Player Grades: Cavs vs Knicks Game 2 – Backcourt hasn’t been good enough

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost Game 2 to the New York Knicks 109-93.

All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player.

Donovan Mitchell

26 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover

Mitchell doesn’t look right. Or left, when he has the ball. He only looks up towards the rim.

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Jokes aside, Mitchell genuinely doesn’t look right physically. He’s as limited as I’ve ever seen him, hardly getting any burst or upward lift on his drives. That’s made it near impossible for him to get to his spots against a rangy Knicks defense.

Outside of that, decision-making remains a blemish. Mitchell ended the night with only 1 assist, something that just isn’t good enough at this stage of the game.

Grade: D–

James Harden

18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 0 turnovers

Harden is unplayable defensively. The Knicks can get anything they want when he’s out there. I wrote more about that here.

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This is something Harden has somewhat made up for with his offense in years past. But that’s fallen apart in this series. He only had 2 assists tonight as the Knicks made an effort to take away the paint and force Harden to create plays. He couldn’t.

Grade: F

Evan Mobley

14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks

Mobley had 10 points in the first quarter. He scored 4 points the rest of the way and only attempted 8 shots on the night.

Everyone deserves blame.

We can acknowledge that New York made it a point of emphasis to take Mobley away from the ball. They clogged passing lanes and did everything they could to avoid letting him catch it on the roll. That puts a limit on what Mobley can do.

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However, it’s an indictment on everyone that Mobley wasn’t involved in other ways. Inverted screens, operating at the elbow. Literally anything. This type of stuff can’t happen, yet it continues to plague them.

Grade: B-

Jarrett Allen

13 points, 10 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 blocks

Similar to Game 1, Allen was holding his end of the deal by winning the physicality battle and eating on the offensive glass.

The Cavs won the offensive rebounding battle 13-5. Allen had as many offensive boards as the…

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Publish date : 2026-05-22 03:15:00

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