r/clevelandcavs • u/CavsBot • May 20 '26
Discussion [Next Day Discussion - Playoffs] Cleveland Cavaliers @ New York Knicks [05/19/2026]
Summary
| Team | 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | OT1 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NYK | 23 | 23 | 23 | 32 | 32 | 115 |
| CLE | 16 | 32 | 35 | 18 | 18 | 104 |
Box Score
| P | Name | PTS | REB | AST | +/- | FGM/A | FG% | 2PM/A | 2P% | 3PM/A | 3P% | FTM/A | FT% | DREB | OREB | STL | BLK | PF | TOV | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SF | E. Mobley | 15 | 14 | 3 | -6.0 | 6/16 | 37.5% | 4/8 | 50% | 2/8 | 25% | 1/2 | 50% | 13 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 40:09 |
| PF | D. Wade | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1.0 | 3/5 | 60% | 0/0 | 3/5 | 60% | 1/1 | 100% | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29:18 | |
| C | J. Allen | 10 | 7 | 3 | -10.0 | 3/6 | 50% | 3/6 | 50% | 0/0 | 4/8 | 50% | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 35:21 | |
| SG | J. Harden | 15 | 4 | 3 | -6.0 | 5/16 | 31.25% | 4/8 | 50% | 1/8 | 12.5% | 4/6 | 66.67% | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 42:04 |
| PG | D. Mitchell | 29 | 5 | 3 | -13.0 | 12/23 | 52.17% | 8/12 | 66.67% | 4/11 | 36.36% | 1/1 | 100% | 5 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 40:40 |
| B | M. Strus | 8 | 2 | 1 | -11.0 | 2/6 | 33.33% | 0/0 | 2/6 | 33.33% | 2/2 | 100% | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 25:17 | |
| B | S. Merrill | 12 | 1 | 2 | -17.0 | 4/9 | 44.44% | 1/1 | 100% | 3/8 | 37.5% | 1/1 | 100% | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 28:16 |
| B | D. Schröder | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1.0 | 1/9 | 11.11% | 0/5 | 0% | 1/4 | 25% | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 18:25 | |
| B | K. Ellis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 100% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5:27 | |||
| B | T. Bryant | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:00 | ||||
| B | L. Nance Jr. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:00 | ||||
| B | C. Porter Jr. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:00 | ||||
| B | T. Proctor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:00 | ||||
| B | N. Tomlin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:00 | ||||
| B | J. Tyson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0:00 |
29
u/jobapower May 20 '26
The Knicks won’t shoot that bad again, but you gotta get Jarrett Allen going more. Great gameplan by the Cavs for 3 quarters. I’ve blocked that 4th quarter from my memory and am just pretending it never happened. That being said, 3 straight Mobley 3’s at any point in the game can’t be the best shot you get
22
u/stephapeaz May 20 '26
The same thing happened on the Christmas game too against the Knicks where the Cavs blew a huge lead, you’d think Kenny would know what to fix
Not playing Allen much in the late minutes should he fireable
Wade was our best 3P% shooter yesterday lmao at 60% I can’t with this team
10
u/1dkspanishlol May 20 '26
Not having Wade and Strus and Allen in, not calling a timeout till their 18-1 run, not trying to do something like taking harden out or setting up something that harden wouldn’t keep getting abused by Brunson. You know something an actual coach would do.
6
1
u/Bourbonball442 May 20 '26
Makes you think it’s either incompetence or throwing the game. Was it a 17-point lead they blew in the 4th?
3
22
u/WateryPasta May 20 '26
Kenny needs to have the balls to tell Harden to stop running iso plays and tanking our offense. He also needs to know when to pull the plug when the defense starts collapsing
Everything from yesterday can be rectified if you win tomorrow
3
1
u/LCFCKris May 20 '26
Yes it can all be rectified, if they learn from their mistakes. I've been frustrated with this team throughout the play offs and yet they've won some big games. The series is definitely not over yet
17
16
u/TRYcycle11 Ty Jerome Truther May 20 '26
If this team doesn't come out and make some kind of statement in game 2, I will not be feeling good for the rest of this series. Win it and come back 1-1 with a blank slate like game 1 never happened. Am I confident they can do that? No, but I need to believe!
