Cavs Just A Huge Inconsistent Mess Right Now

For many years, the Cleveland Browns have held the title of the most crazily run organization of the three major professional sports teams in the area. From what we’ve seen over the first few weeks of the NBA season, that title may have transferred to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Since they were swept in the Eastern Conference finals by the New York Knicks last spring, it has been one weird circumstance after another for the wine and gold, and the players, coach, and front office are all culpable.

Over the past five or six games, it looks like the players are in open revolt against Kenny Atkinson, although we don’t know why outwardly. Atkinson doesn’t appear to have an “in your face” coaching demeanor and generally goes out of his way to not throw any individuals under the bus.

Yes, he had the comment about analytics during the series against New York, which we would guess he wished he hadn’t said out loud, but that’s been more on him.

Atkinson isn’t perfect. His continued use of the small lineups drives us crazy, but then when you analyze the situation, you have to realize that seven of the 15 players currently on the Cleveland roster are 6’6″ or shorter, and four of the players who aren’t are two way players in Riley Minix, Norchad Ornier, Khalifa Diop and Ernest Udoh.

Adding to the confusion about the team was last night’s 115-107 win in New York. The Cavaliers’ players might think they are good enough to coast in the regular season and then turn it on in the playoffs, and maybe they are. However, that kind of attitude leads to poor habits.

There aren’t a lot of options to play with size, and that is the fault of Koby Altman, the president of basketball operations.

Altman has either overrated some of the players he has brought in or those players simply haven’t been utilized properly. The organization has been waiting for Evan Mobley to turn into a superstar for five years. Mobley is a solid player; he’s been the Defensive Player of the Year. But it looks like he’s an 18 points, 8 rebound per game guy. And he plays in spurts.

Even last night, he had just 10 points and five boards and was bullied by Karl-Anthony Towns. Jarrett Allen was far better with 11 points and 14 caroms.

Maybe it’s because Mobley has always played with ball dominant guards, but if so, whose fault is that?

Altman also is responsible for the lack of height/size on the roster. Remember that Isaiah Hartenstein was with the Cavs? It wasn’t a priority for the Cavs to keep him even though he showed skills while wearing a Cavaliers’ uniform.

Then you have the James Harden issue. We understand why the deal was made at the deadline, but we also always wrote any deal for Darius Garland shouldn’t be made about getting equal talent, it would be about getting a better fit.

Is it shocking that a 37-year-old guard looks like they may have hit the wall? His shooting numbers are way down and so are his assists. The Cavs inked him to a three-year deal after the season. Hard to see Altman getting out of that, although we all thought Shawn Kemp’s contract was impossible to get out of, and then GM Jim Paxson did it.

It also isn’t a good look for Donovan Mitchell either. Mitchell probably was consulted and let it be known he wasn’t happy with J.B. Bickerstaff, and so now he’s not happy with Atkinson either? And if he doesn’t have a problem with the coach, shouldn’t he stand up in front of his teammates and say that?

It’s just hard to believe that just five months ago, the Cavaliers advanced further than they ever have since LeBron James departed after 2018. Because now they seem like an inconsistent mess.

The Cavs Play Very Well Friday. The Next Night? Uh, Not So Much

Usually, we write on Saturday morning but after the Cavaliers very good performance on Friday night against the then 8-1 Philadelphia 76ers, we figured we would wait to see how the wine and gold followed up that performance against the defending champion New York Knicks, who swept Kenny Atkinson’s crew out of the playoffs last season in the Eastern Conference finals.

By the way, both games were at Rocket Arena.

Did the Cavs build on perhaps their best game of the young season on Friday? They did not, They trailed by 10 at the half and by 18 at the end of three quarters, losing by a dozen and dropping to 5-5.

This edition of the Cavaliers is befuddling for sure.

Yes, we know the team is battling injuries. One starter, Jarrett Allen is currently out, and two of their primary reserves, Jaylon Tyson and Sam Merrill, also were not available.

Donovan Mitchell wound up with 37 points and had an incredible fourth quarter but seemed to be the only Cavalier playing with any urgency, at least on the offensive end.

