Cavs embarrassed in Game 4 of Eastern Conference finals, 130-93, swept out of playoffs by Knicks
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Knicks entered Rocket Arena on Monday night wearing all black.
It was appropriate attire. Game 4 was the Cavs’ funeral.
Cleveland got crushed by the New York Knicks, 130-93, in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. The Cavaliers’ season is over, swept out of the playoffs, their enigmatic run coming to an end with boisterous chants inside their own building:
Knicks in 4! Knicks in 4! Knicks in 4!
“They’re playing great basketball,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said about the Knicks. “They’re on a heater. They’re in a groove. I think sometimes you gotta give the other team credit for playing great basketball.”
During Sunday’s film session, Cavs players expressed belief that they could pull off the improbable, becoming the first team in NBA playoff history to overcome a 3-0 series deficit. Second-year forward Jaylon Tyson said Monday would be a measure of the Cavaliers’ pride.
They had none. Or the Knicks ripped it away. One or the other.
Inside an arena overrun by Knicks fans, the Cavs got outworked, outclassed, outmuscled and outplayed for nearly 48 minutes. It was shades of past playoff flameouts, albeit one round later than usual.
Trying to drown out the rowdy Knicks chants that began in the hallways of Rocket Arena before tipoff, the Cavs opened the game by scoring the first five points. They even built a six-point lead — a rarity during this lopsided annihilation.
That early offensive outburst has typically rattled opponents, including a couple of teams in the Raptors and Pistons that weren’t on Cleveland’s level earlier in the playoffs.
Not the Knicks. They stood their ground. And then they punched right back, delivering an early haymaker.
The wounded Cavs never recovered.
New York kept swinging. Mercilessly.
With 1:35 left in the opening quarter, the Knicks had their first double-digit lead of the night.
It was a 20-point game less than two minutes into the second quarter. New York’s biggest first-half lead reached 29 before the Cavs closed on a zone-defense-infused 17-7 push to make the deficit a more manageable 19 at the break.
The second half turned into a Knicks coronation, and a mostly orange-and-blue crowd soaked in every second as yet another chant filled the building.
Let’s go Knicks! Let’s go Knicks! Let’s go Knicks!
With 8:47 left and the Cavs down by 33 points, Donovan Mitchell subbed out of the game. So did Evan Mobley and Max Strus. Jarrett Allen and James Harden were already on the bench.
Is that how it will end? Will that be this group’s last game together?
New York pushed that lead even more, going up by 45 in the fourth quarter and watching their non-regulars put the finishing touches on the historic clincher.
Cleveland trailed for more than 42 minutes. It watched helplessly as another season ended in embarrassment. Monday was the second-largest margin of defeat in franchise playoff history.
“This is the second time we’ve lost on our home floor in a row to end the season,” Mitchell said. “I made the comment about the Knicks fans in our building and we didn’t shut them up, so you have to look inward.
“We’ve got to take our lumps. We got swept. Got to own it. It’s what happened. But what are you going to do about it? How are you going to respond? I’ve been saying this all year. How are we going to respond? And I would say our response from last season was pretty good. Can we do it again? And I have no doubt we will.”
Mitchell, in the conference finals for the first time in his career, finished with a game-high 31 points. He did it on 9-of-18 shooting and 5 of 9 from 3-point range. Mobley added 15 points. Harden had 12 points — all coming in the first half.
Cleveland, with the worst offensive rating of any conference finals qualifier, shot 41.6% overall and 27.5% from beyond the arc. It had more turnovers (22) than assists (21). The bouncy, energetic and fast-paced Knicks converted those miscues into 34 points the other way.
“It’s a tough learning lesson, but now we know,” Mitchell said. “This team that we just faced had to go through this. Maybe not this way, but they’ve been together, they’ve been a core group and had to go through this tough experience. So this is our turn.
“I’m sorry for the city of Cleveland, for it to be like this in a sweep. That’s a–. But I told y’all last year and I would say it again, we’ll be back and we’ll be ready and we’ll be hungry and we’ll be locked in.”
Multiple times during this playoff run, long before Monday night, the Cavaliers’ season seemed to be on life support. They needed seven hard-fought, exhausting games to sneak past Toronto and Detroit.
About a week ago, they were finally able to exhale, advancing to the conference finals for the first time since 2018 and first time without LeBron James in more than three decades.
Their reward was a matchup against the third-seeded Knicks, who are in the midst of one of the most dominant postseasons ever.
The Cavs weren’t on their level.
“I’m disappointed,” Atkinson said when asked about Monday’s loss. “From a coaching standpoint, normally you’d say, man, ‘I wish we had this. We didn’t have this.’ I can’t say that. Ownership and front office gifted us with a wonderful roster, a talented roster. I feel bad. I feel bad for the group, because you want to fulfill your expectations.”
New York, which scored at least 30 points in every quarter against the Cavaliers’ feckless defense, had six players in double figures Monday night.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the way with 19 points and 14 boards, imposing his will from the opening tip. OG Anunoby had 17 points. Knicks captain Jalen Brunson added 15. He was named conference finals MVP, now getting the best of Mitchell in three separate head-to-head postseason series.
Shortly before tipoff, Atkinson proclaimed he wanted to go back to New York.
Forget that.
It’s on to Cancún. And a potentially uncomfortable summer.