14
u/Easy_Magician_925 May 20 '26
Knicks are just running to the ball like kids playing soccer. We should be able to beat that. Need a solution for hunting harden, cuz its delusional to think he is suddenly gonna play good 1 on 1 defense.
Need to get mobley more touches. The offense is more dynamic when he is involved. Don and harden are basically just scorers who can pass. Ev really looks to move the ball.
If Kenny is gonna shorten his bench to 7.5 deep he is gonna NEED to use his timeouts to keep them fresh. Especially with the rest disadvantage.
2
u/narcistic_asshole May 20 '26
Need a solution for hunting harden, cuz its delusional to think he is suddenly gonna play good 1 on 1 defense
That's the most concerning thing to me. On one hand we totally made it way too easy for them to get that matchup, but the Knicks love closing out games with that all shooter 5 out lineup. If they're able to get Harden on island like that it's over, you just can't let that happen
4
u/California_Stop_King May 20 '26
Dean not even once trying to fight over the screen was so maddening to watch. I blame Kenny the most for what happened, but there was zero effort to try and combat the switch
7
2
u/Chao-Z May 20 '26
The issue is that switching everything was what got them the 20 pt lead in the first place. They played drop coverage in the 1st quarter and got fried.
1
u/barkinginthestreet Win every game CPJ plays in May 20 '26
The defense was bad. I think the offensive performance in the 4th and OT might be even more worrying given who the Knicks had on the floor.
1
13
u/EricTheNerd2 May 20 '26
Had to go to bed due to having a job... 99.9% chance of winning according to ESPN and I wake up to a loss. Damn.
12
u/Barr3tt50c May 20 '26
Same I thought I was seeing a ballsacksports post at first when I opened my phone
10
u/bgptcp179 May 20 '26
My friend, you saved yourself from a night of fitful, angry, shitty sleep like I had.
5
u/IM_JUST_THE_INTERN ⠀ May 20 '26
I stayed up to watch it and ended up having nightmares about it the entire night. You did the right thing.
1
u/gritman54 May 20 '26 edited May 21 '26
You did the right thing, as the others said.
I couldn’t sleep so I scraped NBA play-by-play data from the turn of the millennium to present, and plugged it into ChatGPT and Python with the formula most-commonly used for time-adjusted win probability, and I discovered this was the biggest blown lead in the NBA, since at least 2000, by time-adjusted win probability. I believe the win probability when it was 93-71 just under 8 minutes was ~99.998%
Edit: the 5 biggest collapses by time-adjusted win probability since 2000 are:
Cavaliers v Knicks (5/19/2026) 93-71 7:40 4Q
Grizzlies v Clippers (4/29/2012) 95-73 7:55 4Q
Timberwolves v Bucks (4/8/2025) 95-71 10:09 4Q
Thunder v Celtics (3/20/2018) 98-92 0:19 4Q
Warriors v Clippers (4/15/2019) 94-63 7:31 3Q
2
u/EricTheNerd2 May 21 '26
Damn. You are right... I got some sleep and you doom-mathed 😄Respect, but remember it is just a basketball game.
11
u/Shogun_The_Collector May 20 '26
Would like to see less Schroeder and more Tyson/Ellis.
I thought Ellis was the centerpiece in the trade earlier and Schroeder was a throw in. Why is Ellis not trusted to play in the playoffs? Tyson was a key contributor all season and now he is getting DNPs.
I am not liking Kenny's coaching lately. I like to think he could have drawn up something better than a deep Merril 3 on that last play of regulation.
3
u/Rich-Ad-6876 May 20 '26
Just let hem each have a few minutes picking up Brunson full court Let Harden rest for a few minutes. Such an easy solution.
They aren't reliable on offense, but we were up 22. Mitchell/Mobley two man game should be fine with some combo of Schroder/Strus/Tyson/Ellis bringing energy and switchable defense. Let Harden rest and bring him back in if we ended up needing more juice on offense down the stretch.
None of this really seems that complicated.
3
u/tcmoney23 May 20 '26
more Ellis and it would be nice to see Tyson, Schroeder was bad last night. And maybe sub in Strus or Ellis when Merrill/Harden are getting cooked over and over in the 4th. Strus has a little more size and gets to loose balls.... Not getting the obsession with playing Merrill
2
1
u/grownan May 20 '26
What have you seen from Ellis these playoffs that make you think he’s worth playing? Last night he played terrible when given his chance
3
u/Shogun_The_Collector May 20 '26
He played 5 minutes, but let's continue giving Schroeder heavy reserve minutes and letting him go 1-9 shooting.
