Maybe more than anything, Cavs can’t get bullied by Knicks on the inside

It’s still hard to believe what we watched on Friday night. After the Cleveland Cavaliers had an all-around great performance in Game 2 of their first round series versus the New York Knicks, Game 3 in New York was a complete dud.

Cleveland had 32 points in the first half, and shot 31.0 percent from the field, including going two-of-19 from three-point range. The Knicks had 45 points going into halftime, which wasn’t world-beating, but it turned out to be plenty, and the Cavaliers conceded far too many open looks in the second half to realistically have a chance at coming back.

New York would go on to dispatch 99-79 on Friday night, and in the game, Cleveland had 20 turnovers. Caris LeVert and Donovan Mitchell were the only Cavaliers to hit multiple three-point shots, and they were only four-of-19 from deep; meanwhile, Darius Garland was four-of-21 from the field. Even with a better second half offensively, Cleveland shot 38.0 percent for the game, and 21.2 percent from deep.

Through three games of this series between the No. 4 and No. 5 teams in the Eastern Conference, the outcome is likely going to be decided by if the Cavaliers can be aggressive and effective enough in the paint.

Maybe more than anything, the Cavs can’t get bullied by the Knicks inside.

New York bodied Cleveland in Game 1, en route to a 101-97 victory, and aside from a Cavs run in the fourth quarter, that was a contest that was largely controlled by the Knicks and their physicality. New York had 17 offensive rebounds then, which amounted to 23 second chance points, and 10 offensive boards in the fourth quarter, including several in crunch time, ultimately led to Cleveland’s demise.

Then in Game 2, the Cavaliers were a different club in terms of physicality, they were the aggressor on both ends, and a combination of Darius Garland hot shooting, Donovan Mitchell all-around play and a Caris LeVert jolt all factored into a 107-90 W. Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen were all over the place defensively, and Mobley had 15 points and 13 rebounds as well.

Unfortunately, Game 3 left a bad taste in everybody’s mouths after an encouraging Game 2, and we touched on the horrendous offensive display. But, to reiterate, maybe more than anything, the Cavaliers need to be more effective in the paint to beat the Knicks, and going forward, if they were to move on.

Cleveland had 48 paint points in Game 3, which was not horrible, and the Cavaliers shot essentially at league average in the restricted area, at 66.7 percent, per NBA.com’s shot chart. Part of the issue was hesitation and indecision in the paint and/or near the basket for at times the bigs and drivers, though.

Garland was not able to have nearly the same night as a finisher and playmaker as he had on Tuesday night, not close in fact, and he had only two free throw attempts, compared to 11 in Game 2. Now, Garland rolled his ankle in Game 3, and while he did come back and is currently on track to play Sunday, provided swelling doesn’t occur in the time leading up until then/in warm-ups, that’s something that will have to be monitored here, as an aside.

Jarrett Allen had only three shot attempts in the contest in Game 3, however, and that’s something that has to change in Game 4-on. It goes along with how he, Evan Mobley and the Cavs as a whole team have to be more intentional in the paint, and from there paired with it, one would obviously like to see the Cavs hit more of their open looks than in their ice cold Game 3.

For the Cavaliers to turn things around again, and essentially take back home court, they can’t be deterred the Knicks in the paint, and they have to be more assertive in there, and not second guess, as they appeared to be doing at times in Game 1 and 3.

Defensively, they have to be making more multiple-effort plays as well to wall up there and be impactful rotators off that, too, as they were in Game 2, in the same breadth.