Crushed in Cleveland

There are three clubs in the NBA with over 50 wins this season: Cleveland, Boston and Oklahoma City. The Knicks have played those three teams eight times and have lost every game.

Final Score: Knicks 105 - Cavs 124
Record: 48-28

Hoping to dispel the notion that they can't compete with the NBA's elite, the Knicks hung tight for a half.

Led by the red-hot OG Anunoby, New York caught fire early on the offensive end. They sprinted to an early lead and eventually built a 15-point cushion in the second quarter. Knicks fans were undoubtedly optimistic, and they had good reason to be, as the 'Bockers had won 71 straight games in which they led by 15+ points.

However, the Cavs cut the deficit to seven points by halftime and obliterated New York in the second half. Over the game's final 28 minutes, Cleveland outscored the Knicks 83-49.

Many of the same issues that have plagued NY all season reared their ugly heads in this one. Stuck in drop coverage, the Knicks' defense began hemorrhaging points. Donovan Mitchell got far too many open looks, scoring 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the second half. Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen also reached double figures over the final two quarters. As a team, the Cavs scored 71 points while shooting 60% from the floor.

On the other end of the court, the Knicks' offense came to a screeching halt after the break. New York converted just 31% of its FG attempts and missed 14 of their 15 three-point tries.

As for individual players, there was plenty of blame to go around. Mikal Bridges took a total of six shots the entire game and had more turnovers (2) than made FG's or rebounds in the second half. Delon Wright and Landry Shamet were a combined 0-of-9 after halftime. Karl-Anthony Towns had a 25/13 double-double but also committed seven costly turnovers, several of the live-ball variety, which led to easy fast-break points for Cleveland.

Sum it all up, and you have another blowout loss to a team at the top of the standings.

There are three clubs in the NBA with over 50 wins this season: Cleveland, Boston and Oklahoma City.

The Knicks have played those three teams eight times and have lost every game. Not only has New York fallen short in each contest, but it's also been embarrassed and annihilated in most of them.

We can rationalize/contextualize these results, but the sample size and weight of the evidence are fairly overwhelming at this point. The cumulative score over those eight games is 1,000-840. Yes, New York has been outscored by 160 points. That's an average margin of defeat of 20 PPG.

Granted, the Knicks were on the second night of a back-to-back and were missing Jalen Brunson and other key bench pieces (Cleveland had their starting five intact yet were missing Ty Jerome and Dean Wade), but that happens occasionally. The schedule gods give, and they take. (Brunson played in each of the previous seven contests.)

After last night's loss, when asked about his team's lack of success against the league elite, coach Tom Thibodeau replied: "Obviously, the good teams, they're going to have records like that against other teams. You have to play really well to beat them. And we understand that."

Thibodeau then added, "But you also have to look at all the factors that go into it. Is it a back-to-back? Do they have two days of rest? What's their situation?"

A few things here. The first time New York and Cleveland played each other this season (on October 28), New York had a rest advantage. The contest was at MSG, and the Knicks had two days off, whereas the Cavs had played a road game one night earlier.

As for NY's games against Boston, the two teams squared off on opening night (you can't have more rest than that), and the C's won 132-109. In the next meeting (on February 8), the Knicks had three full days off (tied for their most extended non-ASB rest stretch during the regular season) to prepare for the Celtics but still got shellacked 131-104. In addition, Boston was missing their starting center, Kristaps Porzingis, in each of those contests.

In their first game against OKC, it was the Thunder (not the Knicks) who were on the back end of a back-to-back. New York had a rest advantage but was flat in the second half and lost by double digits. In the second OKC matchup, both teams had one day off.

So, blaming the schedule makers for New York's inability to compete with the cream of the crop doesn't hold much water.

Furthermore, Thibs citing "days of rest" as a reason Cleveland had an edge has to be taken with a grain of salt.

It was Tom Thibodeau's decision to use an eight-man rotation Tuesday night in Philadelphia against the worst team in the NBA. It was his decision to have his starters play their typical minutes in that contest.

All year, Thibs has scoffed at the idea that he plays his key cogs too much. That overreliance (compared to the rest of the NBA) on his starters leads to more regular-season wins, but eventually, that bill may come due.

If you take credit for those wins in January, February and March against teams with a far more egalitarian minutes distribution, can you blame a loss in April on a lack of rest?

Last night, despite having a couple of days off, no Cavs starter played more than 32 minutes. Last night, despite being on the second night of a B2B, all five Knicks starters played more than 33 minutes.

And last night wasn't an anomaly. Donovan Mitchell leads Cleveland in MPG this season at 31.4 this season. Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen all average between 28 and 30 MPG.

Only twice this entire season has a Cavalier logged more than 37 minutes in any game (Mitchell and Mobley once each).

Josh Hart has played more than 37 minutes a league-leading 51 times. Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby have logged more than 37 minutes 43 and 40 times, respectively.

Should we be shocked when the Knicks run out of gas in the second half against teams with more expanded rotations?

As Chris Herring notes in his ESPN dispatch posted today, "Bridges has been forced to run through 25 screens per game -- a Herculean task, and more than any player in the league's 12-year-old tracking era. Looking at the teams the Knicks could face in the first round of the playoffs, Bridges this season has run 37 miles more than Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, 41 miles more than Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham and 66 miles more than Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard, according to NBA tracking data."

The approaches of Kenny Atkinson and Tom Thibodeau could not be more diametrically opposed. That doesn't mean one strategy is "better" than the other, but the contrast is worth noting on a night that Thibs leans into "the factors" that lead to a defeat.

Other Takeaways and Knicks Notes:

🏀 On the bright side, OG continued his torrid scoring stretch Wednesday night. Anunoby scored 19 of his 23 points in the first half, shooting 7-of-10 from the floor and 5-of-6 from downtown while also dishing out five assists.