CLEVELAND – The Knicks have helped create a great power that is now the biggest threat to shatter their goals.
Nearly two years after being punished by New York in the opening round of the playoffs, the Cavs have emerged as the most aggressively surprising startup, with the NBA's best records heading towards a showdown with the Knicks on Friday night.
And while the Cavaliers are changing in certain regions, the rest of the 2023 Gentleman Sweep remains, most notably on the trade deadlines with coach Kenny Atkinson and DeAndre Hunter.
“It definitely humbled us,” Darius Garland said when asked from the post on the All-Star weekend. “But it's definitely a learning experience and you're seeing the product now. It definitely helped us a lot.”
Before Friday night, the Knicks and Cavs hadn't met since October. The matchup that Cleveland won was not understood at the time as an important measurement stick. It arrived from the latest head and more juice arrived.
“It's going to be a great matchup,” Garland said. “Of course, everyone is thinking about the playoff series we had with them. But we are two completely different teams. Rocket (Cavs Home Arena) will be Rockin'.”
The Knicks are definitely a different team.
Although he hasn't counted Mitchell Robinson, who hasn't played since April, his only holdovers from the 2023 playoffs were Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Miles McBride (who had only 12 minutes in that series).
However, the style and aptitude of the Cavaliers are almost different – not personnel.
They came in on Friday with a top-rated NBA attack. This is a product of several factors, but importantly, it is a deeper understanding between Garland and Donovan Mitchell.
Their backcoat pairings didn't live up to expectations, so following enduring rumours they wanted to move, Garland and Mitchell found a common foundation.
“They got to the same page from the individual level, and there's a famous lecture that they talked about it and talked about the issue early,” Atkinson said. “And I think the place we helped them is getting them early in their attacks. Last year, they got a kind hand rena bullet thing at the end of the shot clock. It felt like they were in. Now they have to go and play. We tried to move their possessions early on in the shot clock. It's really their chemistry. They have a really big synergy right now.”
For the Knicks, who have Cleveland and two more head-on-heads in April, catching the Cavaliers is a long shot from Friday when they were behind eight games.
Both won eight of their final 10 games, but the Cavaliers deepened in February, dealing with defensively wing Hunter and signing Guard Javonte Green in the acquisition market).
The Knicks, which deal with pay cap restrictions, will put on deadlines and will not be able to sign players on standard contracts until after February 28th. .
Their hope is that Robinson, who first attended full practice this week, is a major addition.
A more realistic change to ranking is not easy to guess, but the Celtics, who were the first to climb behind Cleveland in 5½ games.
This sets up a potential two-round showdown between the Knicks and the Cavaliers. This is the 2023 rematch.
“For all of us, it was a new appearance in that kind of playoff appearance,” Garland said. “Just just being in the yard for the first time, the atmosphere. But the physicality of the game, that's how it is hosted. How detailed is everything? Playbook, Scouting Report.”
Friday night, there aren't that many results, but they're heavier than a typical regular season game. Both teams were open for the second consecutive night on roughly the same trip (Cavs played at the same time on Thursday and played at MSG.).
The big difference was that the Knicks fought to the end of their overtime victory over the Bulls. Karl Anthony Towns (39 minutes) and Mikal Bridges (43) have acquired intense playing time, but the Cavaliers have not blown the net for more than 30 minutes.
“Yeah, but at the end of the day, they're not going to stop,” Mitchell said of the Knicks, who have three players in the top ten for the total. “They're used to playing for a few minutes.”
