NEW YORK \u2014 Kenny Atkinson understood what Mike Brown was thinking.<\/p>\n
Before Game 1 of the 2026 Eastern Conference finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> head coach fielded a question about a massive decision that his counterpart on the New York Knicks<\/a>\u2019 bench had made two rounds earlier \u2014 the choice to dramatically reorient his offense, shifting from a version predicated primarily on Jalen Brunson<\/a> creating with the ball in his hands to the more motion-heavy approach<\/a> that Brown had tried to install at the start of the season, with Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> acting as the playmaking hub at the top of the floor.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n That tactical change revolutionized New York\u2019s attack, sending the Knicks on a rampaging run to seven straight wins and a second straight conference finals, where that high-octane offense would now become Cleveland\u2019s problem. So what did Atkinson think about the change? That necessity is the mother of invention.<\/p>\n \u201cDown 2-1, we gotta change something, something\u2019s not working \u2014 I get it,\u201d Atkinson said before Game 1. \u201cAtlanta<\/a>\u2019s got elite iso defenders.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes, it\u2019s like, you know, you have to be presented with that problem first, right? And then, you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, man, we gotta make a change.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Atkinson\u2019s Cavs pose a number of problems: Donovan Mitchell<\/a>\u2019s scoring, James<\/a> Harden\u2019s playmaking, Evan Mobley<\/a>\u2019s advancing versatility, Jarrett Allen<\/a>\u2019s increasing physicality on the boards, and credible shooters everywhere. One specific problem, though, presented itself to Brown early in the first quarter: Cleveland wasn\u2019t going to gift-wrap the Knicks their preferred defensive matchups in this series. (Well, not yet, anyway<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Why the Knicks got off to a slow start<\/p>\n Atkinson opened the series by cross-matching, slotting power forward Mobley onto Towns while center Allen slid over onto forward Josh Hart<\/a> \u2014 an alignment we discussed in our series preview<\/a>, and one that plenty of teams<\/a> have deployed against the Knicks<\/a> going back to Tim Thibodeau\u2019s tenure, in an attempt to defang New York\u2019s more dangerous offensive weapons by funneling shots to Hart, an at-times shaky shooter who shot 41.3% from 3-point range during the regular season, but entered the conference finals just 11-for-40 from deep in the 2026 playoffs.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, Josh \u2014 we faced this coverage all year,\u201d Brown said after Game 1. \u201cAnd we played well throughout the course of the year, and we faced it in Atlanta<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n When they faced it against Cleveland in Game 1, though, the Knicks struggled out of the gate. New York went right to Towns as the high-post hub, but between Mobley\u2019s ball pressure, the Cavs seamlessly switching off-ball screens to take away backdoor cuts and Allen sagging off Hart to park himself in permanent help position near the paint, the Knicks couldn\u2019t find anything clean on their opening possession, settling for a contested late-clock pull-up 3-pointer by the returning OG Anunoby<\/a>.<\/p>\n On its next possession, New York quickly dialed up a counter, putting the ball in Hart\u2019s hands to draw Allen into the play and away from the paint while running an off-ball action with Brunson and Towns \u2014 a means of finding another entry point into the two-man game that wrecked the Hawks<\/a> and 76ers<\/a>. It got Towns a clean catch, but a strong closeout by Mobley (and, arguably, an uncalled foul) resulted in another missed 3-point try without a preceding paint touch.<\/p>\n Brown spun up another counter on the next trip, using Hart as the screener in an inverted pick-and-roll with Towns on the handle \u2014 a move aimed at drawing Allen into the action and away from the paint, and weaponizing Towns\u2019 unusual ability to drive the ball for a man his size. But Mobley, last year\u2019s Defensive Player of the Year, dug into Towns\u2019 dribble, forcing him to lose possession with a live-ball turnover that got the Cavs out in transition.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n A minute later, with Cleveland again gloving up all the Knicks\u2019 off-ball activity while Towns surveyed from the top of the floor, New York wound up once again needing to settle for a late-clock 3 \u2014 this one, a dare-you attempt by Hart, with Allen nearly 10 feet away from him. It clanged clear.