Stephen A. Smith spent his Thursday SportsCenter hit refusing to congratulate the New York Knicks for taking a 2-0 Eastern Conference Finals lead. The 109-93 result, he argued, said far less about Madison Square Garden's noise than about a Cleveland Cavaliers defence that simply stopped showing up.
"I would love to tell you that Josh Hart hit two three-pointers, Jalen Brunson hit another one, Karl-Anthony Towns closed the quarter with a three. You look at those kind of things, the Knicks' fluid ball movement shooting 51 percent from the field — all of those things would stand out and they would speak very favourably about the New York Knicks. But to be quite honest with you, that wasn't what was on my mind," Smith said.
"I was incredibly alarmed, flabbergasted, as to how anemic Cleveland's defence was. Did you see how wide open Josh Hart was on those two three-pointers? There's nobody in the vicinity, for crying out loud. You're looking at Mikal Bridges come down for a layup. It's uncontested. You're just looking at Cleveland and like, 'Hello, do you not know that this is the Eastern Conference Finals?'"
Hart converted a playoff career-high 26 points, Brunson set a Knicks playoff record for assists with 14 — the most since Charlie Ward in 1998 — and New York's offence carved Cleveland's defence with a third-quarter 18-0 run that effectively closed the night.
Smith argued the Knicks did what good teams do, but framed Cleveland's response — particularly its 80 shots on only 15 assists — as a basketball IQ failure rather than a shot-making slump.
"The Knicks were doing what they wanted to do. They turned on the afterburners. Jalen Brunson had 14 assists. He got a lot of people involved because the only adjustment they seemed to make was sending double teams his way. So he was perfectly content with being a facilitator as opposed to a scorer. But Cleveland's defence was very, very alarming. And to be quite honest with you, just an absence of intelligent basketball," Smith said.
Smith singled out Evan Mobley, who scored 14 first-half points and did not attempt a single shot after halftime — a sequence Charles Barkley dismantled minutes earlier on Inside the NBA.
"Evan Mobley had 14 points in the first half. He didn't shoot in the second half. Y'all didn't get him the ball. It makes no sense whatsoever to see what's transpiring with Cleveland. They look like a team that doesn't belong. They attempted 80 shots and only assisted on 15. You can't make this up. It's really really shocking at how anemic they look. But the Knicks exploited it and took advantage like a good team is supposed to," Smith said.
Asked what has to change before the series returns to Cleveland, Smith laid out a three-part diagnosis: feed the hot hand, defend with urgency, and remember that anaemia at this stage is fatal.
"They've got to remember that they're supposed to have a basketball IQ. Play smart basketball. Make sure you get the ball to the hot hand. Make sure Donovan Mitchell's feeding off that crowd and he's being the tremendous player that we know he can be. If Harden ain't the one that's going to get it done for you, but you see Evan Mobley is making some noise, make sure you get him the damn ball. He can play. He's not a scrub. He gets an NBA check, too. Get him the ball," Smith said.
"But they've got to defend. They certainly have to upgrade their defensive intensity. They have to play with a level of urgency, which I have no doubt they will do in front of that home crowd in Cleveland."
The Cavaliers are 6-1 at home in these playoffs, but Smith made clear the math is closing in. No team has rallied from 0-3.
"They know they have to win Game 3, otherwise bring out your broomsticks. In all likelihood, they're going to get swept. There is a level of urgency. I expect them to play with it. But it doesn't mean much if you don't attach an IQ to that level of urgency," Smith said.
Game 3 tips Saturday in Cleveland.
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*Originally published on [NBA News Global](https://nbanews.global/article/stephen-a-smith-alarmed-flabbergasted-cavs-defense-anemic-knicks-ecf-game-2-may-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
