The Knicks will take the East
This year it's different.
A conversation about the Eastern conference finals which begin Tuesday at 8pm ET.
HENRY: Are you surprised that the Eastern conference finals are the Knicks and the Cavs?
DAVID: No. The Knicks got a good matchup and made that pivot against the Hawks, running the offense through Karl-Anthony Towns in the pinch post, and it has been smooth ever since. They haven’t lost a game since running the offense through KAT.
Detroit’s issue has always been their emotional maturity, their impulse control defensively, and their lack of offensive firepower after Cade. All those things kind of came to fruition. They foul way too much. I thought I thought they just didn’t have any answer as things changed. They just kept doing what they’ve always been doing: they focused on physicality instead of what they should have been focused on, which was executing without fouling.
HENRY: Stan Van Gundy was like: I love Tobias Harris, but he didn’t even try to stop that guy, he just fouled him.
DAVID: It’s kind of who they are, and they didn’t grow. After the game, Kenny Atkinson said their big adjustment was just not doing anything in the range of Ausar Thompson. It reminded me of reminding me of how to play against Deion Sanders in football. Ausar’s ability to impact winning is significantly altered if he’s not getting a bunch of steals.
HENRY: He’s unbelievable.
DAVID: Unbelievable, but he had five points in a Game 7.
HENRY: I know this is not what we do, but if you were going to 3-D print the ideal NBA body, I’ll take Ausar, please.
DAVID: And he plays the right way, and all of that. But his inability to shoot is a problem.
HENRY: It’s wild.
DAVID: Amen has the same problem. That’s got to be answered. The biggest story coming out, though, is Cleveland’s evolution in terms of toughness. This is where we have to focus. Where Kenny lamented the lack of ability to get to the level of intensity a year ago, they found another level in this series, and that’s really important to recognize.
HENRY: To my eyes in Game 7, a lot of that had to do with Jarrett Allen.
DAVID: Well I thought the spark was Max Strus. Cleveland lost the first two, then won four of five. Strus was all over the place and of course ended up in the starting lineup by Game 7. Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen just seemed to find another level. It wasn’t like flipping a light switch, it was more of a just a growth, or they just started making instead of one play in four, it was maybe two plays in four, and then three plays in five. And confidence grew as well.
But last night the Pistons, honestly, it looked like they were, they had lost their minds. I think maybe it was they were down so much, but even before they were down so much, the game looked to me like an AAU game. I was surprised there was no semblance of organization with what they were doing offensively or defensively. So, Cleveland had a lot of open lanes, a lot of open dunks. Donovan Mitchell was obviously amazing in Game 5 and very good in Game 7. Donovan seemed like he wanted to start the game trying to get his guys comfortable. He did a good job of that. They won the game without Harden doing much other than just managing the team, keeping their team organized, and having one turnover. (ED NOTE: Cavaliers starters: 155 total minutes, five total turnovers.)
HENRY: I loved this moment he had creating a bucket with Evan Mobley. At the end, I wasn’t sure if he was trying to get a steal or maybe celebrating a little? Finding joy in the game?
DAVID: He’s in the Eastern conference finals!bAnd he wasn’t the biggest reason why, which might make him feel good, that yeah, he’s in Cleveland, where Donovan can be the guy carrying the team. Surviving two seven-game series is something. That might give Cleveland a little more confidence. They’re going to be tired in Game 1 against the Knicks.
HENRY: Flying straight to New York. Oh my god, schedule makers, can we just give them a fucking day? Like, can they take a shower?
DAVID: Amazing, right?
If you look at who just came out of a tougher series, obviously Cleveland gets a big advantage in Game 1. But ultimately I don’t think they are like the kryptonite for New York. Two years in a row, the Knicks lost to a Pacers team that wore them down. This year, the Knicks changed coaches, and are coming in rested. But also, I don’t think Cleveland can do that. If the goal is to exhaust Jalen Brunson, then which Cavalier is going to hassle him full court and be in his face all night? James Harden ain’t no Andrew Nembhard, and you can’t have Donovan play that way. So that’s an issue.
And then the other problem is with the way that the Knicks are attacking offensively, where they’re running so much through KAT now. It’s less of a burden for Brunson offensively. The Knicks have only played ten playoff games. So they’ve had a lot of time off. I’m going to guess that if we looked up Brunson’s dribbles per game it’s down since they changed their offense. So, it’s gonna be tough to wear Brunson down.
