Four points to take away from the Cavs’ return victory over the Knicks

It was a story of two halves. The Cleveland riders followed the requests in the first half and paid the price. They fell up to 15 before completely returning the script on the Knicks to leave with a 124-105 victory.

It was certainly not the start that you expected Cavs after having days of consecutive leave for the first time since mid-March. The Knicks checked all aspects of this game from the start. They were the most physical, more disciplined and simply better teams during the first 21 minutes.

New York looked like the one with consecutive days. Not the team in the second half of a consecutive back. Then everything changed.

The Cavs fought to close half. They finished the second quarter on an 8-2 race to reduce the deficit seven before the break.

Cleveland carried this energy in the second half. It took them three and a half minutes to completely erase the deficit.

They made a sequence of 18-8 to open the third. This propelled them to a third dominant trimester of 38-25, led by nine points by Donovan Mitchell.

The riders have never removed the foot of the gas from there. They have always extended their lead throughout the fourth until they run away with what ended up being a stress -free victory.

The second half was a good reminder of the quality of this team when it takes place.

Mitchell led Cleveland with 27 points out of 10-18 shot with six aids. Allen added 21 points out of 10-11 with eight boards.

Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks without Jalen Brunson with 25 points on 9-16 shot and 13 rebounds.

This team goes like Evan Mobley

It was not surprising that the CAV struggles in the first half coincided with Mobley. He was a non-factor at both ends of the ground in the initial 24 minutes when he had only registered four points and two rebounds.

Consequently, the Cavs were beaten in the second chance and points of the painting while lacking all kinds of cohesion to the other end.

This immediately returned to the third quarter. Mobley aggressively hunted his shot and the team was better for that. He collected four points, a flight, a rebound and a assist in the first four minutes of the third. This corresponded to the Cleveland 18-8 race which completely overturned the game.

It was still not a good outing of Mobley. An excellent game of Isaac Okoro and Allen kept it on the bench for the end of the game. But the way the game returned to the third quarter when its game was a good illustration of its importance for the success of Cleveland.

Bench alignments can collapse quickly when you have some injuries

Atkinson insisted on playing 10 players throughout the season, even by injuries. It has been incredibly well worked this season. He did not do Wednesday when the Cavs were down two of their regulars in Dean Wade and Ty Jerome.

This led to a few alignments with Javonte Green and Craig Porter Jr. on the ground at the same time, which went wrong. It’s not a stroke no either. The groups with the two players have a low floor if things are not happening, as was the case in the second quarter. To be fair, this would be the case with most of the teams if they played their 10th and 11th man in rotation together.

There is simply a limit to how far you can go when you want to play this deep rotation. We saw it tonight. Unsurprisingly, Kenny Atkinson shortened the rotation just eight in the second half to feed the return.

Isaac Okoro is his best when he creates reversals

It is easy to judge the way Okoro played by the number of shots he made. Although hitting gunshots is certainly better than the opposite in basketball, see Okoro through this basement lens which makes him precious when he is at his best.

On Wednesday, he did not hit his gunshots, going only 1-6 beyond the arc, but it was one of the best outings he had had for some time.

Okoro is on the ground due to the defense and the overall energy it provides. This is, more than the right shot, which showed on Wednesday when Okoro created two reversals, caught an offensive rebound that led to an easy lay-up for Max Strus, and plunged on the ground to create a half-chilly jumping ball from the fourth.

These are the type of parts you need your defensive specialist. That’s also why he was there to close the game.

“Defensively, obtaining thefts, these deviations (was important),” said Atkinson after the match. “I have the impression that he had a lull. We did not have a ton of minutes. And now I have the impression that he has grabbed his groove. He has really played very well in recent times.”

Okoro may never become as coherent an offensive contributor as you want ideally. And that’s fine. There is a lot of room for defensive specialists in the league, but these types of players must also make games for this purpose. This overall missed his game throughout his career. But when you see it, it is clear how important it is for its value on the ground.

Jarrett Allen rolls

Allen overshadowed 20 points for the third time in four games with another exceptional performance against the Knicks. His energy and his desire to attack the basket kept the Cavs in the game in a first lifeless half. This same aggressiveness has proven too much for the Knicks in the last two quarters, where he scored 13-6 points.

His exceptional athletics allowed him to have such a slower opposing center.

“I will never forget in Brooklyn, one of the major reasons why we have drafted Jarrett is because its crazy athletic capacity,” said Atkinson. “He moves so well. And now he understands, being in the league, understands trends and what guys like to do and what they don’t like to do. He is somehow the unknown hero of this team.”

It is easy to forget how impactable Allen is. This team is deep and has another big incredibly qualified with Mobley. This is why he spent a large part of this most recent victories sequence that did not even close the games. But when the Cavs needed him recently, he was there to answer the call.

This is the version of Allen The Cavs needs if it wants to do a deep race in the playoffs.