Getty Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks passes between Evan Mobley #4 and Cedi Osman #16 of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The New York Knicks won Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers despite a bad shooting night from three of their main cogs — Julius Randle (7 of 20), RJ Barrett (2 of 12) and Immanuel Quickley (0 of 5).
Former Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart delivered big baskets down the stretch to lift the Knicks to a gritty 101-97 win in the series opener on Saturday.
According to former NBA Coach of the Year Avery Johnson, that’s bad news for the Cavaliers.
“This doesn’t look good even though it’s early for Cleveland because the Knicks, I believe, still have another level to go to, and I’m not sure how Cleveland is going to counter this Knicks’ offense, and they have no answer for Jalen Brunson,” Johnson told CBS Sports HQ’s Hakem Dermish.
Johnson is best or worst remembered by Knicks fans for his pivotal role in vanquishing their team during the San Antonio Spurs 1999 NBA title run. He hit the championship-clinching shot in Game 5 on a jumper with 47 seconds remaining. As the NBA Coach of the Year in 2006, Johnson led the Dallas Mavericks to their first-ever NBA Finals that season. But they lost to the Miami Heat in six games after going up 2-0.
If the Knicks’ offense kicks into another gear as Johnson believes it could, the Knicks have a chance to go up to a commanding 2-0 series lead heading home.
“The best thing for the Knicks now is they can go in Game 2 and play free,” Johnson added. “Now they got an [great] opportunity here to go up potentially 2-0 in this series. All of the pressure is going to be on the Cleveland Cavaliers, and we’ll see what adjustment coach J.B. Bickerstaff makes. I’m hoping that he tweaks his starting lineup because I don’t think Isaac Okoro in the starting lineup is going to be beneficial in the long term for the Cleveland Cavaliers.”
Okoro, who played his first game since March 23 due to a sore knee, went 1 for 6 from the field as the Knicks dared him to shoot all game long.
Okoro was inserted in the starting lineup as Brunson’s designated stopper. Brunson, who scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half, went 3 of 7 against Okoro, according to NBA.com’s matchup tracker.
“That was hard to be out two weeks then come back in a playoff game at this level of intensity for your first time,” Bickerstaff said during his postgame interview. “But I thought Isaac was solid defensively. He made it difficult for whoever he was matched
up with, and he provided what we needed [from] him.”
Potential Cleveland Adjustment
In the same interview with CBS Sports HQ, Johnson said he would like to see Bickerstaff replace Okoro with Cedi Osman in the starting lineup.
“I want him to spread the floor,” Johnson said about Bickerstaff’s potential starting lineup change to counter the Knicks’ defense in Game 2.
Bickerstaff had high praise for Osman, who came off the bench to hit 2 of 3 from deep. Osman finished the game with nine points on 3 of 4 shooting and two assists while defending Brunson during his 18-minute stint on the floor.
“I thought Cedi did a good job of just pestering [Brunson],” Bickerstaff said. “There was nothing easy, though he disrupted his rhythm a little bit by just jabbing at him and showing him different looks. So again, I thought Cedi did a great job on both ends of the floor for us tonight.”
Brunson was only 3-for-8 from the floor when Osman was defending him, according to NBA.com’s matchup tracker.
Jalen Brunson’s Big Second Half
After picking up three quick fouls, Brunson was limited to only six points in nine minutes in the first half. New York coach Tom Thibodeau pulled him out with still 9:12 remaining in the second quarter after his third foul and did not return until the second half.
“[I] Just focused on cheering on my teammates and focused on the positive,” Brunson told reporters about his mindset when he was on the bench. “There’s no time to dwell on that. So I just tried to keep everything positive. And I knew my time would eventually come around, but it’s all about just having the right mindset, staying positive.”
His time eventually came in the second half as he scored 21 of his 27 points. He had 12 in the third quarter when the Knicks took control of the game. He added nine in the fourth quarter, with his last two field goals coming inside the final 75 seconds that extinguished the Cavaliers’ fiery rally.