New York Knicks Tekuk Cleveland Cavaliers 109&93 di Game Kedua

New York Knicks sukses memperbesar keunggulan menjadi 2-0 atas Cleveland Cavaliers dalam babak final Wilayah Timur setelah memetik kemenangan 109-93 di Madison Square Garden pada Kamis malam waktu setempat.

Kemenangan ini menjadi hasil positif kesembilan secara beruntun bagi New York Knicks di fase pascamusim sekaligus mendekatkan mereka pada penampilan perdana di Final NBA sejak tahun 1999.

Aksi memukau Josh Hart yang mencetak rekor tertinggi sepanjang karier playoff-nya dengan 26 poin menjadi motor serangan utama New York Knicks, disusul oleh Jalen Brunson yang mengemas 19 poin dan 14 asis.

Tuan rumah sempat tertinggal di kuarter pertama sebelum akhirnya mengunci kendali permainan lewat laju poin teliti 18-0 pada kuarter ketiga yang mengubah kedudukan berimbang menjadi keunggulan 71-53.

Di kubu lawan, performa Cleveland Cavaliers tertahan oleh buruknya akurasi tembakan tiga angka yang hanya mencapai 25,7 persen, di mana Donovan Mitchell memimpin timnya dengan torehan 26 poin meskipun terlihat mengalami masalah mobilitas fisik.

Sebelum pertandingan dimulai, juru taktik New York Knicks memberikan pandangannya mengenai kesiapan mental para pemain dalam menghadapi tekanan kompetisi.

"We have a veteran group," kata Mike Brown, pelatih Knicks. "Any time you're in the playoffs, you obviously need a little bit of talent, you need a little bit of luck and then you need skill. All those things came to play for us coming back from 20 points down with that little bit of time to go. I think our guys understand that we got away with one and we don’t want to put ourselves in that position again because Cleveland is a great team, they’re well coached and they have great players on that team. They’re not gonna let that opportunity slip through their hands again. We’ve talked about that but not necessarily about the emotional part."

Sementara itu, pelatih tim tamu sempat menjelaskan dilema strategi pertahanan yang dihadapi timnya dalam membendung pergerakan lini ofensif tuan rumah.

"That’s really what it comes down to," ujar Kenny Atkinson, pelatih Cavs. "Are you going to keep trusting the process because the numbers would say stick with it. Stick with what we’re doing. From a process level, it’s working. We all know when there’s a great player on the other team it can disrupt that process…"

Ia kemudian memaparkan alasan di balik keputusan melakukan perubahan taktik pengawalan di tengah laga.

"We’ve got to help our players and that’s why we eventually made the adjustment. There can be a very strong argument, why didn’t you just stay with what you are doing if the numbers are telling you that. Because you can also say when you make the switch to start doubling Landry Shamet hit a corner three. Maybe if you stayed in your basic coverage it’s a two. This is the real dilemma in coaching. But I do think there is a point where you’ve got to say the numbers don't mean as much right now. We’ve got to do something different and help our team," kata Kenny Atkinson, pelatih Cavs.

Cleveland Cavaliers selanjutnya akan bertindak sebagai tuan rumah dalam pertandingan Game 3 yang dijadwalkan berlangsung pada Sabtu malam.