Playoff Live Thread: Cavs @ Knicks (ECF Game 2)
2026-05-21Welcome to the other side of a collapse, Cavs fans. After one of the worst meltdowns in NBA history, Cleveland suits up against the Knicks again, tonight. Can Cleveland overcome the scar tissue? Will The Beard pick up the mantle? Will Donovan Mitchell assert himself? Will KA expand his rotations? Will he use timeouts? Stay tuned and go Cavs.
BEING A COACH—- YES YOU ALWAYS HAVE A PRE GAME PLAN——- THERE ARE COACHES WHO ARE VERY GOOD AT GETTING THEIR TEAMS READY BUT PISS POOR AT MAKING IN GAME ADJUSTMENTS WHETHER IT IS STRATEGIC/ PERSONNEL/ OR BOTH……………. I WILL JUST LEAVE IT AT THAT———— EVERYONE CAN FILL IN THE BLANKS
The fact that Mobley and Allen can’t even clear 20% usage is a massive indictment on KA, Mitchell, Harden, and Schroder for the way the offense is run.
Give me Tyson, CPJ, or Proctor at the guards, at least they know what their role is. At this point I’d rather see Keon Ellis out there instead of Schroder and just run Mobley at the point. At least Ellis doesn’t hijack the offense.
KA make a real adjustment for once in your life.
Yesh, there seems to be a common thread that the Cavs too often acquiesce instead of dictating a style that’s working well in the moment. I’m sure the Knicks made some defensive adjustment in response to Mobley’s earlier success, but why just allow the bigs to completely disappear from the offense. Likewise on defense, you don’t “have” to continue conceding switches – referring to Game 1 – if you see that it’s hurting you badly in a particular game. But Kenny really seems averse to adjusting plans in-game. It can be a problem.
KA claimed that they’re tagging help on the roll man more, but that doesn’t negate the fact that the correct play is get it to the roll man. They can have Mobley or Allen not roll as deep into the paint/rim and force a mismatch switch on the tag or they have a runway to drive to the rim when the tagger hedges back to the weakside shooter with the space created from not rolling as hard to the rim with a slight change in the timing of the pass to the big. Or just trust Mobley or Allen to… Read more »
I’m in agreement with this now that we don’t have a pressure defense to crack.
Mitchell and Harden need to commit to being screeners and relocators.
One thing Brunson has done super well this postseason is to crack defenders to free up cutters for KAT passes. Harden is 230 pounds and Mitchell is built like a tank. Smash into somebody to give JA or Merrill a little freedom of movement.
anyone watch the Knicks/76ers series? how did Philly go up 3-1?
Boston got cold and lazy and Philly spammed Maxey.
Sixers are not deep at all and have no PFs or reliable wings.
the Cavs are likely to beat the Knicks in any game were a couple or several guys are hitting threes, and not likely to win otherwise. the bad news is that good shooting nights are less than half the time.
Evan Mobley might be our best player this postseason.
We’ve solved turnovers. And the rebounding issues with NY.
Still might be too late (I’m probably about 60/40 that we even it up tho), but it’s painful to see all these advances not result in wins (although to be fair, making the ECF is a significant advance)
it is a significant advance, but it cannot be squandered — you never know if you will get this chance again. the Cavs would be looking good if the series was 1 – 1, which would be the case if KA wasn’t a dunce. what pisses me off is his nonchalant, “BFD” attitude about not playing smart on Tuesday.
Game 1 was squandered. Knicks squandered a chance last year but are right back. But the individual advances (Allen and Mobley and Merrill are clearly playoff risers) will keep. You’d hope one of Tyson or Proctor will join them next year and reduce reliance on Harden’s volatility.
No guarantees though, and KA fate will probably be the topic of the offseason.
RAOUL I HEAR YOU/ HOPE YOU ARE CORRECT—— KNICKS ARE BETTER THAN PISTONS/ RAPTORS—- REALLY BELIEVE WE ARE FATIGUED—— WISH THERE WAS 2 DAYS OFF BETWEEN GAMES
Yeah this is where the Game 1 choke and the Game 6 home loss hurt (bc if we won G6 we’d have had 3 days off)
THE MENTAL/ PHYSICAL STRAIN OF 16 GAMES IS TAKING ITS TOLL——— GAME 1 REALLY HURTS
Knicks are just a little more consistent and together…we’re a year behind them.
We feel far away but we aren’t in truth
which ever of the two is having a good night will win, and it is more likely to happen at home. so the Cavs will have a tuff time doing it. all the more reason why giving away game 1 is such a disaster.
My summary of the game: the Knicks are ass. The Cavs are more ass.
Chuck going nuts on the fact that Mobley had zero second-half shots and Allen had two. Tough to argue with that…
1000%
We need to give Mobley the ball to initiate all the time next year, again.
He’s ready. harden and Mitchell need to trust him for real, not just make mouth noises.
It’s the only way to get the group to the Finals and we are SO CLOSE
I SMELL “ TOAST ( ed) “ ——MAYBE WE CAN AT LEAST GENERATE 1 WIN AND NOT GET SWEPT!!!!
same record as after two games with the Pistons — how did that turn out?
Assists: Cavs 15 (Harden 2, Mitchell 1), Brunson 14
So – win both your home games, use the crowd to get your confidence back, wear the Knicks down so the energy gap between the teams is reduced. Destroy punks like Hart and Shamet to remind them they suck. Then go into their house and win one.
I love you
#LetEmKnow
Cavs just out of gas. Yes they’re flawed but I do think they can hang with the Knicks more than I did a couple years ago. But they put themselves in this situation. Tough to dig out of it now.
We can only hope the same life they found in Game 3 against Detroit will be there in this series. I do think they have what it takes to flip this series in Cleveland.
Me, too. The Knicks are tougher than the Raptors or the Pistons, but the Cavs are not clearly overmatched.
Mikal shooting 70% is nuts. He’s on a heater of heaters
Strus says let me help you out, Kenny – I’ll take myself out of the game.
Ha!
Cavs need to run prevent offense just to keep this from getting uglier.
RJ makes a good point – KA should be resting his starters right now. Yet he sits there, arms crossed, not talking to anyone.
The Byron Scott method.
yeah, the TV guys said it was time to take them out. so many things suggest that he does not know how to coach at this level.
it is a bit soon, but I am leaning towards letting him go a couple days after we are eliminated. if we get to game 7, I will have a rethink.
It’s truly boggling – his minutes management through the season was pretty good.
This flawed roster doesn’t know how to show up.Too many undersized, one-trick ponies who have basic basketball skills, and veterans who are too beat up come playoff time that they play like shells of themselves. We can’t even run a simple offense. Probably only two more times we’ll have to watch this crap.
Until they re-sign Harden and run this shit back
Completely have gone away from Allen and Mobley on offense, letting cold shooters chuck away and playing 4 guard lineups never giving Allen or Mobley an advantage.. fucking frustrating
100%.
Yep.
yeah, they had the hot hand on Tuesday night but we gave it away.