CLEVELAND CAVALIERS VS. NEW YORK KNICKS INSTANT REACTION
The season is finally here. The Cleveland Cavaliers hit the road to take on the New York Knicks in what could be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals.
TEX WINTER, ONE of the 20th century’s great basketball coaches, once summed up a classic NBA paradox with five words: Everything turns on a trifle.
The league’s best teams often teeter on a knife’s edge, thriving thanks to continuity but in a constant state of fragility, which explains the current state of the weakened Eastern Conference.
The two favorites, who meet in a made-for-television opener Wednesday in New York, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Knicks (7 p.m. ET on ESPN), are in this place because of the consistency of their rosters and misfortune of fellow contenders.
The gut-churning images of Damian Lillard, then Jayson Tatum, and then Tyrese Haliburton, each taking fateful missteps and tearing their Achilles tendons in a matter of weeks in a painful playoff stretch has provided these two teams with the most precious of NBA opportunities.
The window to reach the Finals for the Cavs and Knicks, who return all of their key players with additional depth down their roster, is wide open.
For now.
But because of that, they have entered the nether world known as the second apron, and they are the only team currently living there.
Last season, three teams — the Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns and Minnesota Timberwolves — were in this penal zone of tax and roster restriction, and all three fled this season by shedding key players.
Three teams that were in it the season before also bailed out after one uncomfortable year.
No one stays in the second apron long, at least not in the new rule’s infancy. So, while the Cavs’ core players are all in their 20s, keeping this group together could well be untenable unless the team starts to win bigger and now. The Celtics, for example, were in the second apron in 2023-24 and, after winning the 2024 title, they stayed in the second apron as ownership spent nearly $100 million in luxury taxes in the two-year span.
The Cavs have been upset as the higher seed in two of the past three seasons in the playoffs, and last season’s second-round exit to the Indiana Pacers in five games was bitter, after a 64-win season appeared to set them up for a long run.
“The question will come for us,” Cavs president Koby Altman said. “How do you navigate this collective bargaining agreement and the restrictions that we have? For us, we’ve set ourselves up to have a runway with the guys we have.”
24 Comments
Mobley needs to take all the shots and be more assertive. 6 second half points ain’t going to cut it
I simply just don’t believe in Mitchell as a superstar. He’s a bucket, but it’s a vacuum when he’s scoring. Then it’s turnovers until he realizes he’s off.. Also Allen needs to be traded.
Loved what I seen from Mobley
216 Allen will never be above the rim here 🧐 216
😂😂Mcnugget drunk that water like Marco Rubio 😂😂
We should’ve hired Becky Hammond
Calling it now. We keep this roster…expect another 2nd round exit.
This is exactly why the cavs are not going to win it all… JA shoots 70% but never gets touches… and when he doesn't get touches, it takes him out of the game on both ends. These dummies will never learn
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a bad organization. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Jared Allen doesn’t have the attitude to be a big man when it’s most needed
Mobley is not an offensive catalyst. Lol 😂 allow him to shoot , shoot, shoot lol
Thst hair sticking out from your right needs to go
This dude is trying so hard to get a gig with the cavs LMFAO listen to his company lines 😂😂😂😂 I can’t stop laughing at the fact that dan gilbert has all these goofs talking like this and yet no one buys any of it lol. Let dan keep wasting his money paying his little internet shills 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😭😭😭👍👍👍😂😂😂
Don is wasting his career here lol, the cavs front-office will NEVER EVER EVER 😂 EVER! Put a championship team around him. 👍 Even lebron had to get extremely lucky here to win lmfao. His third option was kevin love and he was awful 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
The cavs make me laugh so hard seriously. Every time I watch them im thinking holy hell from the owner to the GM down to the last hire they have noooooo idea what they’re doing lol thanks for the laugh cavs! Get a new owner 😂😂😂😂😂 MAX STRUS WILL SAVE YOU! 🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Two pg’s two centers a sg at sf LMFAO no bench let ty jerome walk ROFL!
Not qorried about the loss, like what I saw though they need to be better on rebounding and getting the ball to Allen under the post. The refs were not in their favor either but they need to rebound and actually make the free throws when they do get the calls
What do you think is wrong with Allen. I don't understand it. This team is gonna be good though. Let's see if he can step up. I hope it's not gonna be a toughness issue again. They just have to get more agrgessive. I don't know what they can do to get Allen more aggressive.
I remember when everyone was screaming to deal Dean Wade. Allen will bounce back. Hey, look what you got from Nance tonight! Merrill had a nice game. Lonzo's inbound pass broke me a little. Proctor didn't wilt in MSG, well done. It's one game, we will be better.
Mcnuggets Ev cant do contact layups because hes got jarrett allen down there clogging the paint. so contested mid range fadaways is the best you gonna get in those lineups.
Cavs are fucking frauds
Leave Allen alone.
The real issues are that Jaylon Tyson is not an NBA-caliber player and is yet another undersized Cavaliers player for his position, that Sam Merrill is not Ty Jerome, that offensively Evan Mobley lacks the physicality for elite NBA defense, and that Donovan Mitchell's hero-ball style won't suffice against top NBA teams.
And the softness carries over from last year's playoffs. Sore 4 still the same
Lonzo with three fucking points was pretty pathetic too
Damn the negativity is hilarious. It's going to be long season with y'all acting like this after game 1. Lol