Cavaliers win sixth straight, 91-84 over Knicks
BY STONE LEXINGTON
CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER
As we near Christmas, the ghost of the Golden State Warriors continues to haunt the Cleveland Cavaliers.
While the Cavs met the New York Knicks Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena, it was difficult to not look ahead to Cleveland’s showdown with the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day.
“The memories will come back as soon as we walk into the building (Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA), but also understanding it’s one of 82 and I’m not going to put everything into this game,” Cavs small forward LeBron James said.
The Cavs defeated the Knicks 91-84 Wednesday, but before and after the game, the focus was on the Warriors.
“We really haven’t spent a whole lot of time talking about Friday’s game,” Blatt said just prior to the contest with New York. “We’ve been focused on playing the Knicks tonight. There hasn’t been a need to address it, because I haven’t sensed that the guys are thinking about anything else but tonight.”
For the first time this season, the Cavs (19-7) had every player on their roster available Wednesday. Cleveland has had numerous injuries this season, including Kyrie Irving’s and Iman Shumpert’s lengthy layoffs.
“It was a great feeling earlier today when we were in the tunnel before we ran out,” James said. “I cannot remember the last time I looked in the huddle and we had everyone in uniform. It was a pretty good feeling.”
While the Cavs were completely healthy for the first time in a long time, the scrappy Knicks (14-16) didn’t back down. As the game was close throughout, the Cavs and Knicks battled their way to an 82-82 tie following a Tristan Thompson layup with 3:40 remaining in the fourth quarter. After Thompson’s layup, James took it upon himself to put the Knicks away. On Cleveland’s next possession, James converted a layup and followed the bucket with two free throws that put Cleveland up 86-82 with 2:47 to play. Neither team scored in the next minute-plus, but when James threw down a ferocious dunk with 51 seconds left to break the drought, the Cavs had an 88-82 lead the Knicks couldn’t come back from.
“Like we always preach, offensively, it’s not always going to be pretty,” James said. “Tonight, we needed it on the defensive end.”
The victory was the Cavs’ third in three tries against New York this season, while it was also Cleveland’s sixth straight win overall. James finished with a game-high 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Cavs power forward Kevin Love totaled 23 points and 13 rebounds.
The Knicks were without Carmelo Anthony Wednesday because of a sprained right ankle, but promising rookie Kristaps Porzingis shined in his absence. Porzingis finished with 23 points, 13 rebounds and four assists against Cleveland.
While the contest with the Knicks was a chaotic mess that saw six whistles for technical fouls, all eyes now turn to Cleveland’s matchup with Golden State on Friday.
“That’s an exciting game,” Blatt said. “I know everybody’s looking forward to it. The significance of the game is probably more, in terms of the excitement that it’s generating, than the actual meaning of it.
“It’s another game in an 82-game season — But I don’t think there’s anybody on our team that doesn’t remember the Finals — And I don’t think there’s anybody on their team that doesn’t remember either.”
The Cavs have the best home record in the Eastern Conference (13-1), but they’ll be in Oakland on Christmas for the meeting with Golden State. Shumpert still feels the sting of the Finals loss from a season ago.
“We’re going to come out and approach the game like we approach all games, but I’m salty,” Shumpert said. “I am.”
The Cavs shooting guard succinctly said, “I’m happy that’s we’re playing the Golden State Warriors.”
POSTED 12/23/2015 23:13
Lake County Sentinel
