It’s a gamble by the Cavs, no matter what they’re paying him.

It’s a bet that Watson is going to continue to develop into more than he previously was with the Denver Nuggets. It’s a bet that the flashes Watson showed last year while former NBA MVP Nikola Jokic was sidelined are just glimpses into who he will be. It’s a bet that he can continue to grow and flourish alongside Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, James Harden1, Jarrett Allen and Jaylon Tyson2. It’s a bet that the Cavaliers have unlocked a pathway to being a better team than the one that was swept out of the Eastern Conference Finals by the New York Knicks.

The cost was giving up Max Strus and a 2031 unprotected first-round draft pick.

Watson is entering his fifth year in the NBA and has shown consistent progress in each of his first four seasons after being drafted with the No. 30th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. Last season he averaged 14.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game for Denver while shooting 49.1 percent from the floor and 41.1 percent from 3-point range. At 6-foot-8 and 200 pounds, Watson is the type of player on the wing the Cavs have been missing since LeBron James left for Los Angeles in 2018.

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The deal isn’t one that’s about the players that were exchanged — or are pending to be exchanged — but rather the contracts that they’re currently on. Schroder is set to make $14.8M this season. His deal is worth $15.5M next season, though only $4.35M of that is guaranteed. Mann’s contract is $8M this season and features a team option — at $8M — for next season. That means the Cavs save $6.8M with this deal and can treat Mann’s contract as an expiring deal.

This isn’t a trade that makes the Cavs better. Schroder was a useful player for the Cavs and one that helped them reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2018. His performance in Game 5 against the Toronto Raptors may have saved the series — and season — for the Cavs. Schroder brought the Cavs a much-needed ferocity on the court. He played with an edge that was missing at times from the group. What he lacked at times in scoring he was able to help make up for in effort and attitude. Cleveland lacked playmaking off the bench prior to Schroder’s arrival and will be asking younger players to take on that responsibility moving forward.

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Putting together a puzzle as massive as the schedule is no easy task for the league, its teams or the buildings that they play in.

Cleveland’s schedule features some big spots, a day off on Christmas and Opening Night against an old friend. But the word that first comes to mind after combing through the slate?

Brutal.

Here are 19 things that standout about the 2026-27 schedule for the Cleveland Cavaliers:

1. The Cavs will be the second-to-last team to begin their season. Opening Night for the Cavs will take place on Thursday, Oct. 22, on the road against LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers. Opening up against James must’ve been an easy call for the NBA to make. The team that many — myself included — expected James to land with against the team he ultimately surprised nearly everyone by selecting. Fittingly, ESPN will be carrying James’ home debut with the Sixers and the beginning of Cleveland’s season. While this is the first game of the season for the Cavs, its the second of the year for Philadelphia, which opens up in New York two days prior.

   1. The only team that begins its season later than the Cavs is the Denver Nuggets, who will be part of the second game of ESPN’s doubleheader that night.

2. Last season, the Cavs played on Christmas Day for the first time since 2017. They held a huge lead in the fourth quarter against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, only to collapse down the stretch of that game in what was some rather ominous foreshadowing. This season the Cavs will be enjoying the NBA’s spotlight day on the calendar relaxing. There are four Eastern Conference teams in action on Christmas Day, compared to only Cleveland and New York last season. New York, Miami, Boston and Philadelphia have that honor this season. Despite making the Eastern Conference Finals last spring, the Cavs aren’t featured. Given the way Cleveland’s offseason went2 it’s difficult to fault the NBA for featuring other teams with comparable star power.

3. The illustrious NBA Cup is back for its fourth season and the Cavaliers are in what many are calling3 the most difficult group in the tournament’s history. Cleveland is in East Group B with the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers. There is randomness to how the groups are decided. The top three teams in each conference from the previous season are placed in separate groups, then the next three teams are placed in separate groups, then teams 7-9, 10-12 and 13-15. It just so happen that the team that finished seventh — Philadelphia — added LeBron James and Jaylen Brown, the team that finished 10th — Miami — added Giannis Antetokounmpo and the team that finished 14th — Indiana — did so because its best player, Tyrese Haliburton suffered a torn Achilles tendon in The Finals 14 months ago. That perfect storm, paired with the luck of the draw, has created an NBA Cup Group of Death.

