Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson has given the Knicks their flowers as Cleveland are on the verge on elimination.
The head coach outlined what has impressed him the most about a Knicks team that has taken things to new heights.
“Teams that make that next step, it’s the balance that’s impressed me the most,” Atkinson said. “They have so many contributors right now, and I think that is what’s different from the regular season.
“We all know they had ups and downs, they had periods where they weren’t playing well. The sustainability of it, you’re expecting a letdown. We haven’t seen a letdown from them yet.”
NY are in the midst of a 10-game playoff win streak, winning every SINGLE game by double digits – the most by a team since the 2017 Warriors.
The team’s five of Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart are ALL averaging double figures in the postseason, while Anunoby, Towns and Bridges are all shooting better than 55 percent from the field and it’s not lost on the opposition’s coach.
“It comes down to performing better, individually. Bridges is 27 of 38 [in this series]. [Landry] Shamet is 7-for-8 from 3 in this series. They’re getting stellar performances across the board,” Atkinson said. “Josh Hart in Game 2 had an incredible game. Jalen’s great and Towns is great, but we’ve kind of done a decent job on those guys, you can argue. … OG’s two wing 3s [in Game 3], like the jab, jab 3, are you kidding me? …
“The goal was to slow down their momentum, and that mojo they got, and we haven’t been able to do that. That’s the frustrating thing for me. Part of that is them playing great. We haven’t found a formula to slow their mojo down.”