Cavaliers’ dynamic stars pose a daunting Knicks task they might be better equipped to handle
The roles have reversed.
The Knicks enter their second straight Eastern Conference finals as favorites against the Cavaliers, looking to make their first trip to the NBA Finals since 1999.
Three years ago, the Knicks entered the postseason as underdogs in Cleveland, looking to win their first playoff series in a decade.
“Obviously that being my first playoff series with this team was special, but we’re far removed from that,” Jalen Brunson said of the Knicks’ gentleman’s sweep. “I think both teams are different.”
In that first-round matchup, the Knicks held the Cavaliers to 18 points below their season average, as Donovan Mitchell shot 28.9 percent on 3-pointers and averaged 3.8 turnovers per game.
Mitchell scored 38 points in the Game 1 loss before Josh Hart helped limit the Cavs’ star to 19.5 points for the rest of the series.
“I don’t think I learned anything about myself,” Hart said Monday. “I’m a good player. I’m a good defender. And as a competitor, you want to have tough matchups like that to compete against the best.
“He’s an extremely talented offensive player. He takes tough shots, but he has the talent and the ability to make those tough shots.”
Now, the Knicks — who didn’t have OG Anunoby or Mikal Bridges in 2023 — may be even better equipped to slow the engines of Cleveland’s attack.
Hart and Bridges have been brick walls on wheels during the Knicks’ dominant postseason run.
In the first round, Bridges helped force Nickeil Alexander-Walker — the NBA’s Most Improved Player — into 38 percent shooting from the field, while Hart smothered CJ McCollum into 11.3 points on 39.5 percent shooting with 3.3 turnovers per game.
In the sweep of the 76ers, Bridges bothered Tyrese Maxey with his length, holding the league’s fifth-leading scorer 10 points below his scoring average. Maxey shot 15.8 percent on 3-pointers and committed 3.5 turnovers per game.
Bridges, who is four inches taller than Mitchell, could also make it tough for Cleveland’s go-to scorer to develop a rhythm in his first conference finals appearance.
Mitchell has averaged 25.6 points during the postseason, shooting just 31.1 percent on 3-pointers.
But he is not alone.
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Cleveland’s Feb. 7 trade for James Harden added another future Hall of Famer to the backcourt, and the Cavs responded with the third-best clutch rating in the league, the fifth-best offensive rating and a 109-94 win over the Knicks — the only meeting featuring Harden — on Feb. 24 in Cleveland.
The deal raised the ceiling of the Cavs’ season, but the red flags that haunted Harden in his previous 16 postseason appearances have followed him, too.
Harden — who trails Karl Malone by six games for the most playoff games by any player without a championship — is averaging 20.1 points and 6.2 assists through the first two rounds of this postseason, but he is shooting 41.5 percent from the field and averaging the second-most turnovers per game (4.8) in the playoffs.
Still, the Knicks are preparing for a former MVP.
“He’s able to create a lot of offense for them,” Brunson said. “It’s like a pressure release for Donovan, as well. Donovan does so much for the team and then you have James in there and you have a whole other person you have to worry about, so they have so many different weapons, so many different options and ways they can beat you. They’re really dynamic.”