   The group stage games for the Cavs are as follows:

   1. Nov. 6 vs Philadelphia

   2. Nov. 13 at Miami

   3. Nov. 20 vs Indiana

   4. Nov. 25 at New York.

   Whoever wins that group is going to really earn it.

4. The first 22 games of the season — which is the stretch that leads into the NBA Cup Break — or knockout rounds — will tell us a lot about who the Cavaliers are. Not only do they have those four aforementioned games against potential playoff games in the first quarter-ish of the season. They have two other games against the Knicks, non-NBA Cup games against Philadelphia, Miami and Indiana, two games against Oklahoma City, plus singular dates with Minnesota, Atlanta, Dallas and Washington.

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James is picking the Philadelphia 76ers over several teams that showed interest in him. That list included the Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets and, of course, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

James picking the Sixers says several things. It says that he believes he can elevate Philadelphia to a championship. It says that James believes in new co-stars Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown. It says that he also believes in Sixers youngster VJ Edgecombe, who is entering his second season in the NBA. It says James believes in the vision of newly anointed Sixers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey, a Cleveland native who was hired this offseason after more than a decade of work in the Cavaliers front office.

In James’ announcement on Twitter he stated “I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team.”

This decision, in so many unsaid words, says that he didn’t feel the same way about the Cavaliers.

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After three games in the Las Vegas Summer League, it’s difficult to say anything other than Meleek Thomas can play.

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Thomas scored 20 points in his debut on Friday against the Indiana Pacers, 30 points1 on Sunday against the Detroit Pistons and then an eye-popping 35 points against the Miami Heat on Monday night. And he’s done it all while playing the right style of basketball. Thomas’ scoring hasn’t been the result of gunning for shots or hijacking the offense while running the show as the point guard. He’s consistently made the right plays with the basketball in his hands. When that situation has called for him to attack, he’s done so efficiently, when it’s called for him to find a teammate, he’s done a great job of that too.

“His approach with the game, he’s already like a pro. His maturity that he has as a human but also as a basketball player, it’s all there,” Cavs Summer League head coach Andrew Olson said.

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Nine hours later, all that was left was for Mitchell to put pen to paper. He and the Cavaliers had agreed to a four-year contract extension worth $273 million. Mitchell is tied to the Cavs through at least the 2029-2030 season, with a player option worth $75.5M for the 2030-31 season.

When Mitchell arrived in Cleveland, he was immediately asked about his desire to be elsewhere. During the summer of 2022 rumors frequently connected him to the New York Knicks. When the Knicks failed to meet the asking price of the Utah Jazz, the Cavaliers made the deal for Mitchell, sending Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, Ochai Agbaji and a slew of draft picks to Salt Lake City.

Cleveland, at the time, was thought of as a pitstop for Mitchell on the way to a bigger, better1 market where his stardom could shine brightest. At his introductory press conference inside then-Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Mitchell was asked about having his eyes on New York instead.

“I thought it was New York, I’m not gonna lie to y’all, and obviously who doesn’t want to be home next to their mom,” Mitchell said. “For me, once I found out I got traded and what we’re going into, that trumped everything for me. I’m truly excited to be here, to be part of this group, to be part of this city.”

There have been questions that have popped up about Mitchell’s desire to be in Cleveland in the months and years since that initial answer was given. Each time, Mitchell has talked about his love for the city and his desire to win. He’s always said the right things publicly and expressed a desire to win in Cleveland privately.

Mitchell, to the surprise of some nationally, signed a three-year contract extension after his second season with the Cavaliers. Mitchell signed that deal at a pressure point in his previous deal — with one year left before free agency — despite the Cavs having a rather tumultuous season leading into it.

That was Mitchell’s actions backing up the way that he had talked about his situation in Cleveland, even if it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows.

