The Cleveland Cavaliers entered this season after a tough exit last year.
They managed to survive and beat the up-and-coming Orlando Magic in the first round, but they couldn’t keep the ball rolling in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
That’s why, when asked about last year’s playoffs, Darius Garland admitted that the New York Knicks ‘humbled them.’
Garland raved about the atmosphere at Madison Square Garden and how different everything is during the postseason, but he also believed that it was a nice learning experience for him and the team.
The Knicks got the best of the Cavs in just five games, marking the end of the J.B. Bickerstaff era in Cleveland.
Now, under Kenny Atkinson, they’ve been able to take what they got from that learning experience and become a much more dangerous and competitive team.
No one, not even the most optimistic Cavaliers fan saw such a massive turnaround taking place overnight, especially considering the fact that the team didn’t make many big moves or flashy transactions during the offseason.
They’re now the team to beat in the Eastern Conference, and they will be looking for revenge in the postseason.
Of course, that best record won’t do anything once the field is level again and both teams have to win four games to move on to the next round.
But sometimes teams have to go through these kinds of struggles before finally breaking through and getting the monkey off their backs, and that might be the case with the Cavs.
NEXT: Evan Mobley, Donovan Mitchell Joined Elite Company With Skills Challenge Championship
