Knicks bench’s domination of Cavaliers in Game 1 has chance to grow

NBA

By Zach Braziller

April 16, 2023 | 8:58pm

CLEVELAND — The regular season may have been a preview.

A hint of what was to come.

The Knicks’ bench dominated the Cavaliers’ reserves across four meetings and it overwhelmed them again in Game 1.

It was 37-14 in favor of coach Tom Thibodeau’s second unit on Saturday, and that was with Sixth Man of the Year finalist Immanuel Quickley struggling through a nightmarish evening.

“It’s been huge for us all season,” starter RJ Barrett said.

It could be huge for them in this series, if the opener was an indication.

Josh Hart was a star off the bench, producing 17 points, 10 rebounds and the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:49 left.

Isaiah Hartenstein added eight points and five rebounds and Obi Toppin produced nine points in the third quarter that helped give the Knicks a cushion.

It was similar to the season series.

The Knicks’ reserves were dominant in the four regular-season meetings, outscoring their Cavaliers counterparts by nearly nine points per game.

The Knicks’ bench also had a plus-10.5 NET rating, meaning it outscored Cleveland by 10.5 points per 100 possessions.

In the lead-up to the series, the Cavaliers talked big about what their bench could do.

Former Nets wing Caris LeVert said he felt Cleveland’s bench was as good as any in the league, and they were tired of hearing how good the Knicks’ second unit was.

Follow The Post’s coverage of the Knicks vs. Cavaliers NBA playoff series

“It’ll be fun to go up against those guys and really see where we’re at,” LeVert said at the time.

It wasn’t much fun in the series opener for the home team.

LeVert, the leader of the Cavaliers’ bench, missed seven of eight shots and was minus-14 in 18 minutes.

Compare that to the Knicks’ bench.

All four members had positive ratings, led by Hartenstein’s plus-19 in 22 minutes.

Even Quickley, despite missing all five of his field-goal attempts and committing three turnovers, was plus-eight in 24 minutes.

Cleveland’s issues with its reserves led coach JB Bickerstaff to ride his starters.

Jarrett Allen, Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland all played at least 43 minutes.

Evan Mobley logged 38 minutes.

The Cavaliers’ starters played the third-most minutes of any starting five this season.

The Knicks’ first five were actually second.

But that began to turn late in the year, partly due to injuries and the progress of the second unit.

Nobody on the Knicks played more than Julius Randle’s 34 minutes on Saturday.

Jalen Brunson, partly due to foul trouble, was on the floor for only 30 minutes.

Randle, despite playing on a sprained left ankle that isn’t yet 100 percent, had enough in the tank to beat Mobley for a clutch offensive rebound in the final second that enabled Quentin Grimes to ice the game at the free-throw line.

“I mean obviously our bench has to give us a spark, we gotta find a way to manufacture some buckets,” Bickerstaff said. “You know, how do we create for one another and how does our bench support our starting cast? We’ll go back and we’ll take a look at it, you know, but at some point in time, you got to find a way to just put the ball in the basket and I thought, I mean that unit kind of struggled there.”

It was one area, at least on paper, in which the underdog Knicks had a significant advantage entering the series.

In Game 1, that unit made a major difference, and it is likely to get even better for that group as long as Quickley can find his game.