Cleveland took 50 three-point shots, they attempted 82 field goals for the game. That number would be fine if they had made say, 30 of the long-range shots. They made 16. In one possession late in the third quarter, they garnered two offensive rebounds, so they had three opportunities to score.

They attempt three shots from behind the line. They missed them all.

In the third quarter, the home team made 1 of 13 from beyond the arc. Didn’t someone on the floor or on the bench think maybe we should stop taking threes? We know, we know, that’s today’s NBA,

The other primary starters for the Cavs, Evan Mobley and James Harden, didn’t do much. Mobley in 33 minutes scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds. He took 11 shots, five of them from three-point range,

As for Harden, he scored seven points on nine shots and only got to the free throw line twice. Meanwhile the two Knick stars, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for 60 points.

And as usual when the Cavaliers are defeated, they lost the battle of the boards, getting outrebounded 49-40.

We understand Atkinson has drawn fire recently, but we continue to question the decisions of president of basketball operations Koby Altman.

With Allen out, the lack of another big man has reared its ugly head. Among the first moves made this off-season were keeping both Thomas Bryant and Craig Porter Jr., and neither are in the rotation when everyone is healthy.

Bryant has taken 25 shots this season in the five games he has played and 15 of them have been threes.

We have questioned Porter’s ball handling especially when he is pressured, and he seems to have been passed in terms of playing time by second year player Tyrese Proctor and rookie Maleek Thomas.

Altman did trade for Peyton Watson, who starts, and signed Mario Hezonja as a free agent, but the coaching staff doesn’t seem to recognize the latter can play, despite last night’s 0 for 6 (5 threes!) from the floor. He did grab five rebounds, and is third on the team in boards, even though he gets only 20 minutes per game.

We have said the last two years, the Cavs’ success can’t be judged until they reach the playoffs, but it doesn’t mean inconsistency is fine during the regular season. And what is worse to us is the lack of any real plan. For example, we haven’t had an idea of what the team is trying to accomplish defensively for quite some time.

It’s frustrating to watch for sure, and really not a good viewing experience if you are a basketball fan. It’s more irritating than entertaining to watch this team right now.

It’s Still Early For Cavaliers, But…

The Cleveland Cavaliers are only eight games into their season, but from our point of view, we are seeing things we aren’t particularly fond of with the wine and gold. Granted, injuries to Peyton Watson and Jaylon Tyson haven’t helped the situation.

It looks as though the same things that plagued the squad in the playoffs a year ago haven’t been corrected. It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

In a league that is getting longer every year, coach Kenny Atkinson and his staff continue to use small ball lineups, frequently it is either Evan Mobley or Jarrett Allen with four other players who are 6’6″ and smaller. The usual result is the wine and gold getting hurt on the boards.

The last two losses for the Cavs, against Atlanta and Oklahoma City, they were outrebounded, particularly giving up second chance opportunities to both opponents. It’s fundamental basketball to say defense isn’t done until you rebound the ball. Sometimes it’s as simple as they don’t box out, other times, it’s just because they are too small.

What’s weird is the Cavaliers are 4th in the league in rebounds, but it seems when they need a key stop, they force a miss, but don’t get the ball.

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

They don’t seem to have an identity, particularly offensively. They blew out the Bucks, who aren’t a good team, by feeding Mobley and Allen, getting them a combined 32 shots out of the 100 they took. The next game, a loss to the Thunder, the two big men took a total of 21 shots out of 90 in total.

We agree with analyst Brad Daugherty, who says many times that the Cavs would be better off playing insde out, meaning establishing the two big men inside and forcing the opposition to defend them, using with double teams, thus leaving shooters open on the perimeter.

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

So far, the season has been about either having a big lead and blowing it or being down by a lot early and coming back. We believe this is because there is no “Cavalier way” of playing. To us, Atkinson’s crew seems to morph into whatever style their opponent plays. If they are shooting threes, so will Cleveland. Again, it would help to establish the inside game early.

