID WILL BE DEVASTATING!!!—— KNICKS GOOD CHANCE THEY WILL SWEEP———- HEY KA — HOW ABOUT CPJ OR TYSON —- “ SCHREDDER “ HAS HAD 1 GOOD GAME OUT OF 15 — ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!! —-PULL THE PLUG!!!
Ok. I think I fixed comments. Sorry guys
I thought you temporarily blocked them to prevent the long stream of obscenities that was coming! lol!
Test
“Kenny should have called timeout sooner” – Barkley. Also: “Choke job.”
Harden has been brutal. And no counter from the coach.
WOW.. CHECKED THE SCORE WITH CAVS UP 20.. SMIILED.. WTF !!! ???.. UNCLE BUCK KEEPING THE LIPS SEALED..
They figured us out.
Thanks Max. We missed you.
Dumbest loss in Cavs history.
Absolutely inexcusable.
Yeah I don’t know why Donovan’s been letting Harden run every possession.
Well, what a disappointing end.