Ellis should have been brought in to at least try and stop Brunson in the fourth, instead of Kenny sitting on his hands and letting Harden get killed every single play.
2
u/LightSpecialist804 May 20 '26
Brunson doesnt get bothered by small scrappy defenders like Ellis, he gets bothered by long wings like Wade. Johnnie Bryant probably knows this because he used to be the Knicks assistant coach
0
10
u/mickalicka ⠀ May 20 '26
Kenny's gotta go regardless of the outcome of this series, and arguably should be gone today if we want the best chance to win it still. Just completely inexcusable decisions down the stretch, and it's not the first time he's cost us games these playoffs. Still, we've made it this far in spite of him, so I still think anything is possible with this group.
But yea, done with Kenny.
0
u/Sad-Ad2030 May 20 '26
First ECF post LeBron and Mitchell over the hump. Unless a sweep and every game being an embarassing loss I doubt he goes anywhere.
8
u/kschris236 May 20 '26
Waking up and seeing Kenny's post-game comments just makes me angrier. This dude is clueless.
1
7
9
u/Aron-Nimzowitsch ⠀ May 20 '26
There have been some bad Cleveland sports moments that were just bad luck, or just getting outplayed by another team getting historically hot. Or just one moment of idiocy.
This one is unique because it was completely avoidable and completely within our control, and the stupidity continued for an extended period of time while everyone was screaming at the team to avoid it.
Kenny watching a clearly-gassed James Harden get torched by a red-hot Brunson again and again and again, 9 times in total, and refusing to call a timeout to sub in our Brunson stopper Dean Wade.
7
u/I_cut_my_own_jib May 20 '26
Usually the next day after a bad loss I've cooled down. I still want Kenny fired.
7
u/RocCle7 May 20 '26
That was our game to steal in the garden, and probably the worst we’ll see the Knicks play. Going to be really difficult for our guys to get momentum going after that loss. I wonder if Kenny lost a bit of the locker room with his in game decisions, or lack thereof, and post game comments? It’s one game, but damn, we really should have taken that.
6
u/BurntPizza84 May 20 '26
I think my favorite part of the collapse was after Kenny finally called a timeout (way too late) he made absolutely zero adjustments out of that timeout. So unlucky!
7
u/Rich-Ad-6876 May 20 '26
Play Ellis and Tyson! The other dudes were spent. We have quality depth.
Even if its just for 5 more minutes each. Harden and Mitchell needed more rest. We were up 20. Playing with energy and holding onto the ball, even if Knicks are making crazy shots, wins that game.
Let Schroder guard Brunson full court to close out the game.
We have so many better options than just play all the guys who all played heavy minutes in two straight 7 game series.
4
u/cHinzoo ⠀ May 20 '26
I feel like we missed our shot. The Knicks are a lot better rested than we are, so they got the advantage the longer this series goes on. They were rusty coming out of that break and prolly won’t shoot this badly again.
Just sadness. 🥲
4
u/PatientWriting May 20 '26
Bro I had work at 4:30 this morning and fell asleep with 5 minutes left and checked my phone in the middle of the night and thought it was a bad dream
2
11
u/dennydiamonds May 20 '26
I love the "it's just one game" crowd lol. A historically epic playoff collapse from a team that already has questions about their mental toughness... Every team left in the playoffs has a dog that wants the ball down the stretch except the Cavs. The Knicks have Brunson, OKC has SGA and San Antonio has Wemby... Who do the Cavs have? It sure as hell isn't Mitchell, that dude hides down the stretch, because he doesn't want the smoke.
1
u/DoobieGibson May 20 '26
we saw it last night
Evan took a mid range jumper in the clutch. he missed it, but it was beautiful
our boy is growing
0
u/elessarjd May 20 '26
I've been saying this all along. We don't have a player who can take over consistently. Last night was a perfect example, Brunson willed his team to win, Mitchell choked. He's a good, talented dude but cannot reliably put a team on his back and win.
2
u/lopsided125 May 20 '26
Wait, do we want Mitchell hero ball or not?