This season the Cavs again had a year filled with adversity. They were barely above the .500 mark when a fourth quarter collapse inside Madison Square Garden on Christmas Day showed a sign of what was to come. They were run out of the building two nights later in Houston, too. Things easily could’ve gone sideways and they didn’t, in large part because of Mitchell.

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Cleveland’s selection of Thomas comes after the team opted to trade away the No. 29 overall selection in the first round of the draft to Sacramento for a package that included the No. 34 overall pick.

Thomas comes to Cleveland after spending one year at Arkansas under the guidance of legendary college coach John Callapari. One of Thomas’ teammates, Darius Acuff Jr., was selected with the No. 7 overall pick by the Kings on Tuesday night. Another of Thomas’ teammates, Trevon Brazile, was selected by the Denver Nuggets one pick after the Cavs pick.

Thomas is listed at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds and averaged 15.6 points per game as a freshman while shooting 43.5 percent from the floor but 41.6 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. He was the No. 29 overall player on ESPN’s big board entering the draft and was projected by multiple outlets before the draft to be a first round selection.

“We were like excited that he was available in the second round. Usually a guy of that caliber scorer, that level of shot maker, his profile, you get a lot earlier,” Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman told the media on Wednesday evening. “So the fact that we were able to move back and, and still select a player of his caliber and his shot making, one of the best shot makers in all college basketball. Pretty excited about that.”

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When the Cavaliers were on the clock with the No. 29 overall selection, they agreed to a trade with the Sacramento Kings, sending the draft rights of UCONN’s Alex Karaban to Sacramento in exchange for the No. 34 overall selection in this year’s draft and a 2032 second-round selection.

There was a feeling from multiple teams entering the draft that the Cavs could look to move their sole pick in exchange for future draft compensation rather than select a player at No. 29, and that came to be true. The Cavs entered Tuesday night with only one future second-round pick — all the way out in 2033 — that the team has the ability to trade. By moving back five spots in this draft, the Cavs are able to add another pick to a rather barren chest of draft capital.

By passing on the pick, the Cavs passed on the opportunity — for now — to select players such as North Carolina’s Henri Veesaar, Arkansas’ Trevon Brazile and Meleek Thomas or Duke’s Isaiah Evans in the first round. The player selected with the No. 30 overall pick, Koa Peat, was also thought of as a potential option for the Cavaliers.

Multiple players that experts had mocked to the Cavaliers — such as Kentucky’s Jayden Quaintance, St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor, UCONN’s Tarris Reed Jr. and international stars Karim Lopez and Sergio De Larrea — were already off the board by the time it was Cleveland’s turn to select.

The other side of this move for the Cavs is the financial component. Karaban is slated to sign a guaranteed contract with the Sacramento Kings — all first round picks feature guaranteed contracts — that will be worth approximately $3.04MM during his rookie season. If the Cavs do make a selection at No. 34 overall, there isn’t a guaranteed salary slot that is associated with second-round picks. The team could pay a player as little as $1.3MM as a rookie, for a savings of $1.7MM.

While trying to navigate today’s apron system in the NBA, every dollar counts. Saving a couple million could be very important to the financial flexibility that the Cavs could aspire to have this summer.

There is no guarantee that the Cavs will make the selection at No. 34 overall. The team could opt to trade that pick to another team for additional future draft capital. If there is a team offering multiple picks to move up in this draft, the Cavs could explore that route.

Falling back further in the draft could give the Cavs additional options, too. If a player is selected at No. 34, they’re likely to expect to be on a standard NBA contract. If the Cavs select a player in the back half of the second round, it would be possible for the team to agree to a two-way contract with the selection. Two-way contracts do not count against the salary cap for NBA teams. That could mean that instead of paying a first-round pick $3.04MM, the Cavs end up exiting the draft with a developmental prospect and additional future draft capital.

In reality, this season for the Cleveland Cavaliers came to an end nearly one week earlier when the team fumbled away a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Or maybe it was when the Cavs didn’t show up for Game 6 at home against the Detroit Pistons in the second round. Or maybe it was when RJ Barrett’s miraculous shot found the bottom of the net after bouncing high off the heel of the rim to beat the Cavs in Game 6 in the first round. Or maybe it was when the Cavs couldn’t hang on to an 84-76 lead with 4:31 left in the fourth quarter against the Toronto Raptors in Game 4 of that series.

