{"id":685818,"date":"2026-05-22T06:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T06:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/685818\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T06:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T06:33:13","slug":"knicks-in-4-a-real-possibility-of-cavaliers-cant-flip-the-script","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/685818\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Knicks in 4’ a real possibility of Cavaliers can’t flip the script"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 The Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> have a Jalen Brunson problem. As well as a James Harden problem. Plus a shooting problem. And a bench problem.<\/p>\n

Problems like those, no matter how much coaches can sugarcoat it, can\u2019t exactly be solved overnight, and Cleveland heads home to the shores of Lake Erie down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference finals, and they are two more dreadful performances from enjoying the early vacation spot south of the border reserved for teams that don\u2019t meet their season\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n

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Thursday night\u2019s performance at Madison Square Garden<\/a>, a 109-93<\/a> loss, was much more than a Game 1 hangover. With the rabid crowd screaming \u201cKnicks in 4\u201d as the fourth-quarter seconds wound down, New York is just two victories away from its first NBA Finals appearance since 1999, when they lost in five games to the San Antonio Spurs<\/a>. The Knicks’ most recent championship banner is from 1973, and breaking that five-decade drought is more realistic than ever, barring a total collapse in the next week.<\/p>\n

New York has now won nine straight playoff games. When the Boston Celtics<\/a> won the 2024 title, they won 10 consecutive postseason games.<\/p>\n

1 \/ 5<\/p>\n

Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, Spike Lee among celebs at Knicks vs. Cavs Game 2<\/p>\n

Madison Square Garden filled up for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals<\/a> between the Knicks and Cavaliers.<\/p>\n

See scenes from the crowd as celebs take in the playoff atmosphere courtside.<\/p>\n

Above, Actors Tracy Morgan (R) and Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet (3R) attend Game Two of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 21, 2026, in New York City.<\/p>\n

(Sarah Stier, Getty Images)\"\"<\/p>\n

1 \/ 5<\/p>\n

Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, Spike Lee among celebs at Knicks vs. Cavs Game 2<\/p>\n

Madison Square Garden filled up for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals<\/a> between the Knicks and Cavaliers.<\/p>\n

See scenes from the crowd as celebs take in the playoff atmosphere courtside.<\/p>\n

Above, Actors Tracy Morgan (R) and Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet (3R) attend Game Two of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 21, 2026, in New York City.<\/p>\n

(Sarah Stier, Getty Images)\"\"<\/p>\n

2 \/ 5<\/p>\n

Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, Spike Lee among celebs at Knicks vs. Cavs Game 2<\/p>\n

Director Spike Lee (C) attends Game Two of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden on May 21, 2026, in New York City.<\/p>\n

(Sarah Stier, Getty Images)\"\"<\/p>\n

3 \/ 5<\/p>\n

Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, Spike Lee among celebs at Knicks vs. Cavs Game 2<\/p>\n

Former Baseball pitcher CC Sabathia (2R) attends Game Two between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden on May 21, 2026, in New York City.<\/p>\n

(Sarah Stier, Getty Images)\"\"<\/p>\n

4 \/ 5<\/p>\n

Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, Spike Lee among celebs at Knicks vs. Cavs Game 2<\/p>\n

Walt Frazier attends Game Two of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden on May 21, 2026, in New York City.<\/p>\n

(Sarah Stier, Getty Images)\"\"<\/p>\n

5 \/ 5<\/p>\n

Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, Spike Lee among celebs at Knicks vs. Cavs Game 2<\/p>\n

Actor Adrian Dev (C) takes a photo with his cellphone prior to Game Two of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden on May 21, 2026, in New York City.<\/p>\n

(Sarah Stier, Getty Images)<\/p>\n

After blowing a 22-point lead in Game 1<\/a> and inexplicably using no timeouts as his team was getting blitzed to the tune of a 44-11 run over the first 12 minutes of regulation and overtime, Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson was criticized<\/a> for keeping timeouts for no reason, but this time in Game 2, whether he used them or not, there was nothing he could have done that would have stopped New York.<\/p>\n

