Eastern finals preview
NO. 3 NEW YORK KNICKS VS. NO. 4 CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
These two met to start the first League Pass night of the 2025-26 season, Oct. 22. Still a little time left to put together a reasonable Halloween costume. Maybe George Plimpton in 'Paper Lion' but then again you've never read that book, seen that movie.
Nine days before Halloween, though. Still time to read the book, see the movie.
The Cavs (Lonzo Ball) and Knicks (Tyler Kolek) were trying different things in October, Cleveland introduced Jaylon Tyson (starting!) to the world and fell behind early, down 65-50 at the half. Donovan Mitchell scored 21 in the third quarter, brought the Cavs all the way back, Knicks won it in the fourth behind OG Anunoby.
Met on Christmas, early game, ridiculous contest. Cavs developed major double-figure lead, Knicks closed it, Cavs rang another one up, Knicks closed it for the win. Lotta fun, Jalen Brunson battling Mitchell down the stretch, Kolek out there again, taunting Knick factions with a 16-point half. The Kolek Wars nearly split the union yet New York survived the winter intact.
Final meeting in Cleveland, random Tuesday in January. Neither team worked the night before, James Harden in the lineup, Cavs prevailed. Knicks missed 21-24 attempts in the third period, rotations strikingly similar to what we'll see this series save for fewer instances of Jordan Clarkson, a riotous faux pas since corrected by the Knick coaching staff.
Lots of regular season runs, lots of regular season fun, home team took all three.
Each of these teams were built with this expectation, fighting for a Finals berth, the Knicks for the first time since 1999, the Cavs in a LeBron-less Eastern finals for the first time since 1992.
NEW YORK KNICKS
C: Karl-Anthony Towns – five assists in three games against the Cavaliers in the regular season, can KAT top that by halftime in Game 1? Averaged 15 and 10 in the regular season against Cleveland, beset somewhat by fouls. Scored with greater ease against the Cavs in 2024-25 (when the Knicks lost all three games). Safe to say the Knicks are a different team, growing each day with a first-year coach, but Cleveland's been around, has sense memory in the lane to stick to.
F: OG Anunoby – half-court slasher is sometimes lost when these two teams get to running (2-9 and 3-7 from the field in two Cleveland contests, 9-17 in another). Can't help but wonder if OG's blend of sight and quickness might be what ends Cleveland's season. Anunoby knows how to pace himself in return from layoff, the slow burn could create a Finals appearance in Madison Square Garden for the first time this century.
Unless you're one of those "2000 wasn't the real millennium"-people, but does that make 1999 part of this century, or last century? Impossible to know. All I can relay is that the Knicks haven't made the Finals since my shorts had pockets on the sides and back but also the front.
