The Cleveland Cavaliers will almost certainly have an All-NBA player this season in Donovan Mitchell; the New York Knicks will probably have none. Three players on the Cavs have made an All-Star Game in the past two seasons; just one on the Knicks has. Evan Mobley of the Cavs was a Defensive Player of the Year finalist and will make an All-Defense Team; the Knicks didn’t have a single player receive a vote.
The star players on the Cavs are both better and more decorated than the Knicks, partly because Cleveland has four and the Knicks have two. If playoff series were decided solely by stars, then the Cavs would have been handed the victory before the first round began. Why, then, are the Knicks up 3-1 after their Game 4 victory at Madison Square Garden on Sunday?
The Cavaliers are losing because of what they do not have
The reason is depth. You may not need 10 or 12 players taking the court in a playoff game, but you do need enough players to build actual plus lineups that can go to battle. Thus far in this series the Cavs have had just a couple of standout performances from their non-stars while the Knicks have had them up and down the roster.
We are going to highlight three such players on the Knicks who have stepped up in the playoffs and represent a type of player that the Cavaliers do not have. If the Knicks go on to win this series it won’t be because of star power (although Jalen Brunson has been excellent), it will be because of the players the Knicks have that the Cavaliers do not.
Player No. 1: Josh Hart, rebounding
Rebounding has been a major issue for the Cleveland Cavaliers in this series, and it wasn’t exactly a strength of theirs in the regular season. Despite starting two bigs the vast majority of the time, the Cavs ranked just 17th in offensive rebounding percentage (rebounding 23.6 percent of their misses) and 13th in defensive rebounding percentage (76.3 percent).
The issue is that despite their size they don’t have players who are out-rebounding their position. Jarrett Allen is a good rebounder, but he isn’t plowing guys out of the way down low and truly cleaning the glass. Mitchell Robinson, his counterpart on the Knicks, is the same age and general size as Allen; Allen was a slightly better defensive rebounder this season, but Robinson crushes Allen in offensive rebounding percentage and therefore overall rebounding percentage. Add in another 24-year-old in Isaiah Hartenstein, the Knicks’ backup center, and you get a player who again out-rebounds Allen on the offensive glass and in total rebounding.
The problem isn’t just at center, though, but up the lineup. The Cavs don’t have players who are outrebounding their position. On Sunday in Game 4 Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell combined for six rebounds; Jalen Brunson alone had that many. Josh Hart, ostensibly the starting small forward, pulled down seven rebounds.
For the series, Josh Hart has 27 rebounds, including nine on the offensive glass. Mitchell, Garland and Caris LeVert combined have just six offensive rebounds. The Cavaliers just don’t have a player like Hart who can outrebound larger players to keep possessions alive, not on a regular basis like Hart is doing. He is closing games out by flying in to grab these boards, and the twin towers of the Cavaliers seem powerless to stop him.
Player No. 2: Obi Toppin, next-man-up
On Sunday afternoon, two star players were having absolutely awful games. Donovan Mitchell was stumbling his way to a 5-of-18 showing with six turnovers, perhaps the worst playoff game of his career. On the opposite side, Knicks All-Star power forward Julius Randle shot just 3-of-10, including 0-for-4 from deep. He was a team-worst -2 on the night.
The primary difference between the two in Game 4? Mitchell played 42 minutes of nightmarish basketball, while Randle was on the court for only 27. The reason? Head coach Tom Thibodeau had an option on his bench who could come onto the court and replace Randle, while Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff did not.
Obi Toppin is the kind of player who is often overrated by fans, a small-role bench player who looks good in his few minutes and hasn’t been tested in a larger role. With that being said, Toppin certainly boosted his stock in Game 4, replacing Randle and closing the game for the Knicks.
Toppin was tremendous in relief of Randle, with eight rebounds (five on the offensive glass) and two timely buckets as he spaced the floor and ran in transition. The Knicks shifted on-ball scoring to RJ Barrett and Toppin was able to thrive in his role, playing hard and staying active. He was tied for the team lead with a +11 on Sunday.
The Cavs couldn’t go away from their struggling star; the Knicks could because they had a player in Toppin that Cleveland did not.
Player No. 3: Immanuel Quickley, two-way guard
The Cleveland Cavaliers have two of the best guards in the league, but neither is a defensive stopper. Both are playing hard and executing the scheme well, but ideally, the Cavaliers would have a guard they could deploy to match up with Jalen Brunson on the Knicks. Instead, the Cavs put Darius Garland on him for long stretches of Game 4, and it did not work out for Cleveland.
Isaac Okoro should be that player, but his complete inability to hit a 3-pointer or to be guarded on the perimeter is killing the Cavs’ offense. The bread-and-butter of Cleveland’s offense is the pick-and-roll, but the Knicks have essentially neutralized it by shading Okoro’s man deep into the paint. The Knicks are wholly unafraid of Okoro doing anything with the basketball, and certainly shooting a 3-pointer.
Caris LeVert has been a solid option for the Cavs in this series, but on Sunday he was needed on the hot-shooting RJ Barrett, and his 39 minutes were too many as it was. The Cavaliers don’t have anyone else they trust to turn to; Ricky Rubio continued a lackluster season in his six minutes.
The Knicks, on the other hand, have two-way guards in droves. Quentin Grimes starts at the 2, but even with him missing Game 4 due to a shoulder injury the Knicks had options to turn to. Immanuel Quickley was a headliner, a game-best +11 in his 19 minutes despite not scoring. His defense on Mitchell was smothering, and his shooting ability is such that the Cavs couldn’t just ignore him on the perimeter.
The Knicks have an abundance of riches, as Miles McBride is completely out of the rotation but came in off the bench for five minutes on Sunday, playing tough defense and hitting his only shot, a 3-pointer.
The Cavs don’t have that two-way option available to them in the backcourt; the Knicks have three, and it’s a major reason they are down 3-1 in this series. Players such as Josh Hart, Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley have been critical to the Knicks, and the Cavaliers just don’t have the players to match them.