CLEVELAND — Buckle up. The Cavaliers are on the NBA playoffs roller rollercoaster.
Highs and lows are in the anticipated, however Cleveland’s initially postseason look consideringthat 2018 and its veryfirst without LeBron James giventhat 1998 started with frustration.
The Cavs fell 101-97 to the New York Knicks on Saturday night in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first-round Eastern Conference playoff series at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell led the Cavs with a game-high 38 points. Point guard Darius Garland included 17 points for Cleveland.
It wasn’t sufficient, specifically with Knicks bench gamers outscoring their Cavs equivalents 37-14.
“First off, this isn’t the end of the world. We got to go get one right back,” Mitchell stated. “There’s no space to sit here and feel sorry or feel upset and get down. It’s one videogame. We will react.”
Tipoff for Game 2 is arranged for 7: 30 p.m. ET Tuesday in Cleveland, and the Cavs will appearance to bounce back in a rush.
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“[My teammates who have experienced the playoffs before] stated when you get the veryfirst win or you get a win, it feels like the finest thing ever. Then when you lose, it’s like the worst thing ever. So, I indicate, it’s going to be a roller rollercoaster, however you simply have to keep your [focus],” Garland stated justrecently.
After going 51-31 in the routine season, the Cavs gotin the playoffs with the Eastern Conference’s 4th seed and home-court benefit versus the fifth-seeded Knicks. However, New York’s record of 47-35 in the routine season consistedof a 3-1 benefit in its videogames versus Cleveland.
The Knicks kept control Saturday.
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Julius Randle didn’t play when the checkingout Knicks beat the Cavs 130-116 on March31 Randle returned to action, though, after sitting out the last 5 videogames of the routine season with a sprained left ankle. The All-Star power forward had 19 points and a essential offending rebound with 6 seconds left to play. Guard Quentin Grimes then made 2 totallyfree tosses with 4.3 seconds left to practically seal the Knicks’ win.
“You can’t state enough about the beast rebound Julius made at the end,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau stated. “That rebound was big. Huge.”
Randle hadn’t played consideringthat March 29 duetothefactthat of a sprained left ankle, and stated he was appreciative he had enough energy for one last dive.
“You see me breathing out there today?” stated Randle, who played 34 minutes. “I was tired as hell. But it was simply about winning at that point.”
“Seeing No. 30 out there was simply a terrific sight,” Obi Toppin stated.
Guard Jalen Brunson led New York with 27 points inspiteof early nasty difficulty.
Cavs beginning little forward Isaac Okoro played after missingouton the last 6 videogames of the routine season with a aching left knee. One of the group’s muchbetter protectors, Okoro endedup with 6 points.
Like the rest of the Cavs, Okoro hadahardtime early with his long-range shooting. In the veryfirst half, Cleveland shot 4 of 18 on 3-tips (22.2%), with Okoro going 0 for 4