Revenge isn’t always instant. Sometimes, it simmers, waiting for the right moment. For the Cleveland Cavaliers taking on the New York Knicks, the moment was just right. On national television, under the bright lights of the newly named Rocket Arena, the Cavs obliterated the Knicks, 142-105. However, for Cleveland, it wasn’t just another late February game. Instead, it was personal. After a not-too-recent playoff meltdown, games against New York always mean more.
“They remember,” Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson said pregame when asked about the Cavs’ humbling playoff exit to the Knicks in 2023. “I know our players remember. They talk about it.”
So do the fans. Rocket Arena has become a fortress this season, but there’s a different energy when the Knicks come to town. A special kind of hostility. The sold-out crowd didn’t just boo—it roared, showering New York’s players with venom usually reserved for Cleveland’s most hated villains.
While the feelings are the same from 2023, both teams are drastically different. Friday was another reminder of how far the Cavs have come since the crushing playoff ouster that hardened them, made them better, and helped them become this Eastern Conference juggernaut.
The Knicks forced the Cavs to adapt and evolve
In terms of first playoff impressions, the resurgent Cavs made a horrible one in 2023 against the Knicks. Unfortunately, two years isn’t a lifetime in the NBA. So, whenever these met after their postseason clash, questions would always flare up. Is Cleveland too soft? Are they just regular-season heroes? Can Donovan Mitchell carry this team to a championship?
Those questions and the feelings surrounding them have stuck with the Cavs. Even if they can view it in a different light now, Cleveland can’t do anything about what happened back then. Instead, through a glass half full, the Cavs realized they needed to fail first. Their playoff debacle against the Knicks was about learning and growing.
“I’m appreciative of it,” Mitchell said when reflecting on that playoff loss. “I think for myself, for us as a group, needed that. You don’t see us get to this point if we don’t, quite frankly, get embarrassed by New York. I think those experiences are humbling. Those experiences are needed. I don’t think we look at it as like, man, we need to kick their a**.
“I don’t have any other feelings on it, more so I appreciate it because it’s helping us continue to be who we want to be because we can have something remember of how sh**** that felt, to be honest.”
Although the Cavs may never fully erase the sting of that playoff loss to the Knicks. But revenge? That’s not the point. The 2023 playoff series wasn’t about New York being some unstoppable force. Instead, it was about Cleveland not being ready when the moment demanded it. The Knicks didn’t outclass them; they simply seized an opportunity the Cavs weren’t yet prepared to take.
That loss wasn’t the end of something—it was the beginning. A necessary trial by fire. The true test now? Proving that the lessons learned don’t just make them better in February. They make them built for June.
“I don’t want to say that [the series is still bothering us]. Because I’m appreciative of it,” Mitchell said. “I will look at it like that. I think, for myself, for us as a group, you needed that.
“You don’t see us get to this point [without it]. You don’t see the hunger in Darius Garland. I mean, you see it, but you don’t see the chip on his shoulder. Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, myself, Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade, if we don’t, quite frankly, get embarrassed by New York, you know?”
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