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

We liked bringing in size on the wings in Watson and Mario Hezonja this summer, but we wanted another big to play inside, and that wasn’t accomplished. Instead, the front office brought back Thomas Bryant, who has played in just two games thus far, and in his last appearance, fired up four shots in five minutes.

The Cavs need some bulk inside. Hezonja helps a bit, but he’s just 6’8″. A larger problem might be the bottom of the roster, particularly with Nae’Qwan Tomlin out. There isn’t much help there.

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves

The roster construction is still sketchy though. The team brought back Craig Porter Jr. and it has only taken a few games for him to fall out of the rotation. We had doubts about his ballhandling and shooting after last season. And again, why did they rush to resign Bryant?

It’s still early, we keep telling ourselves.

We will give them credit for Maleek Thomas, who has earned minutes early, but as we said after the draft, it’s not that the rookie can’t play, it’s that he’s 6’5″, and the roster is filled with players of that profile.

It is early and perhaps this group is just trying to find it’s style of play. We repeat what we said prior to the season, the real measure of success is how they do in the playoffs.

It’s just frustrating to watch right now (if you can watch)

It’s Basketball Time For The Wine And Gold

The Cleveland Cavaliers open the 2026-27 NBA season tonight and the expectations on the team are much like the last two seasons. What they do in the regular season will doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, how successful their season is will be determined by how far they go in the playoffs.

Last season, Kenny Atkinson’s squad got to the Eastern Conference finals, a step further than the year before. However, they blew a big fourth quarter lead in the first game and then were pretty much outclassed during the rest of the series.

It was the third straight season they were pretty much non-competitive in the series in which they were eliminated, and that means the good feeling about taking the next step are erased in the view of most basketball people.

Koby Altman did add some height to the roster, especially on the wings by trading for 6’8″ Peyton Watson, and he added 6’8″ Mario Hezonja, who will likely spend time at both forward spots. We also expect another 6’8″ player, Nae’Qwan Tomlin to have a bigger role this season once he returns to the court following a lower back injury.

We would have liked (and still would like) Altman to add another big man to back up Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. Currently the main back up is veteran Thomas Bryant, but more likely than not, Atkinson will probably go smaller when Allen or Mobley are not on the floor. (Ugh!)

Altman swung big at the trade deadline a year ago, bringing in James Harden for Darius Garland. Harden brings a lot, both good and bad. He averaged 20.5 points and 7.7 assists in 26 games after coming over from the Clippers. He shot 43.5% from three and 46.6% from the floor overall.

He’s great at finding big men in the pick and roll too. Jarrett Allen averaged almost 20 points per game from February until the end of the season.

However, the ball is in his hands a lot, so ball movement suffers. Also, Harden isn’t exactly quick, which presents a problem defensively. And the Cavs likely will not be getting a ton of transition baskets with Harden on the floor. That eliminates easy baskets.

The veteran averaged almost 35 minutes per game last season, and we know Harden takes pride in being on the floor. We wonder if he would play at a higher level getting fewer minutes, especially in the regular season. We will see how Atkinson divvies up the minutes.

With Harden and Donovan Mitchell or at least one of them on the court most of the time, there isn’t a huge need for a backup point guard, and we are curious about using Craig Porter Jr. there. In our opinion, his ball handling is questionable.

He’s a high energy player for us, but not really a lead guard. We wonder how long before second year player Tyrese Proctor gets minutes at that spot.

We will start getting answers in regard to how the Cavs will play and how the rotations work starting tonight. It’s probably not fair, but barring some bad injury luck, the Cavaliers are building toward starting their real season in April.

The goal should be winning the NBA title, especially this season. The “one step forward” nonsense is just that.

Time For A Big Swing For Altman

The NBA Draft is coming up this week and shortly after the free agency period starts, meaning this is the time to rebuild or retool your basketball team if you are an NBA executive. So, the question should be what is Cavaliers’ president of basketball operations Koby Altman going to do, if anything?

Most people don’t think Altman will do more than a tweak or two, which we feel would be a big problem. That’s because we think differently than him, or so it would seem.

