3 Cleveland Cavaliers players who should feast against the Knicks

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Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) drives to the basket on New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports /

3 Cavaliers who should feast vs. the Knicks – No. 2: Evan Mobley

Secondly, Evan Mobley could be in-line for plenty of success versus the Knicks.

As an aside, Mobley will likely have his share of matchups defensively in primary coverage against Julius Randle, provided Randle can go, regarding his ankle sprain. Mobley’s defensive workload in the playoffs will be a considerable one, either way, based on what he’s done throughout his two seasons on that end for Cleveland.

Even with that in mind, Mobley has shown steady growth on the offensive end in the second half of the regular season in Year 2, and post-All-Star break, he had 17.5 points per contest on 56.3 percent shooting in 20 appearances.

Mobley has been more assertive offensively in the past few months for the Cavaliers, and him getting stronger and more filled out has paid dividends in the paint and around the rim. What’s been especially been promising has been how Mobley has so effective in the paint in recent months, and both above and below the rim.

Mobley needs to more competent than he’s been of late on free throws, but with his fluidity, rolling improvements, cutting timing and mid-post capabilities, including with fadeaways, he could very well be a difficult player for New York to deal with. And let’s not discount continual evolution as a passer for the Cavaliers, which has been more prominent post-All-Star break.

Even with his inexperience in the playoffs, only being in his second season, with Mobley coming on in the second half of the year, he’s another Cav who could definitely feast against the Knicks. He’s had a ton of success in recent months versus a variety of matchups, and has the touch, on and off-ball skill set to get himself going against potentially Randle, Obi Toppin and/or others.