The biggest stars shine the brightest, causing them to oftentimes burn out the fastest.
In the first half, the New York Knicks gave the Cleveland Cavaliers one of their best efforts against any of the NBA’s best this season. Unfortunately, one-half does not constitute a full game of hoops.
April 2: Final
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Cleveland grabbed the victory on their home court, 124-105, bringing the Knicks to 0-8 against the NBA’s top-three winningest teams this season.
Despite being on the second night of a back-to-back, having to fly to another city, and being without their first three strings of point guards or backup center, the Knicks had a prime opportunity to take a swing at the Cleveland Cavaliers, an Eastern Conference powerhouse this season who have been looking uncharacteristically mortal as of late.
They swung, but only about half connected.
New York led this game by as many as 15 points in the first half, fueled by OG Anunoby’s AND1 Mixtape-esque moves in the lane and scorching hot shooting from distance (5-6 3PT). The orange and blue stayed in the green with a seven-point lead heading into the break, 60-53.
Sidenote: The Knicks also led the Cavaliers by seven at the half of their Oct. 28 matchup, which they, of course, would go on to lose. Maybe the writing was on the wall.
Cleveland swung back in the second half and punched the Knicks in the mouth while doing so. They shot a perfect 15-for-15 (yes, you read that correctly) on two-point attempts and 17-21 from the field coming out of the break, turning a seven-point deficit following the second quarter into a six-point lead after the third.
The Knicks would never regain control of the game.
After tallying just 11 points in the first frame, Donovan Mitchell turned on the burners to score 14 points in the third quarter alone. He finished his 30-minute outing as the game’s leading scorer with 27 points (10-18 FG, 3-7 3PT, 4-4 FT), one shy of his average against New York in his Cavs career.
Cavs starting center Jarrett Allen almost went perfect from the field for the game by himself, shooting 10-11 from the field en route to 21 points, seven rebounds, a block, and a steal.
Conversely to Mitchell, OG Anunoby scored just four points in the entire second half after his load-carrying 19 in the first, shooting 2-7 from the field and 0-2 from three.
The rest of the Knicks followed suit, shooting just 1-15 on three-pointers in the second half after going 10-21 from beyond the arc through the first 24 minutes.
Karl-Anthony Towns was New York’s leading scorer in the matchup, scoring 25 points (9-16 FG, 1-3 3PT, 6-7 FT) to go along with 13 rebounds, but also committed seven turnovers, half of New York’s total for the game.
Are we sure that Mikal Bridges was on the flight to Cleveland? The Knicks’ starting shooting guard scored just 8 points while shooting 3-6 from the field and 0-1 from three. He was a team-low -19 plus/minus for the game.
The Cavaliers entered this game boasting a record of 60-15, the best their franchise has seen since 2009-10.
Under new head coach Kenny Atkinson, the Cavs have adopted a fresh playing style, which has seen them become the NBA leaders in points and three-point percentage. Their makes from three as a team trail only the Celtics, who are monsters in their own regard.
However, Cleveland was just 5-5 in their last 10 games leading up to their second-to-last matchup with the Knicks. The same traits led to their highest regular-season peak since the first LeBron James era—a stratospheric team three-point percentage (38.4%), league-leading offensive rating (122.2), and top-10 defensive rating (112.3) – had been cratering, against some lesser competition, too.
During a stint that saw them fall to sub-.500 teams such as the Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, and Sacramento Kings, Cleveland’s three-point percentage dropped over four percent from 38.4% to 34.1%. Consequently, its offensive rating went from first in the NBA to a still formidable, but not as daunting, seventh over that same span.
But here’s the kicker: Also, over that 10-game stretch, the Cavaliers’ defensive rating plummeted (or skyrocketed, to be numerically specific) from an eighth-best 111.9 to 120.4, which would rank dead last in the league if sustained throughout the entire season.
While undermanned in many ways, the Knicks missed a chance to kick the Eastern Conference’s top team while they were “down.” Instead, they added another loss to their own record, which is 48-28, with six games left to play in the regular season.
New York will have two more cracks at changing the narrative surrounding their play versus the NBA’s premier teams before the agenda turns to the postseason, facing off against the Boston Celtics on April 8, followed by the Cavaliers once again just three days later for their final regular season games against both teams.
Do the Knicks have it in them to prove they can hang with the heavy hitters and potentially instill some confidence just ahead of the playoffs? They have to show us, and themselves.
