Cavaliers comeback to trounce Knicks 124-105
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - The Cleveland Cavaliers (61-15, 33-5 home) entered Wednesday night’s game with the New York Knicks (48-28, 22-16 road) holding the number one seed in the Eastern Conference and moved one step closer to clinching home court in the playoffs with a 124-105 comeback win at Rocket Arena.
The Knicks jumped out to a 12-4 lead with 8:03 left on the first quarter clock when OG Anunoby hit a three. In the first 5:18 of the game the Knicks hit four three-point shots to take an 18-10 lead. Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson took an immediate timeout as he had seen enough. Apparently, the timeout had little effect as with 5:56 left the Knicks took a 23-12 lead on a three by Delon Wright. With 1:41 left the Knicks’ three-point barrage continued with Josh Hart hitting his second of the quarter giving the Knicks a 32-21 lead. The Cavs did go on a run to end the first quarter trailing 34-28 when time ran out. Hart led all scorers through one quarter with 10 points. Donovan Mitchell led the Cavs with nine first quarter points. The Knicks were on fire from the field, or the Cavs played very little defense it’s up for debate as the Knicks shot 70% (14 of 20) while the Cavs shot 45% (9 of 20). The Knicks were scorching from three-point range shooting 75% (6 of 8) while the Cavs shot 55% (6 of 11). The Cavs outrebounded the Knicks 10-7 in the first 12 minutes.
The Knicks took their largest lead to that point with 8:54 left when Landry Shamet drained a three from in front of the Knicks bench giving the visitors a 46-33 lead. With 5:30 left the Cavs cut the deficit to 51-41 when Darius Garland scored in the paint. The big problem was the Cavs could not stop the Knicks who were still shooting 63% (22 of 35) at that point. The Knicks took a 56-41 lead with 4:30 left when Anunoby hit his fifth three pointer of the first half. With 3:05 left in the half Karl-Anthony Towns picked up his third personal foul. With 1:50 left the Cavs cut the Knicks lead to 58-51 when De’Andre Hunter drove the lane and scored. As time ran out in the second quarter the Cavs trailed by seven points, 60-53. Anunoby led all scorers with 19 first half points. Mitchell paced the Cavs with 11 points, but only scored two in the second quarter. The Knick’s shooting from the field cooled off a little in the second quarter as they finished the half shooting 60% (25 of 42) while the Cavs remained at 45% (20 of 44). Both teams cooled of from three-point range with the Cavs going ice cold shooting just 13% (1 of 8) in the second quarter to finish the half at 37% (7 of 19). The Knicks finished the half shooting 48% (10 of 21). The Knicks also worked harder taking an edge on the boards 21-18.
With the Knicks leading 62-53 and 11:18 left in the third quarter Anunoby picked up his fourth personal. Evan Mobley made both free throws and the Cavs cut the Knicks lead to seven points. Just 21 seconds later after a Mobley steal Max Strus hit a three to pull the Cavs to within four points at 62-58. Then with 10:20 left after a Knicks failed possession their lead shrunk to 62-60 when Mitchel scored in the paint. Knicks curmudgeon head coach Tom Thibodeau called an immediate timeout. Needless to say, Thibodeau was his usual unhappy self. Immediately after the timeout the Knicks scored on two straight possessions to take a 66-60 lead. With 8:15 left in the third the Cavs once again cut the Knicks lead to two points when Garland hit a short jumper and then with 7:42 left the Cavs took their first lead of the game 69-68 on a three by Mitchell. With 7:06 left on an alleyoop pass from Garland Mobley scored and the Cavs were leading 71-68. The unhappy Thibodeau took another timeout. With 4:38 left the Cavs lead grew to 80-72 when Isaac Okoro scored on a fast break. With 3:43 left Jarrett Allen was called for a questionable foul. Precious Achiuwa made both free throws and the Knicks retained possession and scored, cutting the Cavs lead to 81-78 with 3:18 left on the clock. After a Cavs turnover the Knicks cut the Cavs lead to 81-80. The remainder of the quarter the Cavs outscored New York 10-5 to take a 91-85 lead into the final 12 minutes. Anunoby was still leading all scorers with 21 points through three. Mitchell was not far behind, leading the Cavs with 20. The Knicks cooled off in the third quarter shooting just 35% (9 of 26). The Cavs heated up shooting 81% (17 of 21). The Knicks were also miserable in the third quarter from three-point range as they shot 13% (1 of 8) while the Cavs shot 33% (2 of 6). The Knicks were still leading on the boards 28-26.
With 10:15 left in regulation Towns committed his fourth foul when he shoved Mobley. Mobley made both free throws and the Cavs had their biggest lead of the night 98-85. The Cavs then went on another run, outscoring the Knicks 9-5 to take a 17-point lead after an Allen dunk with 5:46 left. With 4:06 left Hunter hit a fadeaway jumper to give the Cavs their largest lead of the game to that point 111-93. After an Allen steal, he took the ball full court and emphatically slammed it home with 2:25 left to give Cleveland a 118-97 lead and seal the fate of the Knicks. The Cavs outscored the Knicks 71-45 in the second half to secure the 124-105 win.
Mitchell led all scorers with 27 points, Allen had 21. Towns led the Knicks with 25 in a losing effort. Anunoby, who had 19 in the first half was held to only four points in the second half and finished with 23.
As a team the Cavs shot 53% (50 of 94) from the field in the game, but it was the shooting in the second half as they shot 60% (30 of 50). The Knicks ended up shooting 44% (40 of 90) after shooting 70% in the first quarter. Cleveland also outshot the Knicks from long distance 32% (12 of 37) to 31% (11 of 36) after the first quarter the Knicks shot 18% (5 of 28) from three point range while the Cavs shot 23% (6 of 26) which was just slightly better than the Knicks but it was enough. The Cavs also won the battle of the boards 44-39 out rebounding the Knicks 26-18 in the second half.
The Cavs will be in action next on Friday night in San Antonio to take on the Spurs at 8 pm at Frost Bank Center. The Cavaliers defeated on March 27th at Rocket Arena 124-116.
POSTED 04/02/2025 21:55
Lake County Sentinel
Donovan Mitchell scores two of his 27 points in the first quarter in the Cavs 124-105 win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night at Rocket Arena.
Photo by Tommy Shirer
