Cavs know exactly what needs to change in Game 3

The Cavaliers have been here before. Down 0-2. Questions everywhere. Outside noise getting louder by the hour.

So, yeah, the situation probably feels a little too familiar.

The Cavs faced the same deficit against the Pistons in the previous round before rallying back into the series. Now they return to Rocket Arena needing that same type of response against the Knicks.

And while Game 1 was about a brutal fourth-quarter collapse, Game 2 mostly came down to one thing: missed shots.

Cleveland shot just 9-of-35 from three-point range. That’s 25.7 percent. Against a physical Knicks team built around Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson, that’s simply not going to get it done.

“We knew coming into this series we were gonna have to make 3’s,” coach Kenny Atkinson said afterward. “Can easily go home and shoot 43%, maybe it’s a different story.”

The Cavs actually didn’t hate a lot of what they did defensively. Jarrett Allen said the locker room message afterward centered on trusting the process despite the result.

“We did everything right,” Allen said. “Just couldn’t make shots.”

Now comes the pressure part.

Role players almost always become more important at home during the playoffs, and Cleveland badly needs Max Strus and Sam Merrill to look more comfortable Saturday night.

Merrill went 0-for-7 from deep in Game 2. Strus finished 1-for-7 overall.

Those two are on the floor to stretch defenses and punish teams for loading up on Donovan Mitchell and James Harden. If the shots don’t fall, the entire offense starts shrinking against New York’s size and physicality.

The good news for the Cavs? They’ve generated quality looks throughout much of the series.

The bad? Moral victories disappear quickly in the conference finals.

Now the series shifts back to Cleveland, where the Cavs hope a desperate crowd and a few early threes can completely change the tone.