2023 Eastern Conference | Round 1 | (4) Cleveland Cavaliers VS. (5) New York Knicks (NYK WINS 4-1)

[bisme37]

What would you guys like the current poll to be? Is it cool as it is or am I going to get insulted again?

Always throws me off when I spend half my life for no pay trying to keep things up to date and in order so people have a good place to discuss the games and then someone decides I'm a clown and intentionally trying to ruin their day.

If someone has a poll request I'll be happy to do whatever you guys want. I voted Knicks in 6 and have complimented them throughout the series and I'm getting accused of doing something fishy to make them look bad and I don't even get it at all.

[Butch718]

I'll be honest, I voted for Cavs in 6.

I trusted Brunson but had absolutely no faith in RJ or Randle in the playoffs, RJ at least has showed up the last few games. Props to him.

I didn't see the Garland being useless last game.

On paper it looked like the Cavs had the advantage, but it's why you play the games.

Knicks played them well in the regular season. So the takes were kind of baffling to me.

RJ is a pleasant surprise though. He manned the **** up instead of cowering.

I've thought all along.

Brunson has proven to be able to handle the post season.

The deciding wing factors is if RJ or Randle show up and do anything positive. The last time they were in the post season both were horrible.

Based on that and RJ's inefficiency in the RS and the last post season you can't blame us for a lack of faith in him.

Randle to date though hasn't matched his RS numbers in any game to date.

Randle still isn’t right I think. But Obi is a very good backup, and he opens up the offense more.

Also, that 2021 roster wasn’t very good and over achieved.

Knicks replaced Payton, Bullock, Noel, Burks and Taj with Brunson, Grimes, a healthy Robinson, Hart and iHart.This is a deep and talented team. Only those that didn’t watch Knick games underestimated this team.

Brunson’s performance shouldn’t be shocking to anyone. He cooked Mitchell last year and showed he was capable of being the man when Luka was out a couple of games. He also has been cooking the entire league this season. It’s shocking how people(not you) still underrate him despite all that. His bag is deep and I had 100 percent confidence in him. Mitchell is the better talent, but not by much.

[cgf]

Hot Take: Randle Struggles means Knicks win more games in playoffs

Thibs deserves props for stick with Obi today and if Julius continues to struggle I hope Obi gets more burn...but we're a better team when Julius is cooking like he was before hurting his ankle, than we are when he's shooting like this.

I'm actually impressed by Obi rebounding today if he keeps playing like this Randle will lose more mins in playoffs.

Obi's not a bad rebounder because he's incapable of grabbing them, we just never usually ask him to rebound because we always have him in the corner or leaking out early. And I think that really depends on Julius' ankle.

If he's mostly recovered at this point and just hasn't gotten his rhythm, then I think Thibs will continue giving him opportunities to get rolling until we see that '20pt 1st quarter with 5+ rebounds and a couple dimes' Julius again.

If Julius isn't even at 80-85% and won't be until the offseason...plus Obi keeps performing...then I can see Thibs leaning on Toppin more & more as things go on.

[Butch718]

I'll be honest, I voted for Cavs in 6.

I trusted Brunson but had absolutely no faith in RJ or Randle in the playoffs, RJ at least has showed up the last few games. Props to him.

I didn't see the Garland being useless last game.

On paper it looked like the Cavs had the advantage, but it's why you play the games.

The crazy thing is Randle IS playing bad, just as you'd expect. But, this Knicks team is deep and tough they somehow can overcome his deficiencies.

Quickley and Grimes haven’t really been factors either. Quickley is due for a breakout game.

[cgf]

I've thought all along.

Brunson has proven to be able to handle the post season.

The deciding wing factors is if RJ or Randle show up and do anything positive. The last time they were in the post season both were horrible.

Based on that and RJ's inefficiency in the RS and the last post season you can't blame us for a lack of faith in him.

Randle to date though hasn't matched his RS numbers in any game to date.

tbf to Julius he rolled his ankle with 5 games to go in the regular season and whether he'd even play in game 1 was up in the air.

We don't know how much that's affecting him now, but at the very least it disrupted his rhythm for half a month and now he's gotta get that flow back in the toughest environment.

Plus Mobley has the length, quickness, and BBIQ to match up well with him if Ju's ankle isn't good enough for him to just power his way to the rim.

And the bad foul by Allen in game 2 that was horrible.

lol I had already forgotten about that. Yeah, Ju's taken a real beating over the past month.

