Cavs' Early Chance At Knicks Payback Spoiled By Injuries

The Cleveland Cavaliers are excited for an opportunity at revenge vs. the New York Knicks, but injuries are weighing down the moment.

Tonight on Halloween and tomorrow on the first evening of November, the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks will run it back with a home-and-home mini-series for the first time since the NBA Playoffs six months ago. The first leg will happen at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, while the second will happen at Madison Square Garden.

As we know, in their first-round series, the fifth-seeded Knicks knocked the fourth-seeded Cavs out in just five games. Cleveland’s first LeBron James-less postseason run since the 1997-98 campaign ended before it could even begin. While the organization needs to leave that behind and focus on the present and future, the opportunity to exorcise those demons this early in the season will bring those emotions back to the surface.

“It’s the human nature and the competitiveness of the NBA and the guys that make it here. You do not make it if you don’t have that competitive edge,” said Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who admitted Cleveland missed opportunities in all but Game 3 of the series. “So, it’s going to be a little more on both teams’ minds – that clash we had in April. Just the human nature, you expect them to perk up a little bit.”

“It's a big game for us,” Evan Mobley added. “We definitely want to go out there and really show the crowd and show our team as well that we're out here to really fight and keep going, moving forward and keep getting better. I mean, I feel like it's gonna be a good game. We definitely really want to get this win and really put it on 'em. So we're definitely getting prepared and ready for that game.”

Isaac Okoro told Cleveland.com that the series has haunted him since the final buzzer sounded, and that it took a while for him to get over the elimination. Donovan Mitchell also beats himself up over his performance.

“Obviously it’s fueling because when you don’t achieve a goal. For me, I didn’t play the way I had all year,” Mitchell said on Day 1 of Cavs training camp. “I missed some shots. Sometimes you’re going to miss shots. It’s unfortunate timing of when I missed those shots, but I missed shots. So how do we fix that? What can we do? We addressed it in different ways. [We] fixed the spacing and what not, but sometimes you just gotta be better.

“I think my training, just being better when I’m tired, being better when I’m on the ball, off the ball, decision making. That’s the biggest thing. I always preach efficiency. There’s not one person perfect in the efficiency category. There’s always ways to get better in that regard. As much as I am hard on myself about that series, at the same time it’s over.”

Apr 26, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) and head coach J. B. Bickerstaff help guard Darius Garland (10) to his feet in the fourth quarter during game five of the 2023 NBA playoffs against the New York Knicks at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

As Mitchell mentioned, New York’s 4-1 playoff rout did force Cleveland’s hand to shift its thinking a bit. Bickerstaff said the series wasn’t the sole cause, but the Cavs focused their offseason energy on perimeter shooting threats and increased pace to improve on the offensive side of the ball. It started with Max Strus and Georges Niang.

While Mitchell is stoked about his new teammates, doesn’t like using that as a cop-out.

“I missed shots I could’ve made, DG [Darius Garland] did the same thing. So it’s difficult,” Mitchell said. “It makes it easier, I’ll give you that. But [by] the same token, we lost because of ourselves. We did a lot of things that we’ve done all year well that we just didn’t do throughout the series. You’ve got to give credit to New York but we didn’t play like ourselves.”

“I think we were able to kind of trick it during the regular season,” Bickerstaff added. “But the playoffs exposes team’s weaknesses and strengths. The way the Knicks were able to guard us because of that, it didn’t allow our best players to be at their best. That’s what a team is about. It’s being put together to surround your best players with people that make them better and give them the space they need to do what they do best.”

Longtime Cavalier big man Tristan Thompson is back for his second stint with the organization. He admitted to watching every Cleveland-New York battle, mentioning he felt the wine and gold should’ve won Game 1 and that it will take that “grit-grind toughness” to win a postseason series.

‘It's a great learning tool, especially that series because that kinda just sets the tone of what to expect in the playoffs. It was great for these guys to go through it,” said Thompson, who believes his activity on the offensive glass will make a difference. 

[It was] a lot of these guys' first playoff series run. They should have a lot of extra motivation. Of course, we're kinda not completely healthy, so it's not how we want to be. But, next man up mentality. We've gotta give some get-back.”

Depth was also a priority, and Thompson, Damian Jones and Ty Jerome were brought in for that reason. It’s also been a necessity, as Cleveland is down two starters at a minimum in Garland and Jarrett Allen (plus Jerome, the backup point guard) for the first matchup.

Mitchell is listed as questionable, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he were a game-time decision. Caris LeVert is also listed as questionable with a hamstring injury.

With a laundry list of injuries affecting the Cavs three games into the season, LeVert is thinking about that more than another shot at the Knicks.

“Just try to get as healthy as we can. Keep building,” LeVert said on Saturday. “Try to learn from the two losses we had at home. Obviously, the media tries to make it a built-in rivalry. But every game is a big game for us and every game is an opportunity to get better. That’s how we look at it. That’s how we look at it. I’m just excited to play basketball.”

“We have to get healthy. I think that matters,” Bickerstaff added Saturday. “The team hasn't had an opportunity to be whole. And I think that matters for us. Missing three of your starters and trying to find that continuity with a new group is difficult. But we've got a long season and hopefully we get this stuff out of the way now and get our guys on the court.”

The Cavs are going to have to dig deep. This isn’t going to be the rematch they’ve been clamoring for, but their priority is on the macro level and not the micro — no matter how closely these next two games are analyzed.