Knicks, Cavs claim playing good ball their only motivation
Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell directs his teammates during the second half of an NBA game against the Nets at Barclays Center on Oct. 25. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
CLEVELAND — While the Cavaliers left the status of Donovan Mitchell shrouded in mystery nearly up to game time Tuesday, the Knicks never sounded as if they believed any of the mysterious status claims. To a man, they were approaching the game as if Mitchell would be on the floor and fighting to make a point.
Mitchell’s hopes of joining the Knicks last summer turned sour when the Cavaliers stepped in with a last-minute trade package. And as if scripted, he carried the Cavs to a fourth-seed finish in the East and a first-round playoff matchup with the Knicks last season. But the plot twist was that the Knicks bounced Cleveland in five games. So the expectation was that with a national television audience in place Tuesday night Mitchell wasn’t going to miss a chance to show the Knicks what they missed out on when they didn’t land him.
“Yeah we kind of expected that,” Quentin Grimes said of the Cavaliers added motivation. “If we would have lost, we would have had the same mentality, too. So we’ve got to come in, and we know we’ve got a little bit of a psychological advantage coming in. We beat them 4-1, so they’re going to come in and be on their A-Game, so we’ve got to make sure to bring ours as well.”
The Knicks have had their rivals through their history and the Cavs have not ranked high on that list. But now, that may have changed, from their shared history with Mitchell, the one-sided upset last season and even the addition by Cleveland of Max Strus, who helped eliminate the Knicks last season a round later while he was an unsung standout for the Miami Heat.
It takes something to grow that rivalry and a back-to-back, home-and-home set this early in the season provides a reminder for the Cavs of what went wrong last season.
“it’s very early in the season,” Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after Monday’s practice. “ Obviously you want to play well. You are human so you do have those emotions. For us it’s about preparing for the long haul and continuing to get better. I think that’s where our focus is right now.”
But those human emotions?
“I think it’s just the opportunities that we had that we didn’t take advantage of,” Bickerstaff said. “For the most part with the exception of Game 3 we had opportunities to win games and didn’t take advantage of those opportunities.
“Again, it’s the human nature. It’s the competitiveness of the NBA. The guys who make it here, you do not make it if you don’t have that competitive edge. So it’s going to be a little bit more on both teams' mind, that clash that we had in April. Just their human nature you expect them to perk up a little bit.”
While some of the Knicks admitted that they expected to get the best the Cavs had, there was some knowledge that this isn’t the true test and that may not come until the postseason. And Cleveland entered this game shorthanded, no matter what the status of Mitchell would be. Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, both starters and important pieces of the Cavs roster, were ruled out with injuries Tuesday.
But for the Knicks, the lesson that coach Tom Thibodeau was trying to impart was a simpler one. This game wasn’t about the Cavaliers.
“That has nothing to do with this year. Last year is last year,” Thibodeau said. “This year is this year. Just be ready to go.”
“Got to focus more about us and what we’ve got to do,” Julius Randle said. “Build to play the right type of basketball we want to play. Not really worried about that, no.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
