Knicks fall to Cavaliers but lock up No. 3 seed
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson dribbles the ball up court against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Friday, April 11, 2025. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
No, there was no celebrating this one.
The Knicks backed into third place in the Eastern Conference on Friday night, locking up a first-round matchup with the Detroit Pistons sometime in the fourth quarter of their ugly 108-102 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Knicks (50-31) clinched third place when the Orlando Magic beat an Indiana Pacers team that was playing without five starters. At about the same time, Milwaukee defeated Detroit, locking the Pistons into sixth place.
The Knicks will open the playoffs against the Pistons at Madison Square Garden next Saturday or Sunday.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau clearly was upset with the way his team had blown a 23-point second-quarter lead.
“We got to be honest with ourselves, look at what we did wrong,” Thibodeau said. “We got to get it fixed. And we got to get it fixed fast.”
The Knicks went 0-10 against elite teams, going 0-4 against Cleveland, 0-4 against Boston and 0-2 against Oklahoma City. Speaking of Boston, the Knicks are lined up to meet the Celtics in the second round, provided they can get past a pesky Pistons team.
The Pistons were 3-1 against the Knicks this season, including a victory over the Knicks in Detroit on Thursday.
First, the Knicks will conclude the season with Sunday’s game against the lottery-bound Nets. On so many levels, this game should be meaningless, but the Knicks are hoping to use the game and the week afterward to work out some of their problems.
“We have to go into this next game with the right mentality and right mindset and have a short-term memory,” said Jalen Brunson, who led the Knicks with 27 points. “We can’t let things like this linger on. It’s important to have short-term memory right now and continue to look forward. I know it’s tough . . . It’s literally what we have to do right now in order for us to do better.”
There was some thought that the Knicks would go the same route as the Pacers against the Cavaliers and not use their starters. Instead, Thibodeau played four of his five starters Friday, resting only Karl-Anthony Towns to give his knees a break in the second game of a back-to-back.
Cleveland, which has been in first place in the Eastern Conference all season, rested Donovan Mitchell, De’Andre Hunter and Ty Jerome.
Darius Garland led the Cavaliers with 13 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter.
The Knicks took a 48-25 lead with 8:50 left in the second quarter and were shooting 11-for-15 from three-point range less than two minutes later before finishing 5-for-26.
It was the third straight loss for the Knicks and quite a contrast with last season, when they ended the season with five straight wins.
There seemed to be a general sense of shock in the locker room as they tried to figure out why they have been struggling at the worst possible time.
“We’re not playing close to our best basketball this week,” said Josh Hart, who scored only eight points and was a minus-16. “We’ll look at situations and how to get us into our best basketball offensively and defensively and figure that out. So we’ll play, what, Saturday, Sunday, and figure that out. We’ve gotta go out there and end the season right in Brooklyn and prepare mentally and physically.”
Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson believes the failure of the Knicks to beat an elite team in the regular season doesn’t bleed into the playoffs, that a good team can overcome that.
“To me, I wouldn’t make it a thing. You know once the playoffs start, all this means nothing,” Atkinson said. “Clean slate. Playoffs start. All bets are off. We’ve kind of struggled with some elite teams. I don’t kind of buy into that.
“The Knicks are an experienced team, well-coached, talented as heck. I wouldn’t look too much into that. From a coach’s standpoint, I know Thibs is over there saying, ‘Don’t worry about [the record]. Let’s get ready for the first round.
’ ”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