Our guess is Altman thinks his squad is on the right path. They’ve advanced one round further than the past two seasons, and at least his coach thinks (and we’ll bet he was expressing the view of the front office) the wine and gold should have won the Eastern Conference Finals. At least that’s what the analytics showed.

For us, that’s a mistake. That’s believing what the numbers says instead of what your eyes are telling you. The reality is the Cavs had a chance to win the first game, and frankly if they had, it would have been a little different.

Kenny Atkinson’s crew blew a huge fourth quarter lead, and pretty much the series was decided then.

We believe Altman should do a deep dive on his roster and figure out who can play in the playoffs and who is a regular season performer, because in watching this team over these last four post-season runs, the games are vastly different.

Cleveland needs more size, and not just height, we are talking about bulk as well. That’s why we like Jaylon Tyson, who the coaching staff (or the front office) ran away from after trading for James Harden. Look at the Cavs’ big men, both Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen play with force. That doesn’t make them bad players,, they just don’t bring a lot of physicality to the game.

And again, we will bring up the wings Atkinson has at his disposal. They aren’t tall, they aren’t very quick, and offensively, they are streaky at best. And how many can create their own shot?

There is simply too much duplicate players on the roster, and that has to change. Another fear is Altman has grown too attached to the players he has brought in, a common mistake for a guy responsible for acquiring talent.

For example, the number crunchers love Dean Wade and are quick to provide all kinds of numbers to show how good of a player he is. We see a very good perimeter defender that pretty much refuses to participate on the offensive side of the floor, which is not what basketball is.

So, why not try to do better.

Probably the only way to do a reset on the roster is to move either Donovan Mitchell or Evan Mobley, and most likely the latter because of the contract situation. Does Altman have the stomach to do that? No doubt it’s a high-risk move.

Standing pat likely gets the Cavaliers back to the second round of the Eastern Conference, where they’ve been the last three seasons. But if you want to win the NBA title, you can’t be timid. And after four years where you have been blown out in the round the team is eliminated in, It’s no time for the status quo.

We will see in the next two weeks, where the organization’s mind set is.

Should Cavs Look At A Major Move?

If the Cleveland Cavaliers’ front office believes all of the analytics that Kenny Atkinson spoke about following Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals (we still can’t believe he said that out loud), then it is probably true the wine and gold won’t do more than a tweak to the roster going into next season.

And as we have addressed before, that’s a big mistake.

We are sure the front office believes it is making progress because they went a step further in the playoffs, going from a first round loss to a pair of second round defeats, and finally getting to the conference finals.

That’s one way to look at it.

The other is to recognize none of the series in which the Cavs lost over the last four seasons have been particularly close. The first three went five games before the sweep at the hands of the Knicks this year.

By the way, the last four seasons are the Donovan Mitchell era, which brings us to our point.

First, Mitchell is a phenomenal player. Since he has been a Cavalier, he’s made first team all-NBA (only the third Cleveland player in history to do so–Mark Price and LeBron James) and was second team once. He’s averaged at least 24 points per game every season in Cleveland.

And by all accounts has been a great spokesman for both the Cavaliers and the northeast Ohio area, going to high school games around town.

He’s also going to be 30 years old, 6’2″, and his contract runs out in two more years. The Cavs are expected to offer him a four-year deal worth $272 million this summer. That’s an average of $68 million per year, and they would be paying him that amount at 34 years old.

We would think very seriously about doing that. Not because Mitchell doesn’t deserve it, he’s arguably the second-best player ever to wear a Cleveland uniform. However, you have to wonder what kind of player he’s going to be in the last two seasons of that deal.

In our opinion, bigger players age better than smaller ones. Yes, we know about Stephen Curry and James Harden is still put up a bunch of points. Should the Cavs explore trades for Mitchell this off-season?

We know where the Cavs are in the NBA hierarchy, they were one of the last four teams standing this year, so moving on from Mitchell would be a step back in all likelihood. But it just might be the right way to go. Take a step back and not bottom out for another run at a title in a couple of years.

Another direction is what many talk about, going all in by dealing for someone like Giannis Antetokounmpo, dealing say Evan Mobley (as people have discussed), thus making Mitchell the second-best player on the team. That probably gives you a two-year window for a championship, and after you get it, you likely would have to rebuild.

