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CLEVELAND – The Knicks helped create the powerhouse that’s now a top threat to dash their goals.
Nearly two years after getting punked by New York in the opening round of the playoffs, the Cavaliers have emerged as the most positively surprising upstart with the NBA’s best record heading into Friday night’s showdown against the Knicks.
And while the Cavaliers have changed in certain areas – most notably at coach with Kenny Atkinson and at the trade deadline with DeAndre Hunter – the residual impact of the 2023 gentleman’s sweep remains.
“It definitely humbled us,” Darius Garland said when asked by The Post at All-Star weekend. “But it was definitely a learning experience and you’re seeing the product of that right now. It definitely helped us a lot.”
Prior to Friday night, the Knicks and Cavs hadn’t met since October – a matchup won by Cleveland that wasn’t understood, at the time, as a significant measuring stick. The latest head-to-head arrived with more juice.
“It’s going to be a great matchup,” Garland said. “Of course, everyone is thinking about the playoff series that we had with them. But we’re two totally different teams. The Rocket (the Cavs home arena) is going to be rockin’.”
The Knicks are definitely a different team.
Not counting Mitchell Robinson, who hasn’t played since April, the only holdovers from the 2023 playoffs are Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Miles McBride (who only had 12 combined minutes in that series).
But the Cavaliers are mostly different in style and aptitude – not personnel.
They entered Friday with the NBA’s top-rated offense, a product of several factors but importantly a greater understanding between Garland and Donovan Mitchell.
As their backcourt pairing wasn’t living up to expectations and following persistent rumors that both desired a relocation, Garland and Mitchell found common ground.
“They’ve gotten on the same page from a personal level. There’s a famous talk where they talked it out, talked out the issues early,” Atkinson said. “And then I think where we helped them is getting them stuff earlier in their offense. Last year, it felt like they were getting those of kind grenades at the end of the shot clock. Now they’ve got to go and make a play. We’ve tried to move their possessions earlier in the shot clock. It’s really their chemistry together. They really have a great synergy now.”
For the Knicks, who have two more head-to-heads with Cleveland in April, catching the Cavaliers is a longshot as they entered Friday eight games behind.
Both had won 8 of their last 10 games but the Cavaliers are deeper and made moves in February (trading for Hunter, a defensive-minded wing, and signing guard Javonte Green in the buyout market).
The Knicks, who are dealing with salary-cap restrictions, stood pat at the deadline and can’t sign a player to a standard contract until after Feb. 28. They can add a player to a 10-day contract with no restrictions, however.
Their hope is Robinson, who participated in a full practice for the first time this week, is the big addition.
A more realistic alteration to the standings – though not easy to fathom – is the Celtics, who were 5 ½ games behind Cleveland, climbing into first.
That would set up a potential second-round showdown between the Knicks and Cavaliers – a rematch of 2023.
“For all of us, that was our first time being in a playoff appearance like that,” Garland said. “Just being in the Garden for the first time, and the atmosphere. But just the physicality of the game, the way it’s officiated. How detailed everything is. The playbooks, the scouting reports.”
On Friday night, with lesser consequences but still carrying heavier weight than the typical regular season game, both teams were operating on the second night of a back-to-back with nearly identical travel (the Knicks played at MSG on Thursday at the same time the Cavs played in Brooklyn).
The big difference was the Knicks fought to the end of an overtime victory over the Bulls – with Karl-Anthony Towns (39 minutes) and Mikal Bridges (43) getting heavy playing time – while no Cavalier went over 30 minutes a blowout over the Nets.
“Yeah, but at the end of the day, they’re not going to quit,” Mitchell said of the Knicks, who have three players in the top-10 of total minutes. “They’re used to playing a lot of minutes.”