Maybe it was a combination of all of those things. No matter what, the Cavs have no one to blame but themselves for their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance since 2018 being a complete and utter disaster.

“The Toronto and the Detroit series. I mean y'all asked me a thousand times if we were tired, I can't tell you yes, but I mean we did this to ourselves, and that's not an excuse,” Donovan Mitchell said late on Monday night after Cleveland’s series was put to rest. “[The Knicks are] a hungry team. They beat us, swept us. So I don't want to diminish that, but we didn't give ourselves a chance because we didn't handle business.”

Cleveland overcame significant adversity during this postseason run. The Cavs do deserve some credit for bouncing back from three crushing losses in the first two rounds. Getting off the mat and advancing after those kind of games isn’t an easy thing to do. In the past the Cavs were unable to overcome adversity like they faced this postseason. Now, they needed to overcome too much adversity that it caught up with them.

That’s what makes judging this season complicated. On one hand, the Cavs were able to overcome multiple things that gave them serious issues in the past. On the other hand, the lack of killer instinct ultimately did them in. Solving one problem created a new one.

This season, as a whole, was far from sunshine and rainbows. At one point the Cavs were 17-16. After a blown 17-point lead on Christmas Day against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden and a mostly lifeless effort against the Houston Rockets two days later it was easy to see how the season could’ve gone from bad to worse. At that point in the season, making a deep postseason run felt like a pipe dream for a team that entered the season with Finals or bust expectations.

To Cleveland’s credit, the season was turned around. The Cavs finished the year 35-14 after their wretched start. That was good enough to climb up to the No. 4 seed despite the fact that the team used 41 different starting lineups1 over the course of the 82-game season.

It was a season that can be spun as both being successful while also not being good enough. The Cavs did get over the hump and reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in this era, but they still looked overmatched in that series and it would appear as if there’s a gap between them and the three teams still playing for the title.

And now, we’re off to an offseason that will rank as one of the more important ones in franchise history.

Donovan Mitchell’s Future

The Cavaliers remain committed to building a future with Mitchell. That’s been a constant message both publicly and privately from both sides of the equation.

When Mitchell was asked on Monday night about his future in Cleveland he spoke glowingly about the city and his time here.

“I love it here. I don't know how else to say it. I've said it before I signed the other extension. I love it here and I have no doubt this group can get there, but reports are going to be reports, people are going to be people, but I said the same thing. We have unfinished business,” Mitchell said. “The city deserves a ring and we just got to keep going.”

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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.

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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.

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After Saturday night’s 121-108 loss to the New York Knicks to put the Cavaliers behind three games to none in this best-of-seven series, Donovan Mitchell sat at the podium and expressed that sentiment.

“We did it to ourselves,” Mitchell said when asked how fatigue built up from needing seven games to dispatch the Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons in the first two rounds of the playoffs. “We did it to ourselves. So we can't be mad now.”

He’s exactly right.

The Knicks have been the better team in this series. They’ve thoroughly outplayed the Cavs in seven of the last nine quarters — plus an overtime period — that these teams have played. New York has done nearly everything better than Cleveland. The Knicks are a great team with a legitimate chance to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy next month. They deserve all the credit for handling the Cavaliers in the fashion that they have.

But the Cavs have made it easy for them, too.

After leading Game 1 by 22 points in the fourth quarter, the Cavs collapsed. By the time overtime arrived, Cleveland never recovered and still hasn’t. They physically have run out of gas, and may have mentally, too. That didn’t happen in this series.

That happened when the Cavs led the Toronto Raptors by eight points with 4:31 seconds left in regulation of Game 4 of that first round series. That eight points may as well have been 20 given the offensive atrocity that game was. The Cavs couldn’t close the game out, losing by four points in regulation. That loss extended that series to at least six games.

