INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — In a brutally honest self-assessment, Jarrett Allen put himself and his teammates on par by suggesting that everyone was wilting under pressure after the Cleveland Cavaliers' final short run in the playoffs. arranged in.
“Even for me, the light was brighter than expected,” Allen infamously said after the Cavaliers were summarily fired by the New York Knicks in five games of their first-round series.
Nearly a year later, the Cavs are once again preparing for a playoff series as the No. 4 seed after a regular season judged largely on comparison to their idiosyncratic rhetoric. They're up against another tough, big, defensive-minded, physical team, but they're probably not afraid of this moment because they know they probably weren't supposed to be here this soon.
This time it's the Orlando Magic, not the Knicks. Games 3 and 4 will take place not in the shadow of the Empire State Building, the mecca of basketball, but near a kingdom ruled by rats. However, when the pressure of the playoffs is too intense, the opponent hardly matters.
That question would never be answered for the Cavaliers, who have won three fewer games this regular season than last time, until this moment, when a new first round of the playoffs begins Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.
Will the lights still be too bright for them?
“After the eclipse, we kept staring at the sun, and nothing has been brighter than this,” Allen said Thursday. When asked if she regretted coming forward after the loss to the Knicks, she said, “It doesn't mean much to me because I've said worse things in her life.” “No,” she answered.
Darius Garland, who like many of his teammates last season got his first taste of the playoffs (Allen had previously experienced the postseason with the Brooklyn Nets), said Allen's assessment wasn't even true.
“I don't think it was too bright at all. We just lost the series,” Garland said Thursday. “It's not like they (the Knicks) killed us every game and lost by 30 points.”
The Cavs didn't lose until 30 games in the playoffs last April, but lost by 20 games in Game 3 and won just one game. The Knicks teased them in the post, but it's relevant to Cleveland's current situation since it's an Orlando game, and Paolo Banchero and his Magic teammates will likely try to do the same.
“I think it was good for the guys on last year's (Cleveland) team to get a win against a very tough New York team because it showed us how tough the playoffs are,” Tristan Thompson said. Ta. One of the Cavaliers' elder statesmen, he returned to the team this season after spending several years with other teams.
Overall, the Cavs entering Saturday will have more playoff experience than the Cavs who played Game 1 against the Knicks in 2023, or the Magic they will face in this series. Donovan Mitchell, the biggest star on both teams, is a playoff veteran. Garland, Evan Mobley, Isaac Okoro and others on the Cavs who experienced the playoffs for the first time last season now understand the physical and mental demands of the postseason. The organization added Max Strus, fresh off the NBA Finals with the Miami Heat, George Niang, a playoff veteran, Thompson (who won in 2016 with the Cavs), and another playoff veteran, Marcus Morris. In contrast, Orlando has just five players with postseason experience.
From Mitchell's ailing left knee (he played just 10 games after the All-Star break but is now fully healthy) to a leaky defense (Orlando's offense is rated 22nd in the NBA) ), there are plenty of problems the Cavs need to solve. We're trying to find a way to get back the 3-point shooting and free offense we had in December and January, when Cleveland was the best team in the league.
But the magnitude of this moment should not be among those issues.
“For the veterans…we've been in playoff series and been up and down,” Thompson said. “I think we have a good mix because we know what we need. We have some players who have been successful, but we also have players who have experienced failure and are looking for (another chance).”
The Cavs haven't won a playoff series without LeBron James on the team since 1993. They hadn't won a playoff game without LeBron James since 1998. At least that problem was fixed in Game 2 against the Knicks last year.
There's a huge emphasis within the organization on winning series, which requires some explanation. Of course, every team in the playoffs is trying to beat other teams. All that matters is moving forward. But there's probably a special focus on this in Cleveland. Because it shows an improvement from a year ago.
Although Mitchell has never said this publicly, outside analysts believe winning the series is paramount to any contract decisions looming this summer. Team president Koby Altman hasn't said this publicly, but it's believed coach JB Bickerstaff needs a win. Perhaps that pressure is felt by him as well. Last Sunday, the final day of the regular season, the organization made a number of decisions that ensured a loss to the powerhouse Charlotte Hornets and a first-round series with Orlando.
even deeper
Lloyd: Cavs' final pitch to Donovan Mitchell begins now.
It was as if the Cavs had chosen the Magic as their first-round opponent. If so, the light will turn on again.
“I’m not worried about outside noise,” Garland said. “I don't think we smoke ducks. At least not with this group. We'll take anyone who comes with it.”
(Photo of Jarrett Allen and Moritz Wagner: David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)