<\/p>\n When Mobley checked out with 6:42 to go in the opening frame, the 6-foot-5 Max Strus<\/a> checked in \u2014 and promptly picked up the Towns assignment, sticking with the cross-match. On the Knicks\u2019 next offensive trip, Towns aggressively drove at the smaller defender, going left, getting into the paint and getting to a runner \u2026 that Allen, who\u2019d left Hart unattended in the far corner, calmly slid over and swatted clear, triggering another Cleveland fast break.<\/p>\n From Game 4 against Atlanta through the end of their sweep of Philadelphia<\/a>, the Knicks had scored an average of 137.4 points per 100 possessions<\/a> \u2014 an incendiary rate that would rank as the most efficient offense of all time. And yet, nearly halfway through the first quarter of a game against the NBA\u2019s No. 15 regular-season defense, they\u2019d scored just four points on 2-for-11 shooting.<\/p>\n Maybe the slow start was to be expected, given New York\u2019s nine-day layoff between series.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I mean, to be real, there was definitely rust,\u201d Towns said after Game 1. \u201cYou could see we were a team that hadn’t played a playoff game in a while.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe just started the game off 2-for-19 from the 3-point line,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd it wasn’t just Josh \u2014 we had some pretty good looks from the right people, and you know, if those go in, the mojo is a little bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n Given the specific nature of the struggle, though, it sure seemed like maybe those long-standing problems with the Knicks\u2019 starting lineup<\/a> \u2014 and the offensive issues presented by Hart\u2019s wax-and-wane shooting \u2014 were rearing their ugly head once again. They continued to do so throughout Game 1.<\/p>\n Despite Hart trying his level best to contribute in other areas \u2014 seven rebounds, four assists, a steal, aggressive on-ball defense, some sharp takes in transition \u2014 the downstream effects of how Cleveland exploited his presence effectively cratered New York\u2019s overall offensive ecosystem. The Cavs dominated the middle quarters, building a 22-point lead largely on the strength of a defensive effort that held the Knicks starting lineup to just 80 points per 100 possessions in its 18 minutes<\/a>, and the Knicks to a horrendous 68.8 points-per-100 with Hart on the floor in Game 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n And then, in the fourth quarter, Brown played a card he\u2019d been holding: Out went Hart, in went Landry Shamet<\/a>.<\/p>\n It went well.<\/p>\n Landry Shamet, game-changer<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just that Shamet made three 3-pointers in the historically remarkable 44-11 surge that delivered the Knicks a Game 1 victory<\/a> (although those were nice). It\u2019s that, with Shamet \u2014 a 38.6% career 3-point shooter who shot 39.2% during the regular season and had gone 10-for-23 from deep (43.5%) through the first two rounds of the playoffs \u2014 on the floor alongside Towns, Anunoby and Mikal Bridges<\/a>, the Knicks fielded a lineup with five credible, dangerous shooters.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, you have Landry out there, you have OG out there, you have Mikal out there, and you have KAT or [Mitchell Robinson<\/a>] and Jalen, and they have to guard traditional,\u201d Brown said after Game 1. \u201cIf they want to put a big on Landry \u2014 great, put a big on Landry. If you want to put a big on OG, great. Put a big on OG. But then, when you close out, you’re gonna have to take away the 3 and the drive.\u201d<\/p>\n That meant there was no weak link to exploit to enable Allen to load up defensively, and no safe place to hide a weaker defender. And that meant Brown had created the conditions for Brunson to go hunting again<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Game 1, the five-man unit of Brunson, Towns, Bridges, Anunoby and Shamet scored 44 points in 12 minutes on 15-for-20 shooting<\/a> \u2014 good for an offensive rating of 176<\/a>, a level of efficiency that threatens to engulf your keyboard in flames when you type it.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cThe game’s about adjustments,\u201d Brown said after Game 1. \u201cWe made an adjustment down the stretch, and we were fortunate to be able to come back and get the win.\u201d<\/p>\n Atkinson, for the record, doubled down on his post-Game 1 assertions that he both trusted Harden to hold up defensively and that he and his coaching staff did make some changes to their defensive coverages on Brunson pick-and-rolls. At Cleveland\u2019s Wednesday walkthrough, he told reporters that the Cavs\u2019 proprietary internal analytics graded New York\u2019s fourth quarter shot quality \u201cin the first percentile,\u201d and that he viewed the choice between letting Brunson go one-on-one and sending a second defender at him as a \u201cdamned if you do, damned if you don\u2019t\u201d sort of proposition.