When Game 6 arrived, the Cavs used a furious comeback to force overtime. Evan Mobley tied the game with less than 15 seconds remaining on a basket through the chest of Toronto’s Collin Murray-Boyles. It was a big time moment for Mobley, who has been relatively good all postseason. Moments later Dennis Schroder would throw a grenade of a pass to Mobley while trying to dribble out the clock with a lead in overtime, only for Murray-Boyles to knock the ball out of bounds — off of Mobley — and give the Raptors possession. Toronto’s RJ Barrett hit a game-winning shot that bounced off the heel of the rim all the way above the shot clock before gently falling through the cylinder.

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Below is a running journal from Game 3 in Cleveland.

1. As expected, neither team opted to change its starting lineup entering Game 3. The Knicks trot out Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns. The Cavs start with Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Dean Wade, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Cleveland’s starting lineup has had one bad shift together — the third quarter of Game 2 — but otherwise has played relatively well in this series.

2. The game begins with Evan Mobley missing what will surely be classified as a wide open 3-pointer. The Cavs came into this game just 15-of-43 on wide open 3s in the first two games of this series. That will make it 15-of-44.

3. Things go even worse on the other end of the floor for Cleveland, seeing the Knicks score on each of their first four possessions to take a 9-1 lead and prompt a timeout from Kenny Atkinson. Far from an ideal start.

4. After the timeout the Cavs go on a bit of a run to cut New York’s lead to just one before New York started to fight back. The Cavs have missed each of their first four 3-pointers, three of which have been wide open. Sam Merrill checks in and promptly misses a wide open 3-pointer from the right corner. He missed six wide open 3s in Game 2.

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5. The Knicks burn a challenge on a goal tending violation with 4:51 left in the first quarter. I’m not a coach, but unless that call is clear as day wrong, there’s not a ton of value in challenging there. Two points are two points, and they all count the same at the end of the day, but there was way more to risk than to gain by calling a challenge in that spot. We’ll see how much not having a challenge matters the rest of the way for New York.

6. After the lost challenge the Knicks rip off a 7-0 run to take a 10-point lead at 29-19. That included a layup for Towns in which it looked like he picked up four yards on a clear traveling violation that went uncalled. Max Strus was incensed afterwards. It’s worth noting that Tyler Ford — who was labeled a Tier 3 official unfit to call playoff games by the NBPA — is officiating this game.

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They loved the process that got them there, though.

“I thought our process was right. Took care of the ball, offensive rebounded. I think wasn’t a great shooting night. At the end of the day, you got to put the ball in the hole,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Tonight we didn’t.”

The messaging about the team’s process was consistent from everyone that spoke postgame. Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen all had similar things to say.

“I think the biggest thing is just like our process is right. We move with the right intention, make the right play and sometimes the ball doesn't bounce away and then they make shots too,” Mitchell said. “So, that's what happened.”

There is something to be said for the Cavaliers having the right process, even in a loss in which the team never closed the deficit closer than seven points in the final quarter of the game and allowed the Knicks to blow the game open on an 18-0 run in the third quarter. Cleveland’s issue wasn’t finding good looks offensively. The issue was making them.

The Cavs shot just 6-of-19 on wide open 3-pointers in Game 2 and 2-of-12 on 3s that were merely classified as open ones, according to the NBA’s tracking data. That means that 38.8 percent of their field goal attempts were high-quality shots from beyond the arc and they couldn’t cash in.

Sam Merrill, who is the best 3-point shooter on the team, had a miserable night, going 0-of-7. Six of those misses came on wide open attempts. Jaylon Tyson, who was back in the rotation after not playing real minutes in Game 1 of this series or the final two games of the last series against the Detroit Pistons, missed both wide open looks that he took. Mitchell was just 1-of-3 in these opportunities, too. Three players that the Cavs should desperately want taking these shots picked a bad night to have a bad night.

Merrill getting this type of look is something Cleveland should strive for offensively. Those shots not falling were a big part of the story on Tuesday night for the Cavs.

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Below is a running journal from Thursday’s Game 2.

1. Both teams opt to keep their same starting five in this game as they did in Game 1. The Cleveland Cavaliers start with Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Dean Wade, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. The New York Knicks start with Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns.

