Cavaliers out physical Knicks in 109-94 win

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - The Cleveland Cavaliers (37-22, 20-11 home) returned home to Rocket Arena on Tuesday night to take on the New York Knicks (37-22, 14-14 road). A game that many said would show who is the favorite in the Eastern Conference heading into the playoffs in April.

The game was the third and final regular season meeting between the two teams. The first two contests were in New York at the rather drab and overrated Madison Square Garden. The Knicks were victorious in both of those contests. The last meeting was on Christmas day and in the opinion of many handed to the Knicks by the NBA officials with some absolutely terrible officiating in the final minute of the game. Tonight, it was the usual suspect officiating, but the Cavaliers were just too much for the healthy Knicks squad taking down New York 109-94. The Knicks do own the tiebreaker over the Cavs as they won the season series.

The Cavs took an early 6-2 lead when James Harden hit Donovan Mitchell in front of the Cavs bench for a three with 10:18 remaining in the opening quarter. With 9:00 left Harden drained a three and the Cavs led 13-9. With 5:18 left in the opening quarter the Knicks cut the Cavs lead to 21-19 when Josh Hart drained a three. The Cavs came right back and extended the lead back to four points when Jarrett Allen scored in the paint and was fouled. Allen, who had been struggling from the foul line, missed the free throw. With 1:33 left in the opening quarter the Cavs lead grew to 30-24 when Dean Wade hit a three from the corner. Then with time running out Wade drain another three from in front of the Cavs bench to give the Cavs a 35-26 lead at the end of one period. Mitchell led everyone with nine first quarter points. Hart led the Knicks with seven points. The Cavs outshot the Knicks 54% (14 of 26) to 50% (10 of 20) in the opening period. The Cavs also outrebounded the Knicks 10-8 and forced six Knicks turnovers resulting in seven Cavs points.

With 8:59 left Keon Ellis barely touched Karl-Anthony Towns arm and was called for a foul. Towns hit the free throw, and the Cavs lead was cut to 38-31. Mitchell was fouled with 8:25 left and hit both free throws and the Cavs lead was back at eight points at 41-33. With 6:31 left the Cavs’ lead was 46-37 when Dennis Schroder drained a three courtesy of an assist from Harden, his fourth of the game to that point. With 4:28 left in the half the Knicks cut the Cavs lead to five points and then to two points at 48-46 when Jalen Brunson was allegedly fouled by Keon Ellis in the paint. Brunson hit the free throw. With 2:13 left in the second quarter Harden drove the lane and was fouled. With 1:20 left Allen slammed home his second dunk in less than a minute courtesy of a Wade assist to give the Cavs a 56-49 lead. As the halftime buzzer sounded the Cavs took a 60-54 lead into the locker room. Mitchell led all scorers with 15 first half points, Brunson led the Knicks with 13. The Knicks outshot the Cavs 51% (21 of 41) to 45% (22 of 49) in the opening half. The Cavs outrebounded the Knicks with the slightest margin 20-19. The Knicks turned the ball over 12 times resulting in 11 Cavs points. The Knicks did lead the battle in the paint 32-26.

With 9:14 left in the third quarter the Cavs outscored the Knicks 13-9 and extended their lead to 69-58 when Knick coach Mike Brown had seen enough and called a timeout. They typical antics of the NBA and their officials were in full force in the middle of the third quarter with 5:37 left and Harden was absolutely hacked on the arm by Brunson and no foul was called, the Cav led by eight points. With 1:37 left in the third, Wade pulled down an offensive rebound and put it back in, giving the Cavs an 81-65 lead, their largest of the game to that point. When the period ended the Cavs, lead was 83-65. Allen led everyone in scoring through three quarters with 18 points. Mikal Bridges was leading New York with 15. Shooting was not at a premium in the third quarter as the Cavs outshot the Knicks 36% (8 of 22) to 13% (3 of 25). The Cavs also out rebounded the Knicks 16-15 to keep a 36-34 advantage for the game. Scoring in the paint was even 34-34 through three periods.

With 11:23 left in the final quarter Evan Mobley was fouled and hit one of two to give the Cavs an 84-65 lead. The Knicks scored six of the next seven points and with 9:58 leftovers, the Cavs lead to 85-71. With 8:06 left Harden extended the Cavs lead back to 17 points at 91-74 and then Mobley pushed it to 93-74 with 7:39 left when he pulled down an offensive rebound and put it back in. Brown called a timeout. With 6:25 left in the final quarter Harden was called for a foul and Kenny Atkinson challenged it. Stunningly Atkinson won the challenge and called was reversed and Bridges was charged with the personal foul, his fourth. After the foul reversal, the Cavs scored on a nice pass from Allen to Ellis and led 97-78 with 6:16 left in regulation. With 5:42 left the Cavs lead was 20 points after Allen hit one of two free throws. The big man from Texas had 19 points and 10 boards for his 16 double double of the season. With 4:10 left and the Cavs up 15 points Jaylon Tyson drove the land, made the basket, and got fouled to give the Cavs a 101-83 lead. With 2:42 left and the Cavs up 18 points Atkinson pulled the starters and then Brown followed signaling the Cavs were on their way to beating the Knicks. When the final buzzer sounded the Cavs secured the 109-94 win.

Mitchell led all scorers with 23 points. Harden had 20 and Allen deposited 19 and 10 boards. Brunson paced the Knicks with 20 points and Bridges contributed 18 in the loss for the Knicks.

The Cavs outshot the Knicks from the field 43% (37 of 87) to 41% (35 of 86). Cleveland also outshot the Knicks from three-point range 37% (13 of 35) to 27% (10 of 37). Rebounds ended up being even 44-44 and the Knicks edged the Cavs, scoring in the paint 46-42 in the loss. The Cavs scored 17 points off turnovers while the Knicks scored 10.

The Cavs will play the second half of a back-to-back tomorrow on the road in Milwaukee at the Fiserv Forum against the Bucks (24-31, 12-13 home) at 8 pm. The game is the third of four against the Bucks. The Cavs have taken the first two meetings, both were played in Cleveland.