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Brunson put together a 38-point masterclass in Game 1, bringing the Knicks back from the brink of an embarrassing performance. His Game 2 performance was much more subtle but no less effective, with 19 points and 14 assists.<\/p>\n

From the outset, it was clear that Cleveland\u2019s defensive strategy was to clamp down on Brunson and force him into getting the ball out of his hands early in the shot clock. Instead, the three-time All-Star flipped the script, dishing off to open teammates who rewarded him with their sharpshooting, and the team shot 52 percent for the night.<\/p>\n

The beneficiaries of Brunson\u2019s playing calm, controlled floor general instead of deadly clutch assassin were Josh Hart \u2014 who led five Knicks starters in double figures, scoring a playoff career-high 26 points and hitting five three-pointers \u2014 and Karl-Anthony Towns \u2014 with a strong 18-point, 13-rebound performance. Hart was not a factor in Game 1 and was on the bench for the most part as New York made their epic comeback.<\/p>\n

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“I don’t have an ego, that got burned out of my heart a long time ago,\u201d Hart said after the game.<\/p>\n

Knicks head coach Mike Brown didn\u2019t argue with that assessment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just who Josh is. He’s a gamer,\u201d Brown said. \u201cHe knew what he had to do in terms of the adjustments he needed to make in order to be effective, not just for him but for the team.”<\/p>\n

Cleveland couldn\u2019t take advantage of several opportunities to make the game tilt in their favor. Brunson only scored two points in the first half, but Cleveland was down four going into halftime.<\/p>\n

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But the Knicks essentially put the game away with an 18-0 run in the third, led by Brunson, who started the quarter with a 3-pointer, a driving turnaround 10-foot jumper, and another layup around a flat-footed Harden.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers got no closer than seven points the rest of the game, and even when the Knicks went the first three and a half minutes of the fourth quarter without scoring and were in the foul bonus with nine minutes left, the shooting woes continued, and when a 3-pointer by OG Anunoby, who had 14 points, found nothing but nylon to break the scoring drought the deflated Cavaliers all but waved the white flag.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The New York Knicks’ Josh Hart and Cleveland Cavaliers’ Max Strus get tangled under the basket during Game 2 at Madison Square Garden on May 21, 2026.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers shot 38.5%, including 9-35 from three, and were outscored in the paint by 18 points.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe didn\u2019t shoot the ball well,\u201d an astute Atkinson said after the game. \u201cI thought we had a lot of good looks from three. I thought our process was good. At the end of the day, you have to put the ball in the hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point, you can pick a reason why the Cavaliers\u2019 problems are amplified since the 7:52 mark in the fourth quarter of Game 1, where they had a 93-71 lead. Harden\u2019s disappearing act is the most notable. He had 12 points in the first half, six in the second, and for the most part seemed uninterested in keeping any Knicks ball handler in front of him. Donovan Mitchell, who scored 26 points in the loss, can only do so much, and Cleveland\u2019s basic four-man bench rotation went 5 for 24 from the field, not making a dent in the scoreboard during their time on the floor.<\/p>\n

Evan Mobley got off to a hot start, scoring 14 points in the first half, including 10 in the first quarter. But that was it for his night on the offensive end, as he didn\u2019t attempt a single shot in the second half. <\/p>\n

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With their season teetering on the brink of elimination, Cleveland needs to put together a complete Game 3 performance on Saturday, or it will be more of the same disappointing results.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cavaliers have problems to solves to avoid playoff disappointment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 The Cleveland Cavaliers have a Jalen Brunson problem. As well as a James Harden problem.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[1222,49,48,2357,2358,37217,19284,1525,27805,17593,166451,14735,459,3430,10050,7467,2696,82],"class_list":["post-685818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-boston-celtics","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-evan-mobley","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-james-harden","tag-josh-hart","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-kenny-atkinson","tag-knicks","tag-nba","tag-new-york","tag-og-anunoby","tag-performance","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}