CLEVELAND – Jalen Brunson remained a handful for the Cavs, even with their perimeter stopper again within the lineup.
A story heading into Game 1 was the return of Isaac Okoro from damage would decelerate Brunson, who had dropped 48 factors towards the Cavs of their remaining regular-season matchup.
Except Okoro had such little success that coach JB Bickerstaff used reserve Cedi Osman to mark Brunson within the fourth quarter of New York’s 101-97 victory.
And Okoro, who gave up 12 factors to Brunson within the third quarter, was benched for all however 1 ½ minutes of that remaining interval. The 22-year-old then alluded to Brunson baiting fouls.
“He’s a quick guard. He tries to get you at different angles,” Okoro stated of Brunson. “Tries to draw cheap fouls. So when guarding him, you got to be mentally prepared for all that.”
Brunson’s effectiveness is in his craftiness. He’s bodily with a deceptively fast first step, utilizing consciousness of the defender’s place to get his most popular spot for a shot, foul or cross.
Add in troublesome shotmaking and Brunson has emerged as New York’s worthy counter to Donovan Mitchell’s starpower. The pair went head-to-head within the second half of Game 1 (Brunson had 21 factors after the break; Mitchell had 20), which ended with the Knicks snatching away dwelling courtroom benefit.
“You put the ball in his hands, there’s gonna be a lot of good that come out of it,” RJ Barrett stated.
Okoro, who took an elbow to the face from Randle within the third quarter, hadn’t performed since March 23 due to a sore knee.
“That’s hard. To be out and come back in the playoff game at this level of intensity for your first time,” stated Bickerstaff.
DEPTH WINS
There are a number of causes the Knicks closed higher than the Cavs in Game 1.
Here’s a giant one: They had more energizing legs.
As predicted, the Knicks acquired higher manufacturing from its bench in Sunday’s victory, outscoring Cleveland’s reserves, 37-14.
That discrepancy took under consideration a dud from Sixth Man of the Year candidate Immanuel Quickley, who appeared overwhelmed by the second whereas lacking all 5 of his shot makes an attempt and committing three turnovers.
But Josh Hart and Isaiah Hartenstein dominated their alternatives and allowed the Knicks’ top-3 gamers – Brunson, Randle and Barrett – to every log 33 minutes or much less. By comparability, Cleveland’s Big 3 of Mitchell, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen every performed 43 minutes.
Caris LeVert was notably damaging to the Cavs whereas capturing 1-for-7 off the bench.
“Obviously our bench has to give us a spark,” Bickerstaff stated. “We have to find a way to manufacture some buckets. How do we create for one another? And how does our bench support our starting cast? At some point in time, we got to find a way to put the ball in the basket. That unit kind of struggled there.”
Ironically, the Knicks preserved their depth by not buying and selling for Mitchell in the summertime. It could be fairly a twist if the bench is the rationale Mitchell is bounced from the playoffs.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com