Even doing that, the front office has other work to do. They need more versatile, longer players. They also need more depth at power forward and center.

Jaylon Tyson needs a bigger role. He seemed to get lost after the trade that brought James Harden to Cleveland. We also believe another young player who got lost in the last two months, Nae’Qwan Tomlin can be a contributor next season.

He’s 6’8″ and should fit in as a wing, especially if he can improve his shooting. And it doesn’t have to be three-point shooting, which frankly, we’d be fine if he never took another one of those. He’ll be 26 next season, and we believe he can be a wild card for Kenny Atkinson.

But the big decision is Mitchell. Most people believe it’s a no brainer. We think the front office should take a good long look.

Running It Back? Not A Good Idea For Cavs.

When Cavaliers’ president of basketball operations Koby Altman had his most season press conference, he didn’t give any indication about off-season moves, and that’s not a surprise. Since then, it has been reported the Cavs are going to run it back with pretty much the current roster in 2026-27, and if that is Altman’s intention, it’s a big mistake.

We have gone on ad nauseum about the team’s lack of size, both on the wings and up front. While people talk about the starting big men, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, there has been little behind them over the past few seasons.

And we aren’t just talking height either. Both Allen and Mobley are slender big men, the Cavs have no one with bulk. Over the past few years, the backup bigs have guys like Thomas Bryant. Tristan Thompson, Damian Jones, and Robin Lopez, players who really can’t be counted on in a playoff situation.

Remember, the Cavs did have Isaiah Hartenstein in the 2021 season and after he scored 8.3 points and grabbed six rebounds in 16 games, they let him walk via free agency. They didn’t recognize that he can play.

We have also talked about the lack of size on the wing. Most of the NBA have players who are in the 6’7″ or 6’8″ range who can create their own shot, but the wine and gold’s tallest wing that can do that is 6’6″ Jaylon Tyson. The rest seem to be one-dimensional three-point shooters (Max Strus, Sam Merrill) or defensive minded (Dean Wade).

When Caris LeVert was here, fans didn’t like him, most because he was not a good three-point shooter, which unfortunately is becoming the way players are evaluated these days. However, we liked that LeVert could create his own shot. And when you are late in the shot clock, that is a valuable thing.

On the current roster, Donovan Mitchell, James Harden and Dennis Schroder are the only players who can accomplish this and two of those players are under 6’3″. It can be done through quickness or brute strength. Cleveland has no one in the latter category.

Players who stand in one spot or only hang out on the perimeter are easier to guard because the defender/opponent kind of knows where they will be.

Somebody floated Zion Williamson as a possible Cavs’ target. Forgetting about his availability concerns (70 games are the most he’s played in a season), he would be a good get. If he gets the ball 15-20 feet away from the basket, you know he’s probably attacking the basket. He’s not shooting a three.

People talk about the “3 and D” players around the league, but to us, Altman has several three OR D players. Strus and Merrill are good from long distance but lack the size and quickness to defend bigger wings, like Mikal Bridges. The one replay where a lob pass from Bridges just gets over Merrill’s outstretched arms is a vision we cannot unsee.

And of course, Dean Wade has the size and ability to play on the defensive end, but he refuses (or is told to refuse?) to play on the offensive end of the floor.

Altman may want to run it back; that’s the ego of people in his position. The reality is the NBA is always changing and what succeeded three years ago is passe today.

In the game of basketball, more often than not, going big is a good way to go. Let’s see if the Cavaliers learned that lesson in the last four series they were eliminated in.

Some Thoughts On The Cavs Following The Sweep

So, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ season came to a thud in the Eastern Conference finals, getting swept by the New York Knicks, including home losses by 13 and 37 points.

There were a lot of crazy things said toward the end of the series angering both fans and the media, both local and national, so there was a lot of speculation that Kenny Atkinson would lose his coaching gig as a result.

To be honest, we are glad Dan Gilbert and the front office took a deep breath and looked at the big picture and decided to keep Atkinson in place, and he kept president of basketball operations Koby Altman as well.