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t, like, stick with the analytical thing, where you\u2019d say, \u2018Live with it, live with it, live with it.\u2019 We started double-teaming, and you know, we got hurt with the double-team. So if you\u2019re on either side of the fence, you\u2019re right,\u201d Atkinson said with a laugh. \u201cAnd you know, the coach, especially when you lose, you\u2019re wrong, no matter what side you take.\u201d<\/p>\n The Cavs presented Brown with a problem, and he made a change, and he was right. Two big questions leading into Thursday\u2019s Game 2 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN): Assuming Brown keeps Hart in the starting lineup, will Cleveland stick to its script, even knowing that Brown has a ready-made adjustment in a five-out look with Shamet or Deuce McBride off the bench? And, if so, how quickly will Brown go to it if New York\u2019s offense once again gets off to a slow start?<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Hart, for his part, expects more of the same.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, probably the same game plan,\u201d Hart told reporters at New York\u2019s Wednesday practice session. \u201cFor them, this was the game plan that [put them] up 20 or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n He also, however, expects to handle it better.<\/p>\n \u201cI shot shots, good shots, and I just didn\u2019t make them \u2014 I\u2019m working on that. Obviously, I would\u2019ve liked to make them,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cBut I\u2019m going to continue to shoot. I\u2019m working incredibly hard on my shot, so I\u2019m going to keep shooting them with confidence. And then, if they don\u2019t go in, then I\u2019ve got to find a way to combat that, whether that\u2019s getting guys in [dribble handoff] and quick actions while the big is in that drop<\/a>, and get them open shots.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n If he doesn\u2019t, though, Brown might find himself in a similar position to where his predecessor was in this round last season<\/a> \u2014 needing to weigh the clear value Hart brings in all other areas of the game and as an emotional bellwether for this Knicks team against the need to not get off to slow offensive starts at a time of year when the margins between winning and losing, advancing and seeing your season end in heartbreak, can be razor-thin.<\/p>\n Last May, it took Thibodeau falling into a 2-0 hole with Games 3 and 4 coming on the road to make a change<\/a> and send Hart to the bench. Brown went there three quarters into Game 1. He\u2019s tended to be a little quicker on the draw with shake-ups and adjustments throughout his first season on the Knicks\u2019 bench; if he decides that Hart needs to once again join him there (or if Hart, once again, calls for it himself<\/a>), the veteran forward insists he\u2019ll do what\u2019s best for the team.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, that\u2019s always difficult, watching it on the bench \u2014 obviously, I want to be out there, I want to help my guys win,\u201d Hart said Wednesday. \u201cBut at the end of the day, for me, I don\u2019t have an ego to it. I approach this game with extreme humility, and that\u2019s just how I approach it, man. I don\u2019t have an ego.<\/p>\n \u201cI said it last year, the last several years: I\u2019m here to serve these guys. That\u2019s the gift God\u2019s given me: to serve these guys and make sure they\u2019re in the best position to be successful, and I put the success of the team over the success of myself any day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 Kenny Atkinson understood what Mike Brown was thinking. Before Game 1 of the 2026 Eastern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[23082,93824,8598,1266,9411,11356,53874,4777,1443,11354,4778,1555,11431,7046,58960,14063,1556,1557,9,11,1104,10,6474,339],"class_list":["post-240087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-76ers","tag-assuming-brown","tag-atlanta","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-evan-mobley","tag-hawks","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-james","tag-jarrett-allen","tag-josh-hart","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-kenny-atkinson","tag-landry-shamet","tag-max-strus","tag-mikal-bridges","tag-mike-brown","tag-mitchell-robinson","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-new-york-news","tag-og-anunoby","tag-philadelphia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}