The Bounce: Making sense of that Knicks comeback against the Cavs

Atlantic76ersCelticsKnicksNetsRaptorsCentralBucksBullsCavaliersPacersPistonsSoutheastHawksHeatHornetsMagicWizardsSouthwestGrizzliesMavericksPelicansRocketsSpursNorthwestJazzNuggetsThunderTimberwolvesTrail BlazersPacificClippersKingsLakersSunsWarriorsScores & ScheduleStandingsThe Bounce NewsletterNBA DraftPodcastsFantasyNBA OddsNBA PicksWhat's Next For Lakers?Hollinger's Top ProspectsVecenie's Mock DraftNBA Playoffs Jalen Brunson and the Knicks made a wild comeback against the Cavaliers in Game 1. Brad Penner / Imagn Images Share articleThe Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. The conference finals need to slow down a bit. We’ve had two games so far and three overtime periods. We’ve had one of the best individual performances we’ve ever seen and one of the biggest choke jobs we’ve ever seen. It’s Wednesday. I’m not complaining, by the way. I’m just trying to stop my heart from jumping out of my chest. Knicks snatch Cavs’ souls with comeback I’ve been adamant that the New York Knicks are going to the NBA Finals and that nobody in the Eastern Conference can really hang with them. Granted, I’ve only been saying this for a couple of weeks. But once we saw how mediocre the Pistons looked in the first round and after the 76ers knocked off the Celtics with a 3-1 comeback, it felt like the Knicks were destined for a return to the finals. Especially with the way they played in their previous seven playoff games entering last night’s Game 1 of the East finals. Then the Cleveland Cavaliers came out and reignited the “rest versus rust” debate. The Knicks, who hadn’t played in nine days, looked rusty. They looked slow. They looked uninspired. They looked like they were just waiting for the Cavs, who’d won a Game 7 against the Pistons on Sunday, to fold. Except that Cleveland took a two-point lead into halftime at Madison Square Garden, and then proceeded to build upon it throughout the second half. All of a sudden, the Cavs were up by 22 points with 7:52 left in the fourth quarter. Maybe all that confidence in the Knicks and our doubts about the Cavs were unwarranted? Then, over the next 12 minutes and 52 seconds (including overtime), the Knicks outscored the Cavs 44-11. New York targeted James Harden seemingly every time down the floor, with Jalen Brunson going to work. Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson just … kind of … let it happen to his team. It was bizarre. Over that final 12:52 of game clock, including OT: Atkinson called one timeout during that final 7:52 of regulation. And, yes, he had timeouts available. The Knicks outscored the Cavs 14-3 in overtime, with OG Anunoby scoring nine of their points. Brunson finished with 38. When Atkinson was asked about whether he thought about benching Harden toward the end of Game 1, he said, “No. He’s been one of our best defenders in these playoffs. I trust him. Smart. Great hands. Didn’t think about that.” Brother, what? He was getting torched. He was getting cooked like a well-done steak. Knicks coach Mike Brown said after the game, “It was no secret we were attacking Harden.” Apparently, Atkinson thinks that’s a strategy that benefited the Cavs. He completely left his team to fend for itself. Per Keerthika Uthayakumar, this was just the fourth win in 751 playoff games when a team was down 20 points in the fourth quarter (since 1997). In regard to the “rust versus rest” debate, Lev Akabas crunched the numbers since 1984 (16-team format). Teams are now 34-9 in Game 1s when they have had five or more days of rest with home-court advantage and their opponent has had one day of rest. Those teams with rest won the series 39 of those 42 times. This might be the worst loss in Cavs history, Joe Vardon writes. What do the Cavaliers need in Game 2? They gave up 60 paint points, turned it over 21 times for 28 points and refused to remove a defensive liability as he was being targeted; plus, Harden only had 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting with six turnovers and three assists. Fix those, and you win. What can the Knicks improve upon? They were also sloppy with the ball (19 turnovers, with seven from Karl-Anthony Towns). But, really, they need to get out to a faster start. They didn’t have the energy or urgency until the fourth quarter. What’s a big stat from the game? According to Law Murray in our live blog last night: “This game has had both a 32-point turnaround in favor of the Cavaliers and then an even swifter 31-point turnaround in favor of the Knicks.” That’s a 63-point total turnaround in this game with the two massive swings. Playoff Panic Meter: 🚨🚨 for Cleveland. When is Game 2? Tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN 📈 Tiers for fears. Law Murray continues his excellent project on Player Tiers with Tier 3. Hello, Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and OG Anunoby.  ⛈️ Sacrifice is key. The Thunder have done a tremendous job getting young players on the same page. “We all want to win.” 🚘 Time to build? The Pistons are not content with their 60-win season. They will not rest on their laurels this summer.  