Cavs Lack of Rebounding Costly in 101-97 Home Loss to Knicks

The Cleveland Cavaliers had their first game back in the playoffs and it was a very rude welcome back. The final score had the New York Knicks with a 101-97 victory in game one. Let’s take a deeper dive.

Right out of the gate, the Cavs looked like this was their first game in the playoffs and they handled the very first few minutes of the first quarter like that. The Knicks jumped out to an early lead and Cleveland looked out of sync.

Both teams are very young, but it’s New York who has the experienced head coach in Tom Thibodeau that seemed to have his team ready to play. Not Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.

From a player’s standpoint, Donovan Mitchell looked like the only player that was ready to go. Mitchell played 43 minutes and finished with 38 points and went 6-16 from 3-point range. If it were not for Mitchell, Cleveland would’ve lost by more than 10 points.

Donovan Mitchell hustle play. ✊

pic.twitter.com/9YmvAdRBuK

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) April 15, 2023

This was not one of Darius Garland’s better games. Granted, he had 17 points but only one assist and five turnovers? That’s not going to cut it and he has to be better in game two on Tuesday night and he knows it.

Cavs forward Cedi Osman came off the bench and scored 9 points. Osman went 2-3 from 3-point range and the two shots he hit from deep were clutch 3-pointers. Osman was the only bench player who showed us anything. That also must change in game two.

I keep referencing game two and for good reason. Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro will have to do a better job with scoring and rebounding. Mobley finished with 8 points and did pull down 11 rebounds. Mobley needs to be more aggressive on the offensive end to force the Knicks big men to focus more on defense. Okoro looked like he had missed significant time. Only 6 points and 3 rebounds, that’s not going to cut it. Jarrett Allen had a good game with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Allen is battling New York center Mitchell Robison and that’s a tough task.

JARRETT ALLEN GIVES THE CAVALIERS THE LEAD😳 pic.twitter.com/DZ1xoZjC7p

— Backcourt Alerts (@BackcourtAlerts) April 16, 2023

One of the first things that comes to mind that cost Cleveland game one is rebounding. New York was a better rebounding team during the regular season, but the Cavs know this, so everyone needs to know that when a shot goes up, more Cleveland players need to box out. Not just Mobley and Allen. Everyone needs to do a much better job of boxing out. New York out-rebounded Cleveland 51-38 and in the last two minutes, the lack of rebounding and second chance opportunities were a big reason the Cavs lost game one.

Turnovers were almost even at 13 for the Knicks and 14 for Cleveland. New York had some bad turnovers that almost cost them the game in the fourth quarter but, again, a lack of rebounding on Cleveland’s part and timely shot making for New York helped the Knicks prevail.

Another thing I noticed was Cleveland not forcing Knicks PG Jalen Brunson to his right when he starts to drive to the basket. Brunson is a great player when he can go to his left, but if you force him to go right, that changes everything for him. That’s in the scouting report, so I’m surprised that, whoever was guarding him, didn’t force him to his right. Brunson finished with 27 points.

71 seconds of Jalen Brunson raining on the Cavs in the second half of Game 1:

📺https://t.co/Pc0kNMVQ4S pic.twitter.com/izu9S7GrTW

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) April 16, 2023

As much as I hate saying this, Cleveland must win game two on Tuesday night or they can start planning their vacations. For Cleveland, the rebounding must improve, the shooting must improve, and the bench must have a bigger impact on this game than in game one.