ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill: What to Expect in NBA’s Knicks-Cavs Eastern Finals

The Cleveland Cavaliers ran the Detroit Pistons off the floor in the closeout game, and ESPN's Vincent Goodwill watched a team that simply ran out of road.

Goodwill came on the show to break down the Pistons' exit and what the Eastern Conference Finals look like now that the Cavs and Knicks are the last two standing.

The Detroit collapse was an attrition story to him. They had been down 3-1 to Orlando in the first round and stayed on an every-other-day grind from that point on.

"You saw a team that ran out of gas last night," Goodwill said. "When you think about them being down 3-1 to the Orlando Magic, and every game being an elimination game and playing every other day from that point on, the attrition of the playoffs came back to haunt them."

He pointed to what makes Detroit, Detroit. They take the other team out of its best game. That night, they could not.

"Their superpower is making sure that you cannot play your best game as an opponent," Goodwill said. "They lost their superpower last night."

The Cavs took advantage from jump. They were quicker to the ball. They could not be kept out of the paint by James Harden or Donovan Mitchell. The shooters got open looks.

Goodwill found a silver lining for Detroit in the lopsided loss. A close Game 7 loss might have seduced the front office into bringing the band back. The thrashing forces clarity.

"Now they really have to look at this roster around Cade Cunningham and probably Ausar Thompson as the second untouchable, and figure out what pieces can we mix and match to make sure that we can elevate ourselves," Goodwill said.

Tom asked Goodwill how good the Cavs are in a seven-game series. The honest answer started with the late-series unknown.

"You better be good in games one through five, cuz I'm not sure what you getting out of James Harden in games six and seven," Goodwill said. "He used to be a solid bet. That is a mystery bag that does not always yield positive results."

The talent case for Cleveland is straightforward. Mitchell and Harden in the backcourt. Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, the twin towers, what Goodwill called the "tall and that's all" pairing.

"That's All-Star level talent at four of the five positions," Goodwill said.

He added a piece of the Cavs' story that does not get talked about enough. Money.

"This is the highest payroll in the NBA," Goodwill said. "They're the most expensive team in the league. We just think of the Cavs as being a small market and they don't have much of an identity beyond LeBron James, but there's expectations to be here."

Against the Knicks, the matchup problem cuts both ways. Cleveland has two ball-dominant scorers in Mitchell and Harden who can occupy Jalen Brunson. New York has not had to deal with a big like Mobley in the first two rounds.

"This is going to be a styles-make-fights situation where neither team is truly prepared for what they're going to see based off of what they've had to deal with in the first two rounds," Goodwill said.