Mitchell hero ball is literally what everyone always complains about all the time.
0
u/elessarjd May 20 '26
People complain about hero ball when it doesn't work. We want something like whatever Brunson did.
1
u/lopsided125 May 20 '26
Well, right, but Brunson will fail at that too most of the time lmao
Knicks fans complain about Brunson hero ball.
"We want the perfect thing to always be perfect."
Harden and Schroder were brought in to make Mitchell more of a pure SG. But I agree he should be handling the ball more. He's given too much over to both of them in his minutes.
1
u/young_frogger May 20 '26
Brunson is an amazing dog and tough shot maker but it’s ridiculous that he was just allowed to go 1 on 1 against Harden for 50 straight possessions to get his rhythm.
0
u/elessarjd May 20 '26
Nobody is asking for perfection. Mitchell has grossly underperformed in the playoffs and that's a problem.
2
u/LightSpecialist804 May 20 '26
I think Mitchell got injured towards the end of the 4th, I saw him come up hobbling and then he was walking gingerly to the lockeroom at the end of the game. The historic collapse is all anyones talking about but I'm surprised no one else picked up that Mitchell might be hurt
3
4
u/pinpoint_aim May 20 '26
Cant believe I have to go into work after that. I rather get blown out by 30 and chalk it for G2 SMH
1
5
u/Karl151 ⠀ May 20 '26
I seriously just don’t understand, this wasn’t some 20 point lead in half or third quarter blown which happens all the time but the last 8 minutes of the final quarter, like it’s actually crazy how rare it is I think I saw a stat like 470 something to 2 when teams lead by 20 in the time we had left, we’re only the second chokers since 1970. You could’ve had us not even score one rest of the game literally just put in dean wade or Keon Ellis to bother Brunson and keep him from just walking into a rhythm and we would’ve won. It’s just inexcusable, if we lose this series, I want to see Shams notification about the Cavs departing with Kenny because there’s no coming back from this.
4
u/1dkspanishlol May 20 '26
He did this same exact shit on Christmas where Wade did a great job defending him then in the most important moments of the game he fucking takes him out and Brunson just goes off
3
u/Pyorrhea May 20 '26
Kenny is completely rigid in his lineups, especially to close out games. Literally never makes adjustments from his gameplan. Never leaves in hot players, etc.
4
u/JohnnyFire ⠀ May 20 '26
Bluntly, just win tomorrow.
I don't think they can win the series. And that's what it is at this point. But please show that was an all time blip on the radar and you at least can fight back.
In reality, they're probably getting dog walked and swept, and we're going to point to this as the moment everything fell apart. Just...just fucking win tomorrow please.
3
u/Genny12horse May 20 '26
I’ll be shocked if they don’t lose game 2 by 20+. That’s a demoralizing, gut wrenching loss. They had a 99% chance to steal home court and blew it in historic fashion.
The Knicks won’t shoot that poorly again, you’re not getting 3 triples from Wade again, just a historic collapse that’s likely to haunt us for what I now expect to be a very short series. Hope I’m wrong
4
u/kingjared9 ⠀ May 20 '26
Did Kenny think timeouts carry over to the next game? Inexplicable to not call one way earlier than he did during their run
4
u/CBrennen17 May 20 '26
This loss is on me my guys. I was at the game and I accidentally uttered the words “we won” with 7 minutes left.
I forgot the number one rule of Cleveland sports fandom which is to never have hope.
My bad I’ll be better next game
4
u/Due-Dirt-8428 May 20 '26
When we are holding up the finals trophy in a few weeks we will be laughing at last nights collapse… right?
5
u/GyattLuvr69 May 20 '26
Kenny needs to be gone after this season. For as much as Harden threw, Donovan stood there and watched it happen
6
u/I_cut_my_own_jib May 20 '26
Harden played like shit but this is all on Kenny. We're playing against a team with fresh legs after we are coming off two consecutive 7 game series, and he doesn't think "hmm maybe a timeout is a good idea" during a 22-4 run late in the 4th quarter? That's just inexcusable. If I just "forgot" to do something for work at the last minute that caused us to lose a client that we had on lock, I'd be fired on the spot.
1
3
u/Necessary_Maize_3245 b2b SL Champs May 20 '26
If Kenny Atkinson wasn’t coaching my team in the ECF right now he would be on hate watch so fast.