[Vampirate]

Knicks played them well in the regular season. So the takes were kind of baffling to me.

RJ is a pleasant surprise though. He manned the **** up instead of cowering.

I've thought all along.

Brunson has proven to be able to handle the post season.

The deciding wing factors is if RJ or Randle show up and do anything positive. The last time they were in the post season both were horrible.

Based on that and RJ's inefficiency in the RS and the last post season you can't blame us for a lack of faith in him.

Randle to date though hasn't matched his RS numbers in any game to date.

Randle still isn’t right I think. But Obi is a very good backup, and he opens up the offense more.

Also, that 2021 roster wasn’t very good and over achieved.

Knicks replaced Payton, Bullock, Noel, Burks and Taj with Brunson, Grimes, a healthy Robinson, Hart and iHart.This is a deep and talented team. Only those that didn’t watch Knick games underestimated this team.

Brunson’s performance shouldn’t be shocking to anyone. He cooked Mitchell last year and showed he was capable of being the man when Luka was out a couple of games. He also has been cooking the entire league this season. It’s shocking how people(not you) still underrate him despite all that. His bag is deep and I had 100 percent confidence in him. Mitchell is the better talent, but not by much.

Depth doesn't matter if your best players don't show up as they take the majority of the shots.

I know, guess who was on my team before Kawhi showed up.

[Im Coming Home]

Its ok ya'll I got the original results, thanks to google cache.

Why are you so obsessed with that?

PS I stand by my Cavs in 4 jinx-vote!

Because I want us Knicks fans to get a chance to laugh and mock the GB for their Anti-Knicks stance thats gone on for years. We rarely get the chance, and the mod changing that poll right before the game ended, was attempting to take that away from us.

[QingJames]

Its ok ya'll I got the original results, thanks to google cache.

Proud original Knicks in 6 voter here. I never bought into the Mobley and Mitchell hype. But even I gave them too much credit it seems.

This shouldn’t be a surprise for people who watched the regular season matchups though.

I voted Knicks in 6 too. Go us.

Let’s get together in our little club, don our top hats and monocles and share a little vino.

[cgf]

What would you guys like the current poll to be? Is it cool as it is or am I going to get insulted again?

Always throws me off when I spend half my life for no pay trying to keep things up to date and in order so people have a good place to discuss the games and then someone decides I'm a clown and intentionally trying to ruin their day.

If someone has a poll request I'll be happy to do whatever you guys want. I voted Knicks in 6 and have complimented them throughout the series and I'm getting accused of doing something fishy to make them look bad and I don't even get it at all.

I mean that's definitely going to happen either way...we don't always play well with others ...but looks good to me.

[Butch718]

I've thought all along.

Brunson has proven to be able to handle the post season.

The deciding wing factors is if RJ or Randle show up and do anything positive. The last time they were in the post season both were horrible.

Based on that and RJ's inefficiency in the RS and the last post season you can't blame us for a lack of faith in him.

Randle to date though hasn't matched his RS numbers in any game to date.

Randle still isn’t right I think. But Obi is a very good backup, and he opens up the offense more.

Also, that 2021 roster wasn’t very good and over achieved.

Knicks replaced Payton, Bullock, Noel, Burks and Taj with Brunson, Grimes, a healthy Robinson, Hart and iHart.This is a deep and talented team. Only those that didn’t watch Knick games underestimated this team.

Brunson’s performance shouldn’t be shocking to anyone. He cooked Mitchell last year and showed he was capable of being the man when Luka was out a couple of games. He also has been cooking the entire league this season. It’s shocking how people(not you) still underrate him despite all that. His bag is deep and I had 100 percent confidence in him. Mitchell is the better talent, but not by much.

Depth doesn't matter if your best players don't show up as they take the majority of the shots.

I know, guess who was on my team before Kawhi showed up.

It obviously has mattered in this series. Obi, Hart and iHart have come up huge. Even Duece has provided meaningful minutes. He locked up Mitchell a couple of times this game.

[GeorgeSears]

I'm stunned at how offensively inept the Cavs have been in this series. The Knicks deserve a lot of credit as they've played hellacious defense.

But this is just unacceptable. You can't sign Donovan Mitchell to then end up losing to the Knicks in the first round. He was supposed to be the point of difference. He's the player that was supposed to take the Cavs to at least the second round.

They're now going to have to pull off a miracle.

