by CLEVELAND, OH – The New York Knicks used 18 straight second quarter points by Jalen Brunson to pull away and never look back in a convincing 109-97 victory at Cleveland tonight. With 4:40 left in the second quarter, Cleveland led 45-43 before the Knicks went on a 20-5 run to build a 63-50 lead that the Cavaliers simply couldn’t recover from. As mentioned, Jalen Brunson was a major part of that.
The Brunson hot hand played nicely with Karl Anthony Towns who had 14 points and 4 rebounds in the first quarter alone. All of this was on the way to Brunson finishing the night with 31 points while Towns tallied 29 points and 13 rebounds. The terrific tandem of the Knicks both got hot at pivotal moments in the game that kept the Cavaliers swimming upstream.
Donovan Mitchell got hot in the fourth to finish with 37 points, including 15 points from beyond the arc. It wasn’t enough and came at a time when the game was nearly out of reach as Cleveland trailed by 20 in the fourth quarter when he began to get hot. The albatross was once again James Harden who finished with 7 points on just 2 of 9 shooting on the night. The Cavaliers were minus 15 with Harden on the court tonight.
What little help Mitchell received came from two unlikely sources as Peyton Watson finished with 12 points, 6 rebounds. Watson got early, scoring 7 points in the first 5 minutes of the game before being pulled and used sparingly afterwards. Watson, finished with 29 minutes, which again, seems off considering how hot he was early.
First time rookie starter, Maleek Thomas had 9 points on 3 of 10 shooting. Thomas was another player who was red hot early, then pulled and never the same as had his first 2 shoots on back to back three balls in the first before being pulled and never again finding his shooting touch in just 24 minutes.
If you thought Hardens night was bad, a young man by the name of Mario Hezonja managed to top that with zero points in 19 minutes on a paltry 0 of 6 shooting, including 0 – 5 from long range. The Cavaliers were a minus 16 with him on the court. Again, as much as Mitchell tried to shoot them back in late, it was too little too late.
The Cavaliers had no one in double digit assists or rebounds and simply didn’t look ready to play after a competitive first quarter. The Knicks used Towns to keep it tied in the first quarter and then Brunson to create a gap in the second that held up the rest of the way.
Hustle stats went the way of the Knicks as they outrebounded the Cavaliers 49-40. The Knicks also created 11 turnovers on defense while the Cavaliers could only muster 7. Finally, the Cavaliers got to the line a lot in the first but couldn’t convert, and then almost never returned there in the second half. The Cavaliers finished just 11 of 19 on the night from the foul line.
This completes a rough week for Cleveland that saw them lose twice to Oklahoma City and once tonight to the New York Knicks. Their sole win this week came last night against LeBron James and the 76ers.
The Cavaliers go back on the road this week with trips to Charlotte, New York and Miami, before returning home next Saturday to host Dallas.