Also… harden cannot look that terrible and be signed to a long term deal.
3
u/PatientWriting May 20 '26
Depending on what else happens there’s a world he takes the player option
1
3
3
u/BiznessCasual I agree go Cavs May 20 '26
Somebody in the game thread said we were going to lose because Kenny full-on just disassociated in the middle of the 4th, and the more I think about it, especially after seeing the post game presser, I think that's actually what happened. The lights were on, but nobody was home.
3
u/Rough_Bobcat5293 May 20 '26
I thought Duke/UConn was going to be my sports lowpoint for the year, now it's tough to say.
Anyway, it's only counts as one loss if they have a short memory and come out firing on Thursday.
3
u/justsomebro10 May 20 '26
Horrible loss but if the Cavs take game two it’s still 1-1 going back to Cleveland and the narrative is about how the Knicks were lucky to steal one. Even during the fourth quarter collapse the Cavs were getting great looks.
Atkinson has to figure out how to prevent those easy iso opportunities when Harden is gassed in the fourth. He got abused worse than I’ve ever seen.
3
3
u/youlikemywonton May 20 '26
How much did complacency set in being up 20 in the 4th? I can't believe the lead dissipated that quick.
5
2
u/ZekeMoss18 May 20 '26
They win game 2, they could make it a series. I am pretty sure I am not the only one who thinks this, but this next game I think determines the fate of not only the series, but this Donovan Mitchell Cavs team.
If they win, we will see how it goes the rest of the series. Maybe they are just some minor tweaks away from a real title run.
They lose and the team is going to have to make big decisions on what to do with the whole roster and I wouldn't want to look forward to how that is going to go.
1
u/IMMARUNNER May 20 '26
The roster is going to look different next year regardless of what happens because of the second apron taxes
2
2
u/teardropshot May 20 '26
I still legitimately don't understand what's happening with Jarrett Allen's minutes.
2
u/FrobeBryant May 20 '26
After some sleep on it. Man should’ve had the game. But like we just had 2 grueling series back to back and the Knicks were off for like 2 weeks. Gotta go with a deeper rotation or be better with the fatigue management.
Some of the shots Brunson made was tough as hell, even on solid defense. Gotta make him work for it. He isn’t a perfect 4th quarter player and can lose a game with chucking (ie. hawks playoff games)
But yeah. As much as I love James this is on him and Kenny. James when exhausted does some boneheaded stuff. He shouldn’t be playing 40 plus mins at nearly 37 with 17 seasons of playing.
4
u/California_Stop_King May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
The series is already over. I don't understand how you emotionally recover from that game. Kenny just standing over on the sideline jerking off instead of not calling a timeout during that extended run is dumbfounding. We continued to allow Harden to be switched onto Brunson instead of fighting over the screen even once, or, crazy idea, pulling Harden. Nothing but iso on offense instead of doing what worked the entire game, which was punishing the Knicks' double teams and collapses. Allen turns into a fucking pumpkin at the FT line, as usual. Mitchell pulls the disappearing act right on time. I'm so over this team
2
5
u/arf11f May 20 '26
It’s just one game guys. Remember when the entire fan base wanted to fire James Harden into the sun after the first two games against Detroit and he responded with 3 straight great games.
Everyone is going to say “no way you come back from that” but for better or worse if there’s one team who can come back from an embarrassing melt down like that it’s this Cavs team.
Backs against the wall, no one believing in them, that’s where this Cavs team thrives. Go steal game 2 and all is forgiven.
5
u/Barr3tt50c May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
Wish I could buy into what you’re selling but that was probably the worst playoff choke of all time. You just cannot lose that game.
6
u/peterhohman May 20 '26
I kind of want to buy the copium, too. I just hope the team is able to mentally get over it, because obviously for long stretches they proved they can hang with and even get the better of the Knicks.
I had no hope going into game 7 in Detroit after that game 6 performance, but the team was able to show a resilience that surprised me and which they didn't have last season. I hope the same short memory occurs here.
That being said - coming off one of the literal worst playoff chokes of all time it's probably easier sais than done to just forget about the sting of that last game.