[Vampirate]

Randle still isn’t right I think. But Obi is a very good backup, and he opens up the offense more.

Also, that 2021 roster wasn’t very good and over achieved.

Knicks replaced Payton, Bullock, Noel, Burks and Taj with Brunson, Grimes, a healthy Robinson, Hart and iHart.This is a deep and talented team. Only those that didn’t watch Knick games underestimated this team.

Brunson’s performance shouldn’t be shocking to anyone. He cooked Mitchell last year and showed he was capable of being the man when Luka was out a couple of games. He also has been cooking the entire league this season. It’s shocking how people(not you) still underrate him despite all that. His bag is deep and I had 100 percent confidence in him. Mitchell is the better talent, but not by much.

Depth doesn't matter if your best players don't show up as they take the majority of the shots.

I know, guess who was on my team before Kawhi showed up.

It obviously has mattered in this series. Obi, Hart and iHart have come up huge. Even Duece has provided meaningful minutes. He locked up Mitchell a couple of times this game.

Think of it this way, imagine if RJ shoots horribly for the entire series, it'll put extra pressure for the role players to make up for the lack of your best players not performing.

[dockingsched]

Thought cavs would win, just as expected Randle and his limited skill set and bad shot selection have exposed him, but I did not account for badly the cavs themselves would be exposed.

The cavs have serious roster issues and it’s not just about young players needing to develop. Allen n Mobley is not going to work. Hard to get away with two big men that can’t create their own shot, can’t spread the floor, can’t make quick smart passes, and can’t dribble to push the pace. Good luck building around those two.

[Butch718]

Depth doesn't matter if your best players don't show up as they take the majority of the shots.

I know, guess who was on my team before Kawhi showed up.

It obviously has mattered in this series. Obi, Hart and iHart have come up huge. Even Duece has provided meaningful minutes. He locked up Mitchell a couple of times this game.

Think of it this way, imagine if RJ shoots horribly for the entire series, it'll put extra pressure for the role players to make up for the lack of your best players not performing.

Glad we have Hart for that. It was such an underrated trade, which had the fan base split in half when it was made. Lol at fans being upset at losing Cam Reddish.

[The KnicksFix]

Wait, I’m just curious, don’t crucify me here. But the original poll had the Knicks or Cavs in X amount of games right?

Reason I’m asking is because I picked Knicks in 5 and wanted to show my guys I had predicted correctly lolol

[cgf]

Its ok ya'll I got the original results, thanks to google cache.

Why are you so obsessed with that?

PS I stand by my Cavs in 4 jinx-vote!

Because I want us Knicks fans to get a chance to laugh and mock the GB for their Anti-Knicks stance thats gone on for years. We rarely get the chance, and the mod changing that poll right before the game ended, was attempting to take that away from us.

Yeah, but we were the lower seed and our stars didn't have the pedigree of the Cavs' stars. So the default assumption would be that most people would vote against us in that poll...even if we could remove the troll votes like mine for 'Cavs in 4'.

To demonstrate an actual anti-knicks bias you would have to show that those poll results were abnormally low for a 4-5 matchup in which the 4 seed was perceived to have more star talent.

[Riot Randolph]

Losing to the knicks is pretty embarrassing

If losing is embarrassing what would be losing 4-1

[cgf]

Proud original Knicks in 6 voter here. I never bought into the Mobley and Mitchell hype. But even I gave them too much credit it seems.

This shouldn’t be a surprise for people who watched the regular season matchups though.

I voted Knicks in 6 too. Go us.

Let’s get together in our little club, don our top hats and monocles and share a little vino.

When you the cavs storm back to win this series, I'm blaming you jerks for it entirely

Job isn't done yet!

[PhilBlackson]

Aside from Mitchell, I don't like the general lack of intensity from CLE's supporting players but particularly Mobley & Allen -- they have to be better and more aggressive.

[Vampirate]

I'm stunned at how offensively inept the Cavs have been in this series. The Knicks deserve a lot of credit as they've played hellacious defense.

But this is just unacceptable. You can't sign Donovan Mitchell to then end up losing to the Knicks in the first round. He was supposed to be the point of difference. He's the player that was supposed to take the Cavs to at least the second round.

They're now going to have to pull off a miracle.

The Cavs the year before were legit bad.

Also, they are relying on 2 players who have never been to the playoffs, one of which is a sophomore. (the play in game, while higher stakes then the Regular Season doesn't really count as truly going through a 4 out of 7 series).