🎣 Click bait? Something big happened in the sporting world. Ben Simmons became a champion.  🔊 “NBA Daily.” The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov joined the show from MSG to discuss the Knicks’ wild comeback. Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass. Hakeem Olajuwon is the biggest example cited when it comes to a revenge playoff series involving an MVP award presentation. Infamously in 1995, David Robinson ran away with the award for the San Antonio Spurs. He received 73 of the 105 first-place votes that season, and Olajuwon didn’t even finish second in the voting. He was fifth, behind Shaquille O’Neal, Karl Malone and Patrick Ewing. The Dream received just one first-place vote. The choice for Robinson over Olajuwon was very reasonable that season. They had virtually the same averages across the board. Olajuwon averaged 0.2 more points, 0.6 more assists, 0.1 more steals and 0.2 more blocks than Robinson. The Admiral had a better field-goal percentage (53.0 to 51.7) and free-throw accuracy (77.4 to 75.6). The difference? Robinson played 81 games to Olajuwon’s 72, and the Spurs won 62 games compared to 47 for the Rockets. That didn’t mean Olajuwon didn’t demand the MVP award, though. He won it and the championship the previous year. This MVP presentation was the motivation he needed to get his team back to the finals. Olajuwon averaged 35.3 points, 12.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 4.2 blocks in that conference finals series as the Rockets dispatched the Spurs in six games. Houston would go on to sweep the Magic in the finals to go back-to-back. It’s legendary lore for that postseason. We might be seeing the same thing in this year’s West finals, although we’ve only been through one game. We’ll find out more when Game 2 tips off tonight at 8:30 ET on NBC and Peacock.Victor Wembanyama was open about how much he wanted the MVP award and why he deserved it during the regular season. He didn’t come close to winning it, finishing third in voting as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ran away with the award. SGA’s team had the best record, and he was a phenomenal player on both ends of the floor. I voted for him. He deserved it. However, that doesn’t mean Wemby has to accept it during this series. We saw as such in his 41-point, 24-rebound effort in Monday’s double-overtime Game 1 victory over the Thunder. He said after the win that he took the ceremony and the award personally. Wemby and SGA don’t play the same position for a traditional battle, but they both span the entirety of the court as constant threats who frighten opponents. It doesn’t matter if the MVP winner deserves the award or not in a playoff showdown like this. The extra motivation will be found somewhere. Michael Jordan did it with Malone winning MVP in 1997. If Wemby wants to truly follow in the all-time footsteps, he’ll continue to use that image of Shai holding up the trophy throughout the series. The Dallas Mavericks have decided to join the Milwaukee Bucks, New Orleans Pelicans, Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic and Portland Trail Blazers in coaching searches this offseason. New Mavs lead executive Masai Ujiri and owner Patrick Dumont made the move to get rid of him: In the Mavericks’ press release Tuesday, Ujiri said he believed “this is the right moment for a new direction for our team.” “We have high expectations for this franchise and a responsibility to build a basketball organization capable of sustained championship contention. We will conduct a thorough, disciplined search for our next head coach and continue to evaluate our entire basketball operations staff to ensure we compete at the standard Mavs fans expect and deserve.” Considering Kidd had four years and $40 million left on his deal after an inquiry from the Knicks this summer led to a contract extension, this is an expensive firing for the Mavs. He had a 205-205 record as the Dallas coach, in addition to a 22-18 playoff record that included a 2024 finals appearance. Kidd was mentioned by some prominent Mavericks voices as part of the reason why Nico Harrison made the ignominious Luka Dončić trade last season. Kidd insisted that he had no say in the trade and wasn’t informed of it until it was almost done. However, Ujiri is going to install his own coach on the sidelines as the Mavericks completely revamp this franchise around Cooper Flagg. As a lead decision-maker, this is only the second time Ujiri has replaced the head coach. He never did it in his time in Denver. He left for Toronto before George Karl was fired. He replaced Dwane Casey in Toronto with Nick Nurse, which helped lead to a championship in 2019. Maybe Kidd will want to make a run at the Magic job? There was interest in that pairing a few years ago before he took the Dallas job. The Bucks have hired Taylor Jenkins, and the Pelicans tabbed Jamahl Mosley to fill their coaching vacancies. But the Magic, Bulls, Blazers and now Mavs need new coaches. Spot the pattern. 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