The Cleveland Cavaliers did not quite get an “A” for effort during Saturday’s Game 3.
The Cavaliers lost again on Saturday to the New York Knicks, this time at home in front of their local crowd at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. They fell by a final score of 121-108 to slide into an insurmountable 0-3 deficit in their Eastern Conference Finals series.
One particular sequence by the Cavaliers late during the fourth quarter of the game drew ire from both fans and commentators alike. With the Knicks leading 116-102 with just under two minutes left, the Cavaliers appeared to simply stop playing, allowing New York star Jalen Brunson to get a completely uncontested layup.
That led to criticism on the air from ESPN’s Mike Breen (who said that the Cavaliers “just stopped playing on that possession”) and from Breen’s broadcast partner Richard Jefferson (who added that Cleveland had even stopped playing on the possession prior to that as well).
The Cavs look absolutely depleted. This is tough to watch. pic.twitter.com/VVqbZVHpRN
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) May 24, 2026
An unflattering stat shared by NBA statistician Keerthika Uthayakumar also illustrated how badly the Cavaliers have been outhustled and outworked by the Knicks throughout the series.
Cavs have been outscored in almost every hustle stat this postseason.
— Keerthika Uthayakumar (@keerthikau) May 24, 2026
-123 in fast break points
-72 in points off turnovers
+4 in second chance points
While there was virtually no chance of victory by the time that the Cavaliers allowed the room-service layup to Brunson, continuing to play until the final whistle shows heart and mental toughness and signals to the opponent that you will not roll over. But rolling over appears to be exactly what Cleveland did down the stretch of Saturday’s game, and that has been a common theme for them all throughout the ECF series against the Knicks thus far.
