After a very successful regular season, the Cleveland Cavaliers 2022-23 campaign is now in the books. Cleveland did win 51 games in the regular season, and they entered the NBA Playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Cavaliers were set to face the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs, who are the No. 5 seed in the East. At face value, one couldn’t have foreseen this being a short series between the two squads.
That’s what transpired, though. New York ended Cleveland’s season on Wednesday night on their home floor, in what was a 4-1 series victory for the Knicks.
The Knicks took Game 1 on the road at the Cavaliers in Game 1, blew out Cleveland in Game 3 in New York, made big plays down the stretch in Game 4 and in Game 5, outworked the Cavaliers. Credit goes to Jalen Brunson, Tom Thibodeau and the Knicks for their efforts.
Now, the Cavaliers not having a ton of playoff experience in several key spots didn’t help, but there were some significant Knicks guys that didn’t have that, either. Either way, for much of the series, this was a difficult one to watch as a Cavs fan.
To that point, one statistic from Game 5 was, frankly, beyond telling, too, and in multiple games, the Knicks’ success in that regard led to the Cavaliers’ demise.
The Knicks hammered the Cavs on the glass and in second chance production, and in Game 5, it was especially gut-wrenching.
Coming into the series, rebounding was a major concern from a Cavaliers perspective. The Knicks were one of the NBA’s best rebounding teams in the regular season, and the Cavs had rebounding inconsistencies as a whole in post-All-Star break play, and defensive rebounding was not a strength, per se, for the season.
In multiple games this series, the Knicks’ physical and timing in collecting offensive boards did the Cavaliers in. In Game 5, it was even worse, too.
New York outrebounded Cleveland 62-35 on Wednesday night, and the Knicks had 17 offensive rebounds, compared to the Cavaliers registering four. As a result, the Knicks had 20 second chance points; the Cavs themselves had three. Additionally, Mitchell Robinson had a whopping 11 offensive rebounds himself, and 18 boards in total. He has long been a difference-maker in that aspect for the Knicks, and was throughout the series there.
The second chance production was a similar story in other games, such as in Game 4, and in Game 1. In those, they had 17 offensive rebounds apiece, leading to 21 (in Game 4) and before 23 second chance points in those outings. Cleveland was outrebounded by 14 and 13 overall in rebounds in those games.
This isn’t suggesting the Cavs lost 4-1 in their first round series solely because of offensive rebounding, but guys such as Robinson, Isaiah Hartenstein and Hart had a huge impact in the outcome. Granted, the Cavaliers were very underwhelming in the series offensively, too, as their offensive rating was 101.9, which has been the lowest of any teams to begin the playoffs in this round. Even with playoff basketball leading to less scoring in general, that was so disappointing.
The Wine and Gold had trouble containing Brunson in crucial moments as well, as his shot-making and rim pressure were instrumental for New York. His playmaking and driving gravity also opened up the offensive rebounding lanes for the Knicks bigs.
Along with that from Brunson, RJ Barrett responded greatly in the last three games of the series, and in Game 5, had 21 points on seven-of-13 shooting, and shot five-of-six from the free throw line. He’s another player that deserves his flowers, and with Julius Randle dealing with an ankle injury and struggling for much of the series, even more so.
However, even with Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and the Cavs seeming to have the top-end talent edge coming into the series with the Core Four, the Knicks made hustle play after hustle play throughout, and Jarrett Allen had a series to forget. There’s assuredly going to be fans that are their going to have their “Trade Allen” takes in droves over the offseason, and likely the “Fire J.B. Bickerstaff” takes, whereas that would seem reactionary to me, given what the team have meant to this team.
But, Game 5 on the Cavs home floor was a complete dud, and even with the Cavaliers needing to fortify their bench, feasibly via free agency and/or trade, the Knicks winning this series 4-1, to a large degree from rebounding and will, was quite a shock.