2. Game 2 couldn’t have gotten off to much worse of a start for the Cavs. On the very first possession the Knicks are able to get Brunson matched up with Harden coming around a screen for an easy basket. Wade inbounds the basketball and it’s stolen by New York’s Bridges, leading to an open 3-pointer from Towns. All this before Cleveland even has the basketball.

3. After the disastrous start for the Cavs, they rip off a 13-2 run. Mobley hits a couple of 3-pointers, Harden knocks down one as well and Allen has a couple of baskets. The Cavs generated a lot of really good looks in the first three quarters against New York on Tuesday night, and that’s carried over to the opening quarter of Game 2.

4. First timeout of the game sees the Cavs ahead 17-11. They’ve generated a lot of high quality looks. Part of New York’s defensive strategy with the starters on the floor is to let Mobley shoot 3-pointers. Part of Cleveland’s defensive strategy is to let Hart shoot. Mobley has made two 3s and Hart has missed all three that he’s taken.

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5. The first subs in for Cleveland are Sam Merrill and Max Strus. Merrill misses a couple of really good looks in the first couple of possessions. Cleveland is 4-of-7 after Wade knocks in one from the corner, and Merrill’s misses might be the best looks that they’ve gotten.

6. Mitchell Robinson checks in for the Knicks. The offensive rebounding machine couldn’t be effective in Game 1 because the Cavs intentionally fouled him to force him to shoot free throws. On the second offensive trip down the floor for the Knicks that he’s in the game for, he’s fouled by Merrill and misses a pair of free throws. Later he drew a foul while fighting for a rebound and missed two more free throws.

7. Cavs lead the Knicks 27-24 after the first quarter. Starting lineup for the Cavs had some really strong minutes on both ends of the floor. Thought Cleveland did a very good job of generating great looks from 3-point range, too.

8. Mobley leads all scorers with 10 points after the first quarter. In addition to the two 3-pointers he made, he had a very nice drive along the baseline for a reverse dunk over Robinson. Mitchell only had three points in the opening quarter — which came on a 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds remaining. A lead despite limited output from him is a good sign for Cleveland.

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For the majority of the first 40 minutes of the game, the Cavaliers were excellent. After a slow start in the first quarter they fought back in the second quarter to take a lead going into halftime and then took command of the game in the third quarter.

They even opened up the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 93-71 lead over the Knicks with 7:52 left in regulation. It looked as if the Cavs were going to cruise to a stunning series-opening victory against the favored Knicks.

Then, everything that could go wrong, did.

The Knicks closed regulation on a 30-8 run. New York made 12 of its final 14 shots, including five 3-pointers, while the Cavs played some version of prevent offense that featured very little ball movement and even worse shot-making. The Cavs made just three of their last 11 shots in regulation and missed three of the four free throws that they took, too.

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Below is a running journal from Game 1.

1. The Cavaliers opt to go back to the starting lineup that they’ve used for most of the postseason, putting Dean Wade back in the first group at the starting small forward spot after replacing him with Max Strus in Game 7 against Detroit on Sunday. The other four starters — Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen — remain the same. The Knicks are one of the four teams that this lineup started against during the regular season in Cleveland’s win on Feb. 24. In that game the starting five outscored the Knicks XX. New York starts Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns. That lineup has logged approximately one million minutes together in the last two seasons.

2. The Cavs are using Wade on Brunson to begin the game. Brunson struggled mightily this year when defended by Wade, shooting 1-of-15 from the floor across the three games that these two teams played. Additionally, Mobley is defending Towns, who has been somewhat of a point-center for New York in the playoffs. Those are easily the two most important matchups on the floor.

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3. Mitchell looks pretty comfortable in his first shift against New York’s defense. The Knicks are a good defensive team, but they don’t have a star defender quite like Toronto did in Scottie Barnes or Detroit did in Ausar Thompson. He scored seven of Cleveland’s first 10 points before checking out.

4. After Mitchell checks out the Knicks rip off a 16-3 run that’s partially fueled by Cleveland missing good looks and turning the basketball over. Brunson also gets going as soon as Wade checks out of the game. The Knicks ultimately take a 20-13 lead before Sam Merrill snaps Cleveland’s scoring drought with an and-one against Josh Hart.

