Riding-high, New York Knicks head to Cleveland with commanding 2-0 lead over Cavaliers
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks dribbling the ball against Dennis Schroder of the Cleveland Cavaliers during the Knicks' 109-93 NBA Eastern Conference finals Game 2 win on May 21.
PHOTO: AFP
CLEVELAND – Regardless of the situation, Cleveland Cavaliers centre Jarrett Allen never changes. He does not panic, get overly emotional or behave confrontationally.
That remains the case, even with the third-seeded New York Knicks holding a 2-0 lead over the fourth-seeded Cavaliers in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
The series shifts to Cleveland for Game 3 on May 23 (May 24, Singapore time).
“That’s just how our whole play-offs have been, our backs against the wall,” Allen said. “We like to keep things interesting, keep everybody stressing about what the next game is going to be like.”
The Knicks carry all of the momentum into what is virtually a must-win contest for the Cavaliers, who are 6-1 at home in the play-offs. Cleveland also trailed the top-seeded Detroit Pistons 2-0 in the East semi-finals before winning the next three games.
New York, however, are a much more complete team than Detroit. This series, guard Jalen Brunson is averaging 28.5 points and 10.0 assists, forward Josh Hart is scoring 19.5 per game and centre Karl-Anthony Towns has 15.5 points and 13.0 rebounds per game.
Led by former Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, the Knicks have won a franchise-record nine straight play-off games since losing two of their first three against the Atlanta Hawks in the first round.
Of the 12 previous teams to win nine straight play-off games, seven of them won the championship.
The Knicks’ plus-221 point differential through 12 play-off games is also an NBA record.
“The most important thing is that we’re growing and learning together,” Brunson said.
“No matter what the situation is, whatever the series is, we’re open to learning, open to getting better. Open to figuring out how to win games, trusting each other.”
For the first time this post-season, the Cavaliers appeared fatigued in Game 2 after playing every other day since April 29 as a result of their seven-game series with the Toronto Raptors and Detroit.
Their biggest concern, though, remains guard James Harden. Three poor games in a row have dropped his play-off field goal percentage to 40.7 per cent and his three-point percentage to 32.5 per cent. His post-season averages are 19.6 points, 5.8 assists and 4.6 turnovers.
“I don’t know if it was tired legs or whatever, but we had a lot of really good looks,” said Harden. “We just didn’t make shots. It’s just part of the game.”
On May 22, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 26 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder survived an early onslaught to score a 123-108 victory over the San Antonio Spurs and take a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference finals series.
French star Victor Wembanyama led the San Antonio scoring with 26 points, while Devin Vassell added 20. REUTERS, AFP
