CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cavs are on the brink of elimination.
Cleveland lost to the New York Knicks 121-108 on Saturday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals inside Rocket Arena. The Cavaliers lead the best-of-seven series 3-0.
In the history of the NBA playoffs, no team has ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit. Those teams are 0-163.
“We’re still confident,” James Harden said after the setback. “Confidence never goes away. We’re more than capable. We just need to change, change and take some shots.” [and] The series is reversed. ”
In the aftermath of Cleveland’s Game 2 loss, there was talk within the organization that a similar situation had occurred in the previous round against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons.
All the Knicks did was win two games. All the Cavs had to do was defend their home court.
They made it sound so simple.
It wasn’t.
Not to this person. The Knicks are in the midst of their most dominant postseason to date.
And it continued on Saturday night inside the building where noisy visitors invaded.
New York, on a 10-game winning streak in the playoffs, opened with a 9-1 record, forcing an irate Cavs coach, Kenny Atkinson, to call a timeout, and Knicks fans had plenty of reason to roar.
Cleveland settled in and scored the next six points.
However, the Knicks never relinquished the lead, building double-digit points three times in the first quarter, with their maximum advantage reaching 10 points.
Despite leading twice in the first half, the Cavs could never get over the hump. New York took control from the start.
“They struck first,” Jarrett Allen said. “They made the first impact of the game and showed energy and effort from there.”
At various points in the second half, chants could be heard inside Cleveland’s arena as the Knicks surged toward a wire-to-wire victory.
Let’s go Knicks! Let’s go Knicks! Let’s go Knicks!
With many Cavs fans already gone, the Knicks star received a few MVP chants when Jalen Brunson stepped to the foul line to put the finishing touches on New York’s masterpiece.
The same screams could be heard from Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.
Knicks 4 in! Knicks 4 in! Knicks 4 in!
“I’m from New York, so this doesn’t shock me,” Donovan Mitchell said of the Knicks acquisition. “They do it in every arena. It’s like Cowboys fans. It’s just who they are. I don’t think it’s a Cleveland thing. Knicks fans — and I used to be one — have nothing to do with what we do. Cleveland has the best fans in the world. I stand for it. I have nothing but love for the Cleveland fans, but we didn’t accomplish that for the home crowd. Then the Knicks fans can go away like they did before, right?”
New York led by a game-high 17 points with 46:05 to play.
They showed the togetherness, poise, heart and steel of championship contenders.
New York situation that part. Cleveland isn’t like that.
“No matter what the stats were tonight, they were the much better team,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson explained. “They’re playing great basketball. They’re running really fast. We can’t stop the momentum.”
Brunson led a balanced attack, scoring 30 points on 10-of-19 shooting and 10-of-12 from the free throw line.
Mikal Bridges added 22 points and OG Anunoby added 21 points. The Knicks had a total of six players reach double-digit scoring, including sharpshooter Landry Shamet, and almost single-handedly thwarted a potential Cleveland comeback in the fourth quarter. Shamet had 14 points off the bench.
The Cavaliers got 24 points from Evan Mobley. Donovan Mitchell finished with 23 points, Harden had 19 points and Allen had 17 points.
“We never had a complete grasp of the game,” Harden said. “There were times when we played well on both ends of the ball, but more often than not they played a little faster and we got shots taken. I think that’s on us. I definitely think it’s on us.”
Atkinson said before the game that returning home would inject new spirit and energy into the team. He said the crowd shocked them further.
That’s it.
The 19,432 people, including pop star Taylor Swift and her fiancé Travis Kelsey, didn’t have much to cheer about.
Thus, Cleveland’s best season without LeBron James is just one game away.
And LeBron isn’t walking through that door.
to the next
The Cavs and Knicks will play Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals in Cleveland on Monday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. on ESPN.
#Game #Cavs #verge #losing #Knicks