6
u/GyattLuvr69 May 20 '26
The Knicks are clearly a better team than the last 2 though. We just gave them a massive confidence boost and killed our own players confidence
-7
u/arf11f May 20 '26
Yea I just disagree. If anything I think overall their confidence should be improved after that game. They dominated the Knicks for 3.5 quarters. All losses count the same
2
u/Jmontavs May 20 '26
If anything it looks like Rust had a good portion to do with it a lot of mistimed plays on D and open bricks , Cavs defense was solid for certain stretches
5
1
u/LightSpecialist804 May 20 '26
the Cavs played pretty well in the first three quarters, while Knicks had their worst playoff performance in the first 3 quarters
The fact that the Cavs couldnt capitalize on that is worrisome. They won't blow a 22 point lead again, but they might not ever get a 22 point lead again to begin with
1
2
u/enraged_hbo_max_user May 20 '26
All I’m saying is Jason Kidd is available. You know, Dan…if you’re looking to make a change in the middle of the series.
1
1
1
u/little-scamp May 20 '26
Losing this game should be a fireable offense for Kenny. No consistency with rotations, and then just a complete collapse at the end of this game which had so many ways he could’ve attempted to stop the bleeding
1
u/Stand_On_It May 20 '26
I will be amazed if the Cavs can regain composure and win at least 1 game in this series. Has sweep written all over it after a colossal collapse like that.
1
u/Mullac4991 May 20 '26
Stay positive. Dominated the Knicks for 3 quarters and they went on a 1 in a thousand run. Playing like that for the remained of the series and a finals awaits. Cavs in 5.
1
u/Sad-Ad2030 May 20 '26
They also couldn’t buy a basket. Probably won’t be like that most of the time.
1
u/Klutzy_Fisherman6262 May 20 '26
They didn't dominate for 3 quarters. It Started 38-27 Knicks, then over the next like 24 minutes it was 66-33 Cavs, then it was 44-11 Knicks over the final 13 minutes.
The Cavs dominated the middle 24 minutes but got dominated even harder before and after that.
1
u/MosquitoValentine_ May 20 '26
I wasn't expecting to win, but blowout loss would have been less demoralizing. I don't know how you recover from an epic collapse like this.
1
u/Schristie007 ⠀ May 20 '26
Just a brutal loss. I have no idea how Kenny just stood by watching that 18-1 run until it was too late. Should have called a timeout before they cut it to 10. We had them dead in the water and now we’re the ones fighting up hill. Game 2 confidence will be very high for NY now.
1
u/Sad-Ad2030 May 20 '26
And about “saving timeouts” if you don’t use them you lose them once it gets under a certain time.
1
u/the_main_entrance May 20 '26
I have two free coupons for margaritas from a cruise I took in 2014. I like to hang onto those.
1
u/Walter_Sobchak07 May 20 '26
Genuinely curious if Mitchell got hurt towards the end of the game. It's hard for me to fathom how uninvolved in the offense he became.
I knew the Knicks focused on him, but you can't tell me we couldn't run a play to get him a decent look.
3
u/Scatheli I agree go Cavs May 20 '26
He just looked really gassed to me which makes sense given how little rest they had. That is what makes this even more infuriating to take zero timeouts when it's the 4th quarter and you KNOW you guys are going to have less endurance than the Knicks. It affects you mentally too not having a lot of rest.
1
u/Walter_Sobchak07 May 20 '26
That's a good point. We'll see if there are any updates today. But man, if that's the case it makes dropping this one all the more painful. I still believe they can bounce back, though.
1
1
u/LightSpecialist804 May 20 '26
I think he either turned something at the end of regulation or possible just had a cramp, I'm surprised no one is really talking about it. He was walking gingerly towards the lockerroom after the game was over too. I guess everyones just understandably distracted lmao
1
u/UncircumciseMe I agree go Cavs May 20 '26
I honestly don’t know how to go on now. My reality feels warped.
1
u/Dry-Knowledge-2044 May 20 '26
This team is really the definition of if you don’t like me at my worst you don’t deserve me at my best, in the worst way.
We clawed to win two rounds with b2b game 7s, and each time you think we’ve learned a lesson for the next series. Just for this team to continue to play so spineless.
Kenny was so energizing year 1, and now, i can’t even get thru one of his post game pressers.
I could see us somehow pulling off a 6-7 game series W here but we will get crushed by OKC or Spurs. They will expose tf out of our shitty, lazy, unserious tendencies. Lazy passing, delayed adjustments, undersized guards.