5. Cavs trail the Knicks 23-16 after the first quarter. The Cavs got off to an excellent start but their offense really sputtered with some bad turnovers and missed shots once Donovan Mitchell went to the bench. Very curious how much they have left in the tank after Sunday. Brunson had 10 points in the first quarter for New York, and six of those points came when Wade was off the floor.

6. Neither of these teams have shot the ball well early in this one. The Knicks have made just 1-of-13 from 3-point range and the Cavs are 3-of-15 from deep. This was thought to be a battle of rest versus rust, and it appears both rest and rust are harmful at the moment in that category.

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The Cavs have a top level they can reach that makes them good enough to beat anyone on any given night. They also have the bad habit of not bringing the requisite level of intensity, focus or force to the floor on any given night. The Cavaliers team that showed up on Sunday night is capable of winning any game. The Cavaliers team that showed up on Friday night in Game 6 is capable of being swept by any of the three other teams remaining.

Can that team show up consistently? Was that a fluke? We don’t know yet.

How They Got Here

The Cavaliers have needed to win a Game 7 in each of the first two rounds of the postseason. They took down the No. 5 seed Toronto Raptors in the first round with that Game 7 taking place at home. In that series the home team won all seven games, with the Cavs being blown out once in Toronto and losing a pair of close games while decidedly winning the home games. The second round series win against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons looked different, with the home team winning the first four games of the series before the road team won the final three games.

The New York Knicks played the No. 6 seed Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the playoffs. The Hawks won two of the first three games of that series, with both wins coming by one point. After trailing the series, the Knicks won the final three games in decisive fashion, including a 51-point win in Game 6 that wasn’t even that close. In the second round, New York swept away the No. 7 seed Philadelphia 76ers. Three of the four wins for New York came by double digits, with Game 2 being the outlier, a 108-102 Knicks win.

The Matchup

Cleveland and New York met three times during the regular season. The Knicks defeated the Cavaliers on Opening Night and Christmas Day, with both games taking place at Madison Square Garden. The Cavaliers won the only game the two teams played in Cleveland, a 109-94 win at Rocket Arena on Feb. 24. The first two match ups featured a drastically different version of the Cavaliers than the team that will take the floor on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks finished the regular season with a 53-29 record, which was the third-best in the Eastern Conference and one game1 better than Cleveland’s 52-30 mark.

Where the Cavs Have an Edge

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Sunday night’s 125-94 domination of the Detroit Pistons sends the Cavs to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2018. This win gets the Cavs through the wall that they’ve been running into in recent seasons.

And they got over that hump because of the guy who had spent his entire career trying to reach this stage in the playoffs.

This is Donovan Mitchell’s ninth season in the NBA and it’s also his ninth trip to the playoffs. He reached the postseason in each of his five seasons with the Utah Jazz and all four seasons that he’s been on the Cavaliers. Each of those first eight trips to the playoffs ended with a loss in the first or second round. Some years that’s been more disappointing than others. Last year’s 64-win Cavs team and the 2020-21 Jazz team that finished a COVID-shortened season with the NBA’s best record come to mind as the biggest disappointments.

This year has been different. The team came into the season with expectations that were through the roof and things didn’t go according to plan. The Cavaliers were struggling early. They dealt with injuries and struggled to ever put it all together. At one point, the team was 17-16 on the season. A team with championship expectations being around the .500 mark halfway through the season wasn’t acceptable, even in a year where the judgement was going to come in the postseason.

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Below is a running journal from Game 7 in Detroit.

1. The Cleveland Cavaliers made a change to their starting lineup for the first time in the series, moving Max Strus into the starting small forward spot for Dean Wade. Cleveland’s starting lineup had been struggling offensively in this series and Strus should theoretically open things up. Strus is joined by Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. The Pistons have Daniss Jenkins in their starting group for the third consecutive game. He’s joined by Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris and Jalen Duren.

2. One of the issues for Cleveland in this series has been the playmaking from Mitchell. This postseason his assist numbers have cratered. The first three baskets by the Cavs were all assisted by Mitchell, one of them to Mobley on the first possession of the game and then two more to Allen.

