Cavaliers' Beatdown of Knicks Made Stephen A. Smith Depressed And Sick

Stephen A. Smith was utterly disappointed in the way the Cleveland Cavaliers beatdown the New York Knicks on Friday evening.

Feb 16, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Team Stephen A coach Stephen A. Smith looks on against Team Shannon during the All Star Celebrity Game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

It was one heck of a way for the Cleveland Cavaliers to make a statement on the tail end of a back-to-back. Squaring off with the New York Knicks back in Cleveland a night after beating the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center, the Cavs handed the Knicks the worst loss of the Tom Thibodeau era.

It was a 142-105 knockout.

In fact, Thibodeau has been around the NBA for quite some time as both an assistant and a head coach, and the 37-point blowout was tied for the third largest loss of his career as a head coach with any team.

It was a statement win by Cleveland against the current third-best team in the Eastern Conference. It was such a statement that one of the Knicks' most prominent fans, analyst Stephen A. Smith, felt sick after the contest.

"I'm depressed. The New York Knicks got their a-- kicked. Very thoroughly, I may add," Stephen A. said on the postgame.

His issue was that the Cavaliers exposed the Knicks as a second-tier team. That means they can make things interesting, but against the truly elite teams in the NBA like Cleveland, they just don't add up.

"Three hours of my life that I could never get back. It's just a very, very bad, nauseating feeling right now. To be honest with you, the Knicks made me wanna throw up," he concluded.

While that's a damning statement from a Knicks superfan, lost in the sauce of those comments is that the Cavs are proving to be elite. They're first in the NBA's Central Division by a mile and now at 46-10, they're six games ahead of the Boston Celtics for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

This is a team that has very few weaknesses, and that fact was on display against the Knicks.

Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field (including 5-of-7 shooting from downtown) while Evan Mobley added 21 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. Ty Jerome came off the bench for 19 points while De'Andre Hunter added 16 of his own off the bench.

Up next for the Cavaliers is a Sunday night matchup against Ja Morant and the 37-19 Memphis Grizzlies at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.