Cleveland, Ohio - The Cavs dropped a tough one to the New York Knicks 107-98.
The Knicks, already dealing with injuries to multiple players, suffered another loss when Jalen Brunson went down on the Knicks' first possession. Away from the play Brunson fell to the ground grabbing his left leg. Brunson left the game and did not return with a left knee injury.
For the Knicks that didn’t slow them down as Donte DiVincenzo and MIles McBride scored 20 of the Knicks' 28 1st quarter points. The Knicks were on fire shooting 54% from behind the arc and 47% from the floor.
The Cavs had their own struggles to manage with Donovan Mitchell and Caris Levert missing their second consecutive game. Isaac Okoro was inserted into the starting lineup and he provided the offensive punch for the wind and gold with 8 points and going a perfect 2/2 from 3-point land.
The 2nd quarter saw Sam Merrill and Craig Porter Jr get some burn and they didn’t disappoint. Porter Jr hit his first shot, a step-back jumper. Then Sam Merrill would catch fire making his first three 3-pointers and going 4/6 behind the arc for the quarter. The Cavs needed all of Merrill's shooting prowess as the Knicks' lead hovered around 10 points for most of the quarter.
The Cavs closed the 1st half with a 13-6 run capped off by a Darius Garland 3-pointer to give the Cavs the lead at intermission 53-51.
The start of the 2nd half looked similar to the beginning of the game with the Knicks getting into the paint almost at will with dribble penetration. This led to the Knicks shooting 66% from the floor and 50% from 3 and the Cavs allowed 16 points in the paint for the quarter. With Brunson out for the remainder of the game, Josh Hart and DiVincenzo carried the scoring for New York in the quarter. Hart and DiVencenzo combined for 26 points with DiVencenzo scoring 16 including ⅘ on 3-point shots.
Coach Bickerstaff spoke postgame about the lack of consistent defense and how they can improve.
“I mean, you got to stand your ground at some point. That's what I think, in those quarters, we didn't do a good enough job. I just watched us backpedal as we were guarding guys, one-on-one, and allowing them to get to the paint. And when you allow him to get to the paint now you got to protect the paint, you're in rotation. They ended up with open shots and they made their shots. Guys had their opportunities to step up. Bogdanovich, DiVincenzo, those guys stepped up and made plays. And again, Josh Hart is a winner, he got a hell of a stepback three in the corner, but he seems to make those plays all the time. So give those guys credit. But again, we can't pick and choose when we're going to be at our best. We did it in the second quarter. We did it in the fourth quarter. But we got to play four quarters of Cavs basketball.”
After losing the lead and tying the game at 64, the Knicks went on an 18-6 run to lead by 12 with 90 seconds left in the quarter. The Cavs followed up with a late-quarter flurry and closed the gap to 9 after Craig Porter Jr found Sam Merrill in the corner for 3 to end the quarter.
To begin the 4th quarter the Cavs’ offense showed some life as they opened the quarter with a 10-5 run to cut the Knicks lead to 4 thanks to another Sam Merrill 3-pointer. The Knicks as they did all night responded to the Cavs’ run with timely shot-making. Bojan Bogdanovic scored 4 of his 6 points on a 3-pointer and 1 play where he was fouled by Georges Niang to push the lead back to 8. The wine and gold cut the lead to 3 after an Evan Mobley dunk with just under two minutes left in regulation. However, the Cavs followed that possession up by allowing a step-back 3-pointer from Josh Hart. Then with nearly 30 seconds left Miles McBride who filled in for Jalen Brunson, put the nail in the coffin with a 3-pointer in the corner after the Knicks had the Cavs scrambling on defense.
During his postgame press conference coach, Bickerstaff bemoaned about his team’s effort or lack thereof.
“I thought we played in spurts. I thought we had a good second quarter. I thought we had a good fourth quarter effort-wise. But to come out of halftime and give up 36 points, to a team that was down as many guys as they were down, it's disappointing. Defensively, we've got to be better than that. It came down to a lot of one-on-one and holding your man up and then attacking our paint and then creating for each other. That happened in the first quarter and third quarter, but we've just got to be better.”
Even though the Cavs lost there was a celebratory mood in the arena during the game as the Cavs hosted their second annual Bow Tie Night to honor Nick Gilbert( the son of Cavs’ owner Dan Gilbert). During his pregame media availability coach Bickerstaff spoke on the impact and memories he had of Nick.
“I think he's been an inspiration to everybody, not just this organization who knows his story. I think about the last time we were in Detroit at the gala, and they showed a video about Nick and the things that he went through and the attitude that he maintained every single day going through what he was going through, and how he always tried to find a positive. As tough as things were, as difficult as it was, he never allowed himself to give in to it, and every single day, he fought. To me, that's the nature of life. That's the nature of sport to a lesser degree. It's like every opportunity no matter the ups and downs, you never give in, you continue to fight and try to be an inspiration the way Nick was.”
The Knicks win gives them the season series lead 2 games to 1. The Cavs resume action on Tuesday, March 5th when they play the Boston Celtics (48-12) at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
Cavs miss Mitchell and Levert for 2nd consecutive game