But Cleveland’s got those two big guys playing, Jarrett and Evan are playing better, which is a big deal against Mitchell Robinson, and obviously KAT.
HENRY: That feels like their team strength to me. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley are both firing at high levels, which—when you have Donovan Mitchell—feels like the reason they always have a chance.
DAVID: Donovan and Wemby, to me, are the big X factors left in the playoffs. Both those guys, I think both teams are inferior, but both those guys are so incredibly capable of doing marvelous things.
I never watched him play live, but my dad used to tell me about the football player, Jim Brown. He would, you know, get tackled. It would take five guys to tackle him. He would be the slowest guy to get up out of the pile. He would barely get back to the huddle, and then he’d run it again. It’d be amazing. It takes six guys to tackle him. Donovan looks that way every time he scores. It’s like it’s, it’s a labor. He’s like laboring to get back on defense. But he’s still so electric. He’s almost like he’s saving energy.
But he won’t be able to do that against New York. Like, who do you rest him against? Josh Hart? He’ll kill you on the glass. Can’t do it against him. Harden probably can guard Hart, but he’ll have to rebound against Hart. So this is this becomes a big part of the test for Cleveland is that back court has been able to go a little less than full intensity on defense against Detroit. That’s all over.
HENRY: And if Harden gets worn out … I’ve noticed Kenny Atkinson is very reticent to take him out. There were spells when he was terrible. In this series, there might be more need than ever for bench help.
DAVID: I just don’t know who is ready to play a lot of hard minutes at that other guard spot. (Cavaliers bench guards, FTR: Dennis Schröder, Sam Merrill, Jaylon Tyson, Keon Ellis, Tyrese Proctor. Max Strus is sometimes a bench player and sometimes a guard, not sure where he belongs.)
Donovan needs to be off the ball some for his own energy purposes. But the Cavs don’t seem to trust anyone else to handle the ball. And you definitely can’t lose the possession battle against New York, given what they could do on the offensive glass as well.
Cleveland has a fighter’s chance in all these games because of the offensive firepower. James can play great one game, Donovan can play better in more games. I would think of it like: you’ve got to win one of the first three to give yourself a chance. And then go into Game 4 trying to make it two-two before you head back to New York. So, if James can do great things in one of those games, Donovan plays well in two of the three, you can see it. You can win a game if you look at it in that way. But it’s hard given the energy tax that both those guys have to pay to be able to play with New York and also rebound against Josh Hart and guard Brunson. You know, all that’s hard.
HENRY: How do you guard that KAT pinch post action?
DAVID: There are different ways to guard at the point of attack. But the big picture has to be protecting the rim. Every choice to me, every choice has initially has to be we’re always choosing to be on the bottom side of the action, which forces New York to play more on the perimeter. And then you want to contest the shooter.
You can’t let them get layups, you cannot get beat on some of the dribble hand-offs, and just pure back cuts and sprints to the rim when the ball is, you know, 15, 16, 17, feet in the middle third of the court. You can’t give New York those layups. So there’s a discipline there to always choose to be on the basket side of the action, as opposed to on the 3-point line and out of the action.
HENRY: These rules, they apply to everyone? Every Cavs defender?
DAVID: Everyone, yeah. And that’s one of the biggest mistakes that that teams make, is they don’t make that decision, they don’t protect themselves against the layup. This is like Golden State’s Cuisinart. You get so worried about Steph or Klay hitting 3s that you give Draymond a wide-open layup.
For years now this has been my philosophy, and it’s worked.
HENRY: If I’m hearing you right, you think the Knicks are the favorites?
DAVID: Oh, I definitely would favor the Knicks. I’m torn about whether or not it will be a long series. The safer thing is to say it’ll go six or seven, but I worry that the lack of depth on the Cavs in the back court is gonna, is going to make Donovan worn out late in games. And heck, if New York’s learned anything, they should learn how they lost the two series against against Indiana, and and be more focused on making sure they’ve got energy late, and play more guys. I think they have more depth, and OG is back–I heard he’s playing Game 1. So Knicks in four or five sounds good. But either way, I think the Knicks are significant favorites.
Thank you for reading TrueHoop! Don’t miss our Western conference finals preview.
This post has aged beautifully 🏀🧠✨