Landry Shamet Knicks Blank Donovan Mitchell in Game 1 Adjustment
shamet knicks became the story in Game 1 when New York used Landry Shamet on Donovan Mitchell and got the Cavaliers into a matchup they could not answer. Shamet spent more time opposite Mitchell than any other Knicks player, and Cleveland’s offense managed only 0.81 points per possession on those trips.
That choice also came with two other switches. The Knicks put Karl-Anthony Towns on Evan Mobley and moved OG Anunoby to Jarrett Allen, turning the possession map into a series of deliberate one-on-one assignments instead of a conventional matchup set.
Mitchell and Shamet
Shamet was the primary defender on Mitchell for the longest stretch among Knicks players, and the numbers tracked with the eye test. Cleveland’s attack stalled when those two were matched up, with the offense posting 0.81 points per possession on the possessions in question.
For New York, that meant the guard who usually has to chase around screens was asked to handle the Cavaliers’ most dangerous perimeter option. Shamet is one of the Knicks’ scrappier screen navigators, and that trait showed up in how New York chose to deploy him.
Knicks Defensive Swaps
The other assignments mattered because they changed where Cleveland could look for clean advantages. Towns drew Mobley, while Anunoby took Allen, so the Knicks could keep Mitchell from settling into the more familiar Mitchell-versus-Jalen Brunson matchup Cleveland may prefer.
That is the opening Cleveland has to work with if it wants to answer the coverage. The Cavaliers may try to get back to Mitchell versus Brunson by using off-ball screens, and they can also look to use Mobley as the screener rather than Allen to alter the route into the action.
Cleveland’s Counterplan
Caitlin Cooper noted that when the Toronto Raptors threw Jakob Poeltl on Mobley in Round 1, the approach invited Cleveland to use Mobley as the screener rather than Jarrett Allen. That same wrinkle now hangs over this series setup, because the Knicks have already shown they are willing to shift the assignments around Mitchell to make the Cavaliers work for the look they want.
Game 1 gave New York a blueprint built on flexibility, not just effort. If Cleveland wants a cleaner Mitchell possession, it will need to create it through screens and movement, because the Knicks have already shown they can change the first defender, the helper, and the target in the same sequence.
