Cleveland Cavaliers Swept By New York Knicks

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers dropped Game 4 to the New York Knicks 130-93 on Monday night to complete New York’s four-game sweep of the Cavaliers and end Cleveland’s season.

1. Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson has pressed the same button in all three postseason series when he’s been desperate. He put Max Strus into the starting lineup against the Toronto Raptors for Games 5 and 6 after the Cavs dropped Games 3 and 4, he did it again for Game 7 against the Detroit Pistons after Cleveland was boat raced at home in Game 6. After the Cavs have dropped the first three games of this series, Atkinson once again pulls that lever. Dean Wade shifts to the bench. The rest of the starting five — Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen — stays intact. The New York Knicks don’t change their starting lineup — and why would they ever think to at this point. Their first five is Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns.

2. There are a ton of Knicks fans here. There are more than there were in Game 3 on Saturday night by a sizable number. They’re very loud. Chants of “Let’s Go Knicks” can be clearly heard on the concourse prior to the game.

3. The Cavs do get off to a pretty strong start in this game — at least Mitchell and Mobley do. That pair combines to score the first 17 points for the Cavs. Mitchell has hit a pair of 3-pointers and Mobley hits one on a nice feed from Mitchell. Those two are 6-of-8 in the first six minutes of the game, the rest of the starting five is 0-of-6. At the first timeout the Cavs are in front 17-16 and not going down without a fight — at least not from the jump.

4. It’s worth pointing out at this point that Dennis Schroder isn’t available for this game. He was a late add to the injury report with an illness and ruled out approximately 50 minutes before tip off. This should mean an extended rotation from Atkinson, but we’ll see.

5. Predictably, the first two members of the Cavs to check in are Wade and Sam Merrill off the bench. Wade’s first defensive possession sees Brunson try to post him up. Brunson’s footwork is excellent and he’s able to get around Wade, but Wade’s length still shuts him down, blocking the shot. The Knicks get the ball back and Towns hits a 3-pointer to give New York a lead. They’re still the team that’s hitting shots while the Cavs are ice cold from 3-point range on a diet of good looks.

6. The Cavs bring back Mitchell into the game after just 1:47 of game time on the bench. Cleveland didn’t make a single basket while he was on the bench. The minutes for the bench players haven’t gone well whatsoever. Merrill does hit his first 3-pointer, but in the nearly five minutes since the Cavs first subbed out Mobley and Mitchell the Knicks have outscored the Cavs by 10 points.

7. Cavs trail the Knicks 38-26 after the first quarter. The Cavs got off to a solid start in this one, but they were outscored by 13 points in the final six minutes after Mitchell and Mobley first went to the bench. That pair has 19 of Cleveland's 26 points. Mitchell has 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting and Mobley has seven points on 3-of-5. The rest of the team is 2-of-11 from the floor, with Merrill and Harden each having a basket.

8. New York’s bench is killing the Cavs once again. Landry Shamet and Deuce McBride have combined to hit four 3s in 11 minutes. The Knicks have won the five minutes that Shamet has played by 16 points.

9. The second quarter starts on a 12-0 run for the Knicks before Harden gets the Cavs on the board with three free throws. This has been an absolute disaster. New York is forcing turnovers and getting easy run outs off of them. As of the 8:00 mark in the second quarter the Knicks have scored 20 of their 53 points on fastbreak opportunities. They know that the Cavs are a tired team and they’re taking appropriate advantage of it. All nine guys that have played for the Knicks have scored at least three points. Only four guys for the Cavs have scored total.

10. Shamet might never miss again.