3. Both teams are predictably cold to begin this game. The Pistons made just two of their first nine shots from the floor — both of them 3-pointers from Jenkins. The Cavs started off the game 4-of-12 from the floor, missing all six 3s they attempted in that span.

4. Dean Wade and Sam Merrill are the first two members of the Cavs to check in off the bench. Wade is the first one to make a 3-pointer for Cleveland — a wide open shot from the left wing. Just like everyone imagined. Wade would score on the next possession down the floor on a nice pass from Strus on a cut to the basket. Wade with five of Cleveland’s first 13 points! Didn’t see that coming!

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5. After Allen had the ball stolen by Detroit’s Caris LeVert and the Pistons score two points off of it, Kenny Atkinson calls for a timeout and is incensed with official Ben Taylor. Not exactly sure what Atkinson was mad about, but he was as angry as he’s been at anything throughout his tenure as Cavs head coach. If there was another time he was this animated, I’m not sure of it.

6. Merrill knocks down a 3-pointer on one end after a nice pump fake and escape dribble to shake free from LeVert. On the other end of the floor he takes a vicious hit from Thompson in transition and earns the charge call. That was one of the harder collisions I’ve seen on a basketball court. Thompson was absolutely flying down the court when he crushed Merrill. Tell you what, Thompson would be an outstanding football player if he wanted to.

7. Cavs lead the Pistons 31-22 after Donovan Mitchell banks in a 40-footer. He's got six points and three assists so far. Cavs have made six 3s in the first quarter -- after missing their first six to start the game. Merrill and Allen also have six, Wade and Mobley have five.

8. That’s about as good of an opening quarter as the Cavs could have asked for. The key to it — aside from the shooting from beyond the arc — is that they only turned the basketball over twice in the first 12 minutes. They’ve also assisted on 10 of their first 12 makes.

9. The Cavs have committed a few silly fouls to open up the second quarter and have put the Pistons in the bonus with 9:30 left in the second quarter. Detroit isn’t having a great shooting game thus far and that’s something that could get the Pistons going if they continue to draw fouls.

10. Sam Merrill is having himself an evening. That's his third made 3-pointer of the first half and it puts the Cavs up 41-26 with 7:30 left in the second quarter. Let's Go Cavs chants ring throughout the arena during the break. Game 7s often require a role player or two to step up in a big way. Merrill did it against Toronto and has been excellent so far tonight.

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On Friday night, the Cavs had an opportunity to confirm their biggest win as a group — the overtime victory in Game 5 in Detroit on Wednesday night — and put forth their worst postseason performance to date. With an opportunity to clinch a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2018, the Cavs were throughly outclassed by the Pistons 115-94.

From the beginning of the game the Pistons played like their season was on the line, because it was. The Cavaliers didn’t match their level of intensity, want to, or attention to detail for most of the night. The Pistons won the force battle by a landslide. Detroit was the aggressor in Game 6 with its back against the wall.

Cleveland looked, at times, like it was playing the Pistons on a Tuesday night in February. The grit, resiliency, force and all of the other buzz words that the Cavs needed to win Game 5 on Wednesday night went missing.

“They won the force battle tonight,” Atkinson said. “That’s how this goes. They’re more forceful, more forceful in their drives, rebounds. You know, they just had the advantage and being a more aggressive team.”

The Pistons playing with requisite force on Friday night was a very predictable thing. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that the Cavs didn’t seem prepared to match it. Their level of force wasn’t high enough for a playoff game, whether it was Game 6 with a chance to clinch a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals or Game 1 of the first round. It wasn’t at a playoff level, let alone a championship level.

“They were hungry from the jump. At the end of the day, we didn't match it,” Donovan Mitchell said. “We got an opportunity. We didn't do it.”

The opportunity that the Cavs had was to confirm their signature win. To punch their ticket to New York for the Eastern Conference Finals. To potentially mark this season as a successful one.

Instead, the Cavs failed to handle success once again.

Donovan Mitchell’s Bad Night

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