{"id":662009,"date":"2026-05-24T08:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T08:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/662009\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T08:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T08:54:09","slug":"draymond-green-calls-out-cavaliers-leadership-crisis-as-knicks-close-in-on-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/662009\/","title":{"rendered":"Draymond Green Calls Out Cavaliers’ Leadership Crisis as Knicks Close In on NBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks<\/a> have been here before. But a trip to the NBA<\/a> Finals hasn’t happened for this franchise since 1999, and right now, they’re one win away from changing that.<\/p>\n

New York took Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday night, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> 121-108 to go up 3-0 in the series. Jalen Brunson<\/a> ran the show with 30 points as the Knicks shot 56 percent from the floor.<\/p>\n

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It was also New York’s 10th straight postseason win and their fifth consecutive road playoff win by double digits, which tied an NBA postseason record.<\/p>\n

Cleveland had contributions from Evan Mobley<\/a> with 24 points, Donovan Mitchell<\/a> with 23 points and three steals and James Harden<\/a> with 19 points, five assists and five rebounds. It still wasn’t enough. The Knicks gradually took over and the Cavaliers never really found a way back into it.<\/p>\n

\"Cleveland<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) huddles around teammatesScott Galvin-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Draymond Green<\/a> Questions Cleveland’s Leadership<\/p>\n

After the game, Draymond Green<\/a> didn’t hold back on ESPN’s “Inside the NBA.<\/a>” With Cleveland carrying four All-Stars in its starting lineup and still getting dominated, Green was openly questioning what’s happening inside that locker room.<\/p>\n

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“[Knicks] just dominated,” Green said. “Nobody from Cleveland is stepping up. There is no leadership. Who’s walking in that locker room and saying what you have to do, what we need to do.”<\/p>\n

Charles Barkley, never one to miss a setup, had a quick answer.<\/p>\n

“I got an answer for that question,” Barkley joked. “That would be LeBron James<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Whether Barkley was pointing toward a possible LeBron homecoming next season is anyone’s guess. The Lakers<\/a> star is heading into free agency this offseason, and there’s been plenty of talk about him returning to Cleveland, where his career started.<\/p>\n

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Nothing is decided, but it’s a conversation that isn’t going away. For now, though, the Cavaliers have a much more immediate problem.<\/p>\n

Cleveland never held a lead in Game 3 and went 12-for-41 from three-point range, shooting just 29 percent from deep. A 0-3 series deficit in the NBA playoffs has never been overturned in league history.<\/p>\n

Game 4 goes Monday, May 25 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN with Cleveland back at home. The Knicks will be looking to close it out. The Cavaliers will be looking for someone to step up before it’s too late.<\/p>\n

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Related: Victor Wembanyama Gets Unprecedented Praise From LeBron James<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on May 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks have been here before. But a trip to the NBA Finals hasn’t happened for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[351,8174,13054,13339,62393,51299,36783,6418,3013,355,361,99,43589],"class_list":["post-662009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-charles-barkley","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-draymond-green","tag-eastern-conference-finals","tag-evan-mobley","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-james-harden","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-sports","tag-the-lakers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}