The Cavs did win 116 regular season games over the past two seasons under Atkinson’s guidance, and they did advance to the conference finals for the first time since 2018. We cannot erase that accomplishment.

However, the things we have talked about concerning the roster over the past several seasons came to bear in these playoffs, even though they won two series.

We are hoping both Altman and Atkinson are staying because there is an understanding that the current roster is not geared to winning in the playoffs and in Altman’s case, he knows the league continues to evolve and he needs to get more size both in the post and on the wings.

Today’s NBA requires more players who can play on both ends of the floor, can create their own shots and guards and small forwards are getting taller every year.

If that’s the understanding, the roster will have to go through a series of changes.

Atkinson took heat during the season for his four guard lineup, and we agree the coach could have done a better job spacing out minutes for his big men, but the reality is out of the top nine players on the roster, six of them are guards, and we are talking about the roster after the trading deadline.

To be fair, Altman did bring in Thomas Bryant and Larry Nance Jr. in the off-season, but the coaching staff didn’t believe they were playable during the post-season. Bryant played just 41 minutes in the 18 playoff games and Nance just five. We felt both could have helped more during the regular season.

There is no argument about getting bigger, versatile players who can create their own shot. The Cleveland roster has too many players who are one-dimensional. Dean Wade is a very good wing defender that apparently refuses to play offense. Sam Merrill is a three-point shooter and though he’s a better defensive player than given credit for, if his shot isn’t falling, why should he get minutes?

Toronto’s length gave the Cavs troubles. The Knicks’ versatility was a problem. That’s what Altman and the front office have to combat this summer. They definitely need another big man to back up Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, assuming no trades involving them, and some bigger wing players.

We thought De’Andre Hunter would be the latter, but he just didn’t work out.

They also need some tougher players, not physically, but mentally. Players who can handle the playoff atmosphere. There were far too many games in the playoffs where there didn’t seem to be a match of the opponent’s intensity.

The defense also has to improve. We have asked over the last half of the season who is responsible for coaching the defense, and we still don’t know. What we do know is it wasn’t very good. The Cavs allow a very high percentage of three point makes, and a lot of that is there are a lot of wide-open looks from long distance.

So, the management stayed the same, but you would think there has to be better results in the 2026-27 season or there could be a complete cleaning of the people running the wine and gold.

One should hope for a busy summer for the Cavaliers.

Can Cavs Rebound After Devastating Loss

Our first thought after Tuesday night’s Game 1 collapse by the Cleveland Cavaliers was how do they come back from that? With a 22-point lead over the New York Knicks with just under eight minutes to go in regulation, two things came into play: First, Cleveland had no answer for Jalen Brunson, and two, they couldn’t make a shot.

Brunson scored 15 points in the fourth, making 7 of 9 shots as the Knicks hit 59% from the floor, and perhaps even worse, made just 5 of 17 from the floor, and no player in a Cleveland uniform made more than one shot from the field.

The problem for us was the lack of adjustments. If James Harden is making shots, then he is worth having on the floor, because he was who the Knicks were targeting on the defensive end. But he wasn’t, making just one of six, in addition to dribbling the clock down so the Cavs took a lot of bad shots down the stretch.

And we know Kenny Atkinson trusts Harden because of what he has done in the league and his veteran status. But when New York made it a single digit game, he needed to be on the bench, in favor of either Max Strus, Dean Wade, or even Keon Ellis.

Harden isn’t the Cavs’ best player so there isn’t a need to defer to him. The Cavaliers needed to win the game. Simple as that. And besides, it’s not as though Harden wouldn’t start tonight.

And Atkinson should be called out for doubling Brunson when the score got closer under three minutes to go. After Evan Mobley hit a three, the Cavs still had a 97-89 lead with 3:09 remaining. After OG Anunoby split free throws, followed by a weird loose ball foul on Sam Merrill, New York’s next four field goal attempt were threes.

The first make was with Cleveland up by seven. You should be defending the three, not allowing an open look. They missed with the Cavs up six, but on the next possession, they allowed another three point make and then another up three.

