Cavaliers fans frustrated by Cleveland’s Game 1 loss to the Knicks had plenty to say about poor rebounding, miserable bench play and more.
The Cleveland Cavaliers were well within reach of their first playoff win since 2018 on Saturday night.
Maybe that’s why their Game 1 loss, 101-97, to the Knicks was so frustrating for fans to take.
The Cavs got 38 points from Donovan Mitchell but the team couldn’t find a way to finish down the stretch, letting New York grab key offensive rebounds late as Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson kept the game out of reach with clutch shooting.
If you were on Twitter, during and after the game, chances are you saw plenty of ALL CAPS please for the Cavaliers to just grab a rebound.
Here’s more of the online reaction to the outing:
Best memes and tweets as Cavaliers lose Game 1 to Knicks
https://twitter.com/dariusgarlandd/status/1647399340699271171
There’s plenty about the performance that Cleveland will want back. They were outrebounded 51-38, which is straight up unacceptable. The bench combined for just 14 points, outscored by NY’s Josh Hart alone with 17 off the bench.
The key to getting back in the series is to learn from the mistakes. That was the message from head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.
“This is a wake up call and a learning lesson for our guys. You can’t explain or understand what a playoff game is like. You have to go through it. … We’ll grow from these mistakes. And if we don’t, we’ll struggle,” Bickerstaff told reporters, per Evan Dammarell of Locked On Cavs.
The Cavaliers can take the next few days to mentally and physically reset before Game 2 cames around on Tuesday, Apr. 18. Their home court advantage has already been damaged but going down 0-2 on their home floor would be devastating before the series moves to New York.
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