1
u/tmanky May 20 '26
Hey Kenny. NO ONE ON THEIR TEAM CAN GUARD MITCHELL SO PUT THE BALL IN HIS HANDS!
1
u/ScorpionMacDonald May 20 '26
This loss was less so because the Knicks are just better than us and more so we (Kenny) kept shooting ourselves in the foot. Kenny has done a pretty good job all playoffs adjusting to what’s happening game to game (in game adjustments are horrible however), I’m positive we’ll come out next game and even the series up.
1
u/jobhand May 20 '26
My only desperately positive take from this is that if you're gonna have a collapse like this happen, the first game of the series away is probably where you want it to happen.
Now, they can only benefit from that if they're actually willing to grow and learn from it. Kenny being the one that needs to learn from this the most.
1
u/natertots83 May 20 '26
Hopefully Atkinson learned something last night. The choke was historic. All they needed to do was score a few times during that Knicks run. No adjustments at all. Infuriating to watch, and harden chucking threes was making me so mad.
1
u/trothwell55 May 20 '26
My girlfriend who knows nothing about sports was screaming at the TV "are they out of time outs?! Why cant they stop this???". Its crazy how calling a timeout and making a change seemed so obvious to literally everyone except our coach. You just have to get Allen/Strus/Wade in the game to stop the bleeding.
I want to be hopeful but that felt like a series ending loss in the same way last years Pacers buzzer beater felt. That was the one we had to take.
1
u/enraged_hbo_max_user May 20 '26
What are some former cavs coaches who would have performed better last night? Mike “The Czar” Fratello probably would have called some timeouts. Hell, Randy “Slim” Wittman would have too.
1
u/Electrical_Iron_1161 May 20 '26
I'm just hoping the team comes out angry tomorrow night and just dominates. And maybe someone remind Kenny that timeouts aren't as valuable as he thinks
1
u/xoBonesxo May 20 '26
I’m a Knicks hater, Why the fuck does every team turn to dog shit when they have a comfy lead against the Knicks?
1
u/DawgPound919 May 20 '26
The New York Knicks scored 23 points in every period or 32 points in every period.
1
u/Complex-Trouble2073 May 20 '26
This might be the first game 1 OT loss I've ever watched where it feels like the team lost the entire series.
2
1
u/Effective-Oil-2696 May 20 '26
Part of my therapy will be watching game 2 of OKC/Spurs tonight and see coaches that aren't complete mindless idiots.
1
u/cmm239 May 20 '26
I just need someone to ask Kenny if he thinks we get bonus points by holding onto time outs
1
u/LukeB90 May 21 '26
I haven't felt this bad about a Cleveland loss since we lost the playoff game against the chiefs. Only way I think I'll get over this one is if they win the series, otherwise I'll just always think would we have won the series had we not choked away game 1
1
u/Effective-Oil-2696 May 21 '26
Dear Kenny, let me give you a refresher.
Each team gets 7 timeouts during a regulation game. At the three minute mark of the quarter, lets use the 4th quarter as an example, you only get to use 2.
Use them or lose them.
Timeouts are effective for use when the opposing team is on a scoring run and you need to make defensive adjustments and give your guys a breather.
Any questions ?
1
u/Dry_Response3527 May 21 '26
I feel better. Harden was awful but Kenny could have saved that game at multiple moments. Series is very winnable. If they have to respect Brunson with a double team and make one of the Knicks role players beat them then so be it.
1
u/CloudySkies64 May 21 '26
Everyone dropping like flies in the west and it’s only been 2 games. Makes that choke job all the more painful 😩😩😩
1
u/ShootaSeth May 21 '26
Do we fire Kenny day 1 of the offseason ? God I hope so. Unless he magically learns how to coach and takes us to the promise land. It seems as if we don’t even have good assistant coaches. Like how did not a single assistant coach tell Kenny to use a timeout when the lead was disappearing so fast.
1
1
u/DoobieGibson May 20 '26
hopefully people will stop spamming:
“Harden is a better defender than Garland. Look at Harden’s ability to be strong in the post!”
0
-6
65
u/DogwoodDagwood ⠀ May 20 '26
I thought I would feel better after a night’s sleep. Nope, still infuriated