Defend the long range shot and if the Knicks are going to score, give them twos.

We also don’t want to hear the fatigue excuse. Cleveland was dominating this game, and there were plenty of opportunities to get some rest for the primary players. Jaylon Tyson didn’t even play. Ellis played just five minutes.

If the Cavs were tired from back-to-back seven game series, they should have gone into the contest with a plan to dust some guys off the bench and give them some court time.

We do want to single out Mobley, who has showed he can raise his game. He was outstanding with 15 points, 14 rebounds, and three blocks. And even Dean Wade decided to shoot the ball, hitting 3 of 5 threes and scoring in double figures for the first time since game six of the first round.

But the big question continues to be, can the Cavs come back from a devastating defeat. Yes, they did win game seven against the Raptors after the RJ Barrett shot to win the game. And they came back after getting blown out on their own floor in game six against Detroit.

This could be different. They dominated the Knicks for 40 minutes. Unfortunately, this isn’t college and the pro game is 48 minutes. Can they pick themselves off the mat again?

Cavs Pull It Off, Now Get Ready For The Knicks

It was the one outcome we didn’t figure was possible. We thought it was possible for the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Detroit Pistons, but we surely did not foresee a blowout win.

Kenny Atkinson’s squad returned the favor from Friday night, dominated the Pistons in a 125-94 win and advanced to the Conference Finals for the first time since 2018.

The opponent will be the New York Knicks, who started the questions about this basketball team a few years ago when they beat up Cleveland in a five game first round series win.

What it made us think is why can’t the Cavs play like that more often? Cleveland came out and Donovan Mitchell got his big guys involved early. Evan Mobley had five points, four rebounds, and three assists in the first quarter, while Jarrett Allen scored six. And the cherry on top was the wine and gold knocked down 6 of 13 from long distance, including a halfcourt buzzer beater by Mitchell at the end.

The Cavs also needed someone to step up off the bench and Sam Merrill, who we admit we would have lessened his minutes before the game, turned out to be that guy, showing we don’t know as much as we think we do.

Merrill hit his first two threes, which we have seen before, but he kept it going, ending with five makes in eight attempts and 23 points. Cleveland only made 32.4% from three, but Merrill had the hot hand.

We also have to mention the impact Mobley made in this series. We have always wondered about the physicality with Mobley, but for the series, he scored 15.9 points, grabbed 7.4 boards, and perhaps most surprisingly, dished out 4.9 assists, second on the team to James Harden. He shot 52% from the floor and more importantly was a force inside, blocking 19 shots.

He looked like the player Cavs’ fans have been hoping for since Cleveland became a playoff team.

So, now the wine and gold go from one former coach in J.B. Bickerstaff to another in Mike Brown, now the head man with the Knicks. It is important to point out the Knicks won just one more regular season game than the Cavaliers, finishing at 53-29.

But they have had an easier road in the playoffs, winning the first round in six games and sweeping the 76ers in the semi-finals. The don’t have a big height advantage in the starting lineup, with just one player over 6’7″ in Karl-Anthony Towns, but they do play physical on the perimeter with 6’5″ Josh Hart and 6’7″ OG Anunoby. And of course, their star is 6’2″ Jalen Brunson, who we would say, plays a lot like Harden.

The two teams met three times, but only once after the trade deadline. Opening night saw the Cavs drop a 119-111 decision with Anunoby scoring 24 and Brunson getting 23. On Christmas Day in New York, the Cavs blew a big lead, up by 12 after three quarters before losing by two, 126-124. Mobley came off the bench that day, his first game back after an injury.

Mitchell and Brunson each had 34 points.

In the lone game at Rocket Arena, Cleveland won 109-94 behind 23 from Mitchell and 20 from Harden.

Can the Cavs beat New York and get to the Finals without LeBron James for the first time in team history? Sure, the Knicks are far from a perfect team, they have flaws like the Cavaliers. But the Cavs have to play with the same energy, physicality, and attention to detail as they played with in both Game 7s.

That seems to be a tall task for this group although we don’t know why.