Cavaliers blow Knicks out of Ohio 142-105

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - On Thursday night the Cleveland Cavaliers (46-10, 26-4 home) returned from the all-star break with a quick trip to Brooklyn and defeated the Brooklyn Nets 110-97. On Friday night they welcomed the New York Knicks (37-19, 17-9 road) to the newly minted Rocket Arena. The Knicks were also in New York City on Thursday night and defeated the Chicago Bulls 113-111 in overtime. Friday night there was no overtime needed as the game was a blowout early as the Cavs ran over the Knicks 142-105 in front of a sellout crowd.

The opening moments were not pretty as the Cavs turned the ball over twice and the Knicks took a 5-0 lead. With 9:41 left Max Strus hit Jarrett Allen in the paint to cut the Kinicks lead to 5-4. The Cavs took their first lead 8-7 when Darius Garland missed a three and Evan Mobley slammed the put back with 8:51 left in the opening quarter. The Cavs went up 10-7 with 8:21 left when Mobley hit Donovan Mitchell on the fast break with Mitchell depositing the pull up jumper. The always pleasant Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau called an immediate timeout. With 6:14 left the Cavs took a 20-11 lead when Garland hit a three pointer from near the top of the arc and the Rocket Arena crowd went crazy. With 3:09 left after Knicks miss Ty Jerome drove the lane at the other end hitting the shot and drawing a foul. He converted the free throw to give the Cavs a 28-18 lead. With 2:12 left Mobley struck again the paint slamming home giving the Cavs a 32-20 lead. The Cavs then extended their lead to 36-22 with 1:05 left on the first quarter clock when Jerome hit a floating jumper. Then with 05.4 left Mitchell hit a three and then with no time left the Knicks, Jalen Brunson hit a three and the Cavs led 41-29 after one quarter. Brunson led all scorers after 12 minutes with 16 points. Mobley led the Cavs with 10 first quarter points. The Cavs edged the Knicks in rebounds 11-10. The Cavs shot a scorching 74% (17 of 23) in the opening quarter. The Knicks shot 46% (12 of 26).

After the Knick cut the Cavs lead to nine Mobley hit a three from the top of the arc putting the Cavs ahead 46-34. After a Knicks Jerome steal Mitchell drove the lane and was fouled, he threw the ball up to give the Cavs a 48-34 lead, he missed the free throw with 10:28 left. With 8:26 left the Cavs lead was 55-36 after De’Andre Hunter buried a step back jumper from the corner. Five seconds later and unhappy Thibodeau called a timeout. With 7:46 left OG Anunoby hit a three to cut the Cavs lead to 57-40. The Cavs lead increased once again with 5:47 left when Garland was fouled and took a 61-43 lead after Garland hit both free throws. The foul was on Ariel Hukporti, it was his third personal of the game. With 4:33 left the Cavs took their biggest lead to that point 63-43 when Isaac Okoro drove the lane and scored. With 4:11 left Garland was fouled hard hitting his head on the court. The game was delayed for several minutes. He hit one of two to give the Cavs a 64-43 lead. With 1:57 left Karl-Anthony Towns cut the Cavs lead to 66-48 hitting two free throws. With :51.6 left, Mitchell gave the Cavs a 74-50 lead when he drained a three. Then after Max Struss slipped and fell passing the ball to Mitchell, Mitchell drained another three strutting up the court after letting the Knicks know who was up by 27 points as the Cavs took a 77-50 lead into the locker room for the intermission. Mitchell led all scorers through two quarters with 24 points. Towns led the Knicks with 21. The Cavs were on fire from the field in the opening half shooting 67% (30 of 45) while the Knicks shot 45% (21 of 47). The Cavs outrebounded the Knicks 23-17. The Knicks turned the ball over nine times resulting in 14 Cavs points. Dean Wade made his return going scoreless in six minutes in the first half.

The first couple minutes of the second half were anything but pretty as the two teams combined for two points. With 8:57 left, Mitchell hit a three from in front of the Knicks bench to give the Cavs a 82-52 lead, the rout was officially on. The Knicks did cut the Cavs lead to 26 with 5:52 left when the Cavs turned the ball over, but just ten seconds later the Cavs lead was back up to 29 at 96-67 when Hunter drained a three. With 4:01 left in the quarter the Cavs lead ballooned to 100-70 when Strus took a Knicks turnover to the other end slamming it home. As the third quarter ended Cleveland lead was 110-79, all that remained to be determined in the final quarter was how much would the Cavs win by. Through the first 36 minutes Mitchell led everyone in scoring with 27 points. Brunson had 26 in a feudal effort for the brow beaten Knicks. The Cavs cooled off a little shooting from the field in the third quarter shooting only 52% (13 of 25) but were still shooting 61% (43 of 70) for the game. The Knicks were shooting 48% 33 of 69). The Cavs were winning the battle of the boards 31-27. The only negative news for the Cavs was when Jarrett Allen left the game midway through the quarter with a hand injury and did not return.

The Cavs lead even with the bench taking over continued to grow. With 9:29 left Craig Porter, Jr. got in on the act and drained a three giving the Cavs a 124-85 lead. Dean Wade scored two points in his first game since January 24th and the newest Cav Nae’Qwan Tomlin scored five points, 2 of 3 from the field with three rebounds in his NBA debut. All fourteen Cavaliers played. 13 of the 14 scored, Tristan Thompson was the only Cav that did not get on the scoreboard in 7:29 minutes of floor time, he did not dunk to end the game on Friday night.

Mitchell led everyone in scoring with 27 points, Brunson led the Knicks with 26 points. The Cavs had six players in double figures including Mobley who finished with 21.

The Cavs shot 61% (56 of 92) from the field and 51% (19 of 37) from behind the three-point line. While the Knicks did not struggle exactly as they shot 47% (42 of 89) from the field and 38% (11 of 29) from three-point range. The Cavs dominated the boards 47-32. They also dominated New York in the paint, outscoring them 66-38. The Cavs bench obliterated the Knicks bench 70-31. The game was not close.

The Cavs will be in action next on Sunday night at 7 p.m. when the Memphis Grizzlies (36-19, 15-13 road) come to town. This is the first meeting this season between the two clubs. The Cavs won both games against the Grizzlies last season and three in a row. Cleveland also leads the all-time series 34-21 and are 21-6 at RA against the Memphis/Vancouver.