Knicks takeaways from Tuesday's Game 2 loss to Cavaliers, including getting outplayed from beginning to end

“New York sucks” chants rained from the Cleveland faithful as the fourth quarter of their 107-90 drubbing of the Knicks ticked away. 

The Cavaliers hit them with a monster counterpunch of physicality, defense, rebounding and Darius Garland, taking a first-half lead and never looking back.

Here are some takeaways...

- After a terrific performance on the boards in Game 1, the Knicks were dominated 43-36 on Tuesday night. The Cavs were quicker to the ball, more desperate, and constantly challenging their opponent's grip.

- The normally steady-handed Knicks coughed up a whopping 17 turnovers, many unforced, others downright confounding. That was just a piece of their offensive woes.

Nobody put up a strong outing, with the team shooting 36.7 percent from the field and 24.1 percent from three. Julius Randle’s 22 points and eight rebounds on 8-of-20 shooting led the way, but were accompanied by six turnovers.

Jalen Brunson put up 20 on 5-of-17 shooting from the floor, facing stronger hedges, shading and doubles on his possessions.

- On the other end, Darius Garland had a field day with 32 points and seven assists, hitting six threes. Donovan Mitchell was the playmaker with 17 points and 13 assists, while Caris LeVert picked up the scoring slack with 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting.

Cleveland turned up the physicality, drawing blood on a couple Knicks and whacking Brunson in the face repeatedly. They put the pressure on defensively in tandem, scheming to send more help to the strong side on New York’s stars and blitzing their actions.

- The Knicks key complementary players - RJ Barrett, Quentin Grimes and Immanuel Quickley - failed to make them pay, not finding a rhythm until the game was out of reach.

The game was ugly out of the gates, much like the rock fight that was Saturday night.

- The Cavaliers looked unsure with four quick turnovers, and the Knicks’ stars went to work early. A Randle post fade and three over Mobley sparked a 10-0 run, while Brunson contributed his share of isolation buckets to give New York a 13-6 lead midway through the first.

Cleveland responded by way of Garland knocking down two deep threes then drawing a charge on Grimes. Brunson cooled down and a LeVert three splashed through in the final second of the quarter to give the Cavs a 25-22 lead after one.

- Much like the first, the second period opened to a couple struggling offenses, but the Knicks really couldn’t get off the snide. They went seven minutes without a field goal, compiling five turnovers in five minutes as the Cavaliers swarmed them with ball pressure and help to go up 38-26 midway through the quarter.

New York tried to hang close, but Cleveland kept their foot down, matching the Knicks' physicality, and forcing an inbounds turnover through a full-court press. Garland went on an absolute tear, getting to the stripe, the rim, and to his pull-up with ease, racking up 26 first-half points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field to give his team a 59-39 advantage at the half.

- The Cavaliers dispelled Isaac Okoro from the rotation, starting Levert in his spot to start the second half. Despite Barrett finally finding some rhythm, Cleveland led 70-49 midway through the quarter.

New York had flashes, like an Isaiah Hartenstein missed floater he slammed on the putback, but Garland kept knocking down an impressive array of threes. The Cavaliers looked comfortable up 82-60 going into the closing period.

Things quickly went from bad to worse for the Knicks. Obi Toppin dove out of bounds to save a ball and found Jarrett Allen wide open underneath the rim, to cap off a series of Shaqtin’ moments that included Randle poking Brunson in the eye and a turnover off Josh Hart’s head. 

The Cavaliers lead grew to 94-68 and they coasted from there. Some last-minute drama saw Randle in the game down over 20 points with two minutes left, and nearly getting flipped by Allen on a breakaway dunk.

Good news for the Knicks is Barrett and Quickley got some looks in garbage time, finishing with 14 and 12 points respectively.

What's Next

The series now goes to New York tied at 1-1, with the Knicks able to take full control with back-to-back games at Madison Square Garden, starling on Friday night.