The Knicks Could Make the Finals With Timothée Chalamet at Guard vs Cavs

There’s trouble in New York City, and for the first time in a quarter-century, it’s not the Knicks.

It’s the team facing them in the East finals: the Cleveland Cavaliers.

After stealing game one following one of the worst chokes in recent NBA postseason history, the Cavaliers followed that defeat up with an even worse performance on Thursday night, getting blown out by the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

As Knicks superfan Timothee Chalamet cheered from his usual courtside seat, New York could have thrown him into their rotation in Game 2 of the series and still probably have gotten the movie star a few buckets with how poorly the Cavs were playing.

More news: Ben Stiller Reveals Why He Missed Knicks Playoff Game for Met Gala

More news: Congrats Cavs on the Game 7 Win - Now It's Time for the Knicks to Sweep You

After back-to-back series in which the Cavs looked terrible for long stretches, only to find ways to win and advance, their fans will have to hope that’s the case in this series as well, falling down 0-2 again as they take the seven-gamer to Ohio for the next leg.

It was more of the same for the Cavs in the loss. If Donovan Mitchell doesn’t go supernova, the lack of depth scoring on the team is going to be the death of them.

On a night where Josh Hart exploded from the field to take the hero role for the Knicks team that relies on Jalen Brunson in the clutch but doesn’t always need help to be the headliner, the Cavs are a team with a lot of impressive pieces, but no one other than Mitchell can take over a game.

James Harden was supposed to be that player, but the 36-year-old is looking like most superstar players at that age: slow, a negative on defense, and a detriment if they’re not hitting their shots.

The Cavaliers are better than what they’ve shown in the past five quarters of play, but in the playoffs, you’re only remembered for how you finish.

And if this Cavs team heads into Game 3 with no defensive changes, hoping things will magically turn around, then maybe the Knicks should suit up Chalamet.

He might shoot better than Sam Merrill did on Thursday.

2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.

This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 8:11 PM.