3 possible Cleveland Cavaliers adjustments ahead of Game 5 vs Knicks

On Sunday the Cleveland Cavaliers lost their third of four games in the postseason to the New York Knicks. Inexperience, poor execution and a lack of heart were factors. In Game 4, the Cavs’ weakest moments came in quarters one and four, when New York outscored them by seven points each.

As the series heads back to Cleveland for Game 5, below are some adjustments the Wine and Gold can make to possibly to hold off elimination for at least a match.

No. 1: Go to target practice

Through four quarters, the visitors converted just six out of 23 shots from behind the arc.

The Knicks habitually have helped off the corners to clog the lanes plus defended pick-and-roll through drop coverage. Cleveland has been eating up these schemes the entire year. The screening up top by frontcourt players will continue to buy ball handlers space, but it’s all for nothing if they can’t bury shots.

For the regular season, Cleveland recorded 36.7% of its deep looks, good enough for 12th-best of 30 teams. Only two squads who shot a higher percentage through 82 games missed the playoffs (Indiana, Dallas). In the postseason, the Cavaliers are logging just 30.8% of 3-point attempts. Only two teams are shooting worse, Sacramento and New York.

This is not a recipe that works when the group is getting to the free throw line at a below-average rate (19.5 attempts) in the playoffs. Donovan Mitchell and Isaac Okoro have to be sharper on deep tries. In Game 4, the two combined for one of nine trifectas when they registered 36.3% and 38.6% of long-range attempts in the regular season.

On three of Mitchell’s four misses, the Knicks were late to put a hand up. New York defended these plays in man-to-man coverage and in a brief 2-3 zone.

No. 2: Getting nastier on the glass

Rebounding success comes down to high IQ and hustle. The Cavaliers lacked it on 17 possessions that ate time away from the clock. In Game 4, the visitors were hammered on the glass by 14 and gave up 21 second-chance points, which was a similar story to Game 1.

On one inexcusable possession that sent RJ Barrett to the line after an offensive rebound, Evan Mobley was cherry-picking. He defended Jalen Brunson’s shot on the wing and started advancing to the other side while the ball was in the air. With the defense spread out, Cleveland gave up a long rebound.

Jarrett Allen conceded the second board by overhelping on Jalen Brunson’s drive that Mitchell had covered. JB’s miss trickled off the cylinder into the mitts of Mitchell Robinson for a putback jam.

Robinson snatched the third 50-50 ball in the middle of the paint when Allen had him boxed out. The Cavs were fortunate Julius Randle missed the kick out on the right wing.

These mistakes happened in the first four minutes. New York entered the fourth quarter up 73-71 and would recover four more offensive rebounds in the period. With over six minutes left, Obi Toppin snagged a miss and reset for a bank layup past Allen that pushed the Knicks’ lead to seven.

Any first-time observer could have identified the absence of urgency in the fourth quarter by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Everyone should catch heat in the film room for it because these types of performances cause people to start looking at the head coach as the culprit for shortcomings.

J.B. Bickerstaff is not a perfect instructor. In Game 4, he used Ricky Rubio and Danny Green as the eighth and ninth cogs. None logged over six minutes, and they each scored zip. If he was going to use an eighth man, it should have been Lamar Stevens because his size and length match up better with New York’s guards and forwards.

But J.B. wasn’t the one who made 27.8% of his shots on a high volume. That’s on Spida. He missed many attempts he’s buried all season, including eight of his last nine to finish the game.

If he should get blamed most for anything, it’s not keeping Mitchell on the bench after his third-quarter minutes.

If the Cavaliers aren’t willing to take some contact after each team takes a shot, this series ends Wednesday in Cleveland. Attention deficit on the boards is the main reason New York took seven more shots in a game decided by single digits.

No. 3: Must put New York’s frontcourt in foul trouble

The Knicks run a bunch of drop coverage when defending screen-and-roll. The Cavaliers provide solid picks, and against this scheme, when the man guarding the ball is on the handler’s back hip, he’s usually out of the play. If the deep shot is not falling, an adjustment that could be made to find rhythm is to attack the shot blocker straight on, if it’s Robinson, Randle or Isaiah Hartenstein.

Those three Knicks frontcourt players combine to recover 8.2 offensive rebounds a night. Putting them in foul trouble would limit their action on the glass, plus restrict them from buying space for teammates through a screen if they are sitting.

Final Words:

The 3-1 lead New York holds is likely too massive an obstacle to climb over. That’s not pessimism; it’s history talking. Only 13 squads have come back from that.

The next showing is for pride and the paying team supporters.