CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The good news: the Cleveland Cavaliers still control their own destiny to secure home court for the first round of the playoffs.
The not so good news is if Friday night was a playoff preview, the Cavs are going to have their work cut out for them against the New York Knicks.
Cleveland struggled without two of their starters – Jarrett Allen and Isaac Okoro while the Knicks showed no ill effects from not having Julius Randle on the floor in a 130-116 victory.
Here’s a look Beyond the Box Score Friday night from what Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff felt was a substandard effort from his team.
1. Defense was optional for much of the night as both teams ran up and down the floor and scored pretty much at will – more so the Knicks than the Cavs.
2. Both teams shot above 50% - New York 42.7% and Cleveland 51.2%. “I still think we had shots, we had open looks, we had layups that we missed,” Bickerstaff said. “Again, the purpose that we had to play with, but I just think overall and tip your hat to them, they played with an intensity and with an effort level that we didn't match. It's that simple. Defensively we're way better than that.”
3. The Cavs were helpless to slow Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, who scored a career-high 48 points to go with nine assists and four rebounds. “The biggest thing is he had [48] but he had nine assists,” Donovan Mitchell said. “At the end of the day, the standout [48] is great and that's a lot to work to put in, but being able to get everybody else involved, I think that's what I took away the most from that. Now he's not accountable just for [48] points, but at minimum 18 other points. So that's the tough part that we, that I look at.”
4. Mitchell hit his first eight shots in the first quarter. His first miss came on his fourth 3-point field goal attempt. He had 23 through 12 minutes but was slowed by foul trouble late in the first half with 26 points after picking up his third foul. He finished with 42 on 16 for 23 shooting, including six of nine from 3. “Wasn’t good enough, to be honest with you,” Mitchell said.
5. The Cavs set a franchise record by scoring 47 points in the opening quarter while shooting a blistering 73.9% from the field. They had scored 46 in a quarter six times previously. It was all downhill from there.
6. New York ended both quarters in the first half with buzzer beaters. Immanuel Quickly ended the first quarter with a three to cut Cleveland’s advantage to 47-42 and Mitchell Robinson’s putback as time expired to end the half gave the Knicks a 79-72 advantage.
7. The second and fourth quarters doomed the Cavs. New York held the Cavs to 25 points in the second quarter, aided by 10 for 24 shooting by Cleveland while the visitors heated up hitting 15 of 24 shot, including six of eight from deep. The fourth and final quarter saw the Cavs muster just 14 points on five of 19 shooting.
8. Cleveland struggled inside without Allen and Okoro. The Cavs pulled down just three offensive rebounds and had six second chance points. “We didn't have one of our bigs and that's where we get our second chance points from our two bigs,” Darius Garland, who finished with 20 points, nine assists and three rebounds, said. “They just did a pretty good job of just getting defensive rebounds and getting out in transition. That's all it was.” Overall the Knicks out-rebounded the Cavs 48-33 and outscored Cleveland in the paint 54-46.
9. Caris LeVert finished with 15 points, seven assists and four rebounds while Lamar Steven had two points and seven rebounds stepping in for Allen and Okoro,
10. The Cavs reserves just aren’t good enough. It’s been a growing theme the last few months and once again Friday night without two starters, it is clear the depth on the team is simply not sufficient to sustain much on either end of the floor. That ultimately will be their undoing come playoff time.
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