The Knicks versus the Cavaliers was the lone NBA first-round playoff series featuring a top-five defense (Cavaliers) against a top-five offense (Knicks).
So far, defense has gone a long way toward determining the leader after three games. But the focus, in hindsight, was on the wrong team’s defense. The Knicks’ ability to shut down the Cavaliers has given them a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series heading into Game 4 on Sunday at the Garden.
“Their defense is definitely very good, but so is ours,” RJ Barrett said.
Nobody would argue with that now.
The Knicks have held Cleveland under 100 points twice. They limited them to 79 points Friday night in a Game 3 rout — the first time this entire season a team has failed to score at least 80 points.
In fact, the Cavaliers’ two lowest scoring outputs this year have come against the Knicks; they were held to 81 points at the Garden on Dec. 4.
“It was nasty, like a lot of games have been with them this season,” Cavaliers guard Caris LeVert, a former Net, said.
In the Game 3 blowout, the Cavaliers struggled in the paint and shot just 58.5 percent. Knicks defensive anchor Mitchell Robinson, in his first postseason action, was a major part of that.
He blocked two shots, added two steals and deterred Cleveland on several occasions.
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Asked afterward if the Cavaliers appeared rattled, Robinson said “probably” and made a shivering gesture.
For so much of this surprising season, the Knicks were defined by their offense, shattering the narrative that Tom Thibodeau was strictly a defensive coach.
Led by the high-scoring duo of Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle, they were tied for third in the league in offensive rating at 117.0.
Their defensive rating was 19th at 114.2, compared to Cleveland’s league-leading 109.9 figure.
The Cavaliers allowed an NBA-low 106.9 points per game, nearly three points better than the second-ranked Heat.
The Knicks have struggled against that defense, averaging 96.7 points and shooting just 42 percent from the field.
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But they have a 2-1 series lead because of how they have performed on defense, resembling how a Thibodeau-coached team is supposed to look this time of year.
“Two out of the three games we went out there and just played hard,” Barrett said. “I think the harder-playing team is the one that’s going to win. … So we’ve got to be able to bring that fight.”
Donovan Mitchell scored 38 points in Game 1, but was held to 39 combined points in the next two contests, with eight turnovers.
Fellow All-Star guard Darius Garland exploded for 32 points in Game 2, but had just 27 combined points on 11-for-34 shooting in the other two games.
Emerging young forward Evan Mobley has mostly been a non-factor on the offensive end, averaging 10.3 points.
The Cavaliers have committed 17.7 turnovers per game, the most of any team in the playoffs, and the Knicks have scored a whopping 28.6 points off those turnovers.
Friday night, Cleveland turned the ball over 21 times — a combined nine by the star-studded backcourt duo of Mitchell and Garland — leading to 28 Knicks points.
The two teams have now played seven times this year, and the Knicks have won five times.
The games at the Garden have gone decidedly in favor of the orange and blue.
They’ve won all three meetings there against the Cavaliers, and have held Cleveland to an average of 87.6 points in those victories.
It has been the driving force in their current position of being in command of the series — that and the force they have played with in two of the three games.
“Just from what I’ve seen in this series, [the key is to have] a lot of heart,” Barrett said. “Go out there and lay it on the line.”
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