The Cavaliers recover Donovan Mitchell but Darius Garland, Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen are absent, and this is necessarily not ideal when facing their tormentors from the last playoffs, the Knicks.
More physical, and overall more complete, Tom Thibodeau’s men will take advantage of this to quickly take control of the match, and simply manage the second half.
It’s Jalen Brunson who starts his team at the start of the match, while Donovan Mitchell tries to keep the Cavaliers in the game. But faced with absences, JB Bickerstaff must quickly mobilize very young players, like Emoni Bates and Craig Porter Jr, and the Knicks take advantage of this to quietly get their hands on the game.
Without being particularly flamboyant, the Knicks can easily move towards victory (109-91), having been too physical for the Cavaliers incapable of collecting free throws or taking outside shots. In these conditions, it’s difficult to hope for anything…
For Cleveland, which has lost three of its first four games, we must hope that the infirmary empties quickly.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– The Cavaliers lack ammunition. Obviously, without three major players, it quickly becomes very complicated for Cleveland, who could not compete against the Knicks on their entire side.
– Tom Thibodeau plays everyone… except Evan Fournier. In control from halftime, the Knicks were able to run smoothly and Tom Thibodeau therefore gave minutes to 14 of his 15 players on the scoresheet. Only Evan Fournier was not allowed to get up from the bench…
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ The physical impact of the Knicks. Rather than this or that player, even if we could highlight the performances of Jalen Brunson or Immanuel Quickley, it is the physical impact of New York which marked us in this match. Enough to obtain twice as many free throws and limit Cleveland’s points under the circle.
⛔️ Evan Mobley. On this point, Evan Mobley’s performance is quite symptomatic. In the absence of Darius Garland, Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen, the Cavaliers obviously expected a lot more from him in attack, but the interior did not weigh (6 points on 3/9 shooting, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and the worst +/- of the meeting at -19), constantly hampered by the size of Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein, who kept him away from the circle.
⛔️ The outside address of the Cavaliers. Max Strus started with the Cavaliers with fireworks but, last night, he did not find the target from afar (1/7). But he is not the only one since Dean Wade (0/4) and Donovan Mitchell (0/3) were also clumsy. A 10/38 from afar which didn’t help Cleveland’s business…
How to read the stats? Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; O = offensive rebound; D=defensive rebound; T = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; +/- = Point differential when the player is on the field; Pts = Points; Eval: player evaluation calculated from positive actions – negative actions.
