With the Knicks and Cavaliers set to kick off Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, here are five key things to know about fourth-seeded Cleveland.
1. The Cavaliers have lost each of their four previous postseason matchups against the Knicks (1978, 1995, 1996, 2023), winning just two of 14 games. The Knicks won the first two meetings between the teams this season, but the Cavs won the only matchup that included James Harden, 109-94, on Feb. 24 in Cleveland.
2. Former Nets coach and Long Island native Kenny Atkinson is in his second season with Cleveland, which is making its first conference finals appearance since 2018. Atkinson, 58, was named NBA Coach of the Year last season and won an NBA title as an assistant with the Warriors in 2022, alongside current Knicks coach Mike Brown.
What’s happening on and off the Garden court
Sign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.
Thank you
3. The Cavaliers have only three meaningful contributors (Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen) returning from their 2023 five-game, first-round series loss to the Knicks. Cleveland was held to 94.2 points per game in that series — 18 fewer than it averaged during the season — as Mitchell shot 28.9 percent on 3-pointers, and both Mobley and Allen scored fewer than 10 points per game. The Knicks will also see familiar postseason foes in Cavs reserve Dennis Schröder — who shot 47.6 percent on 3-pointers in last year’s first-round matchup with the Pistons — and Max Strus, who averaged nearly 15 points while helping the Heat eliminate the Knicks in 2023.
4. James Harden is the fourth player in NBA history (Karl Malone, John Stockton, Tony Parker) to make the playoffs in each of his first 17 seasons. Harden’s 185 postseason games — with six teams — are the second most by any player without a championship, eight fewer than Malone. The 36-year-old — who made his Cavaliers debut Feb. 7, following a trade from the Clippers — hasn’t been to the NBA Finals since he was the Sixth Man of the Year with Oklahoma City in 2012.
5. Westchester native Donovan Mitchell — whose father, Donovan Sr., works for the Mets — was nearly dealt to the Knicks in the summer of 2022, shortly after the signing of Jalen Brunson. When the Knicks showed reluctance to meet Utah’s trade demands, Cleveland swooped in, landing a superstar who will soon earn his third All-NBA selection with the team. Mitchell will be making his first appearance in a conference finals.
