3 areas the Cavs need to fix quickly for Game 2 against the Knicks

Perspective is way of life and if you are a Cleveland Cavaliers fan you probably are holding onto two different perspectives after the Cavs lost to the New York Knicks in Game 1 of their first-round series. The teams are well matched up and it will only take a tweak here and there for one of these teams to grab the advantage.

Either, you believe the sky is falling and this series is over after the Cavs lost the home-court advantage or you are saying to yourself that it’s only Game 1 and you expect this battle to go the full seven games. You could have an in-between view where you aren’t jumping to either extreme. Whatever you believe, from a Cavaliers team perspective, there are some major areas that they still need to fix and fix fast.

The problem for Cleveland is that these problems have been problems throughout the regular season as well when they played the Knicks. Let’s look at these three areas and discuss some ways to correct the issues.

No. 1 area for Cavs to correct against Knicks in Game 2: Rebound the basketball

It wasn’t that the Cavs players weren’t out there trying in Game 1. They were putting forth the effort, but the focus on detail, like in trying to box out for the defensive rebound, wasn’t always there. Too often players like Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen were flat-footed and allowing New York players all night to get inside of them and steal away boards that should have been there’s.

Getting outrebounded 51-38 and 17-11 on offensive boards isn’t going to win any team many games. When the Cavaliers played the Knicks best this season, the rebounding numbers were very close. Knowing this fact, the Cavs players need to spend more time focusing on the details to get the boards. Timing and better footwork could help in this department.