The Knicks had their worst shooting performance of the season against the Cleveland Cavaliers in a 95-89 loss at Madison Square Garden.
Here are the takeaways...
- With RJ Barrett ruled out before the game with left knee soreness, Josh Hart replaced him in the starting five joining Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, Jalen Brunson and Quentin Grimes.
- Things got off to a slow start for both teams, although the Cavs did get out to a 5-0 lead to start the game. After two minutes without scoring, Grimes got the Knicks on the board with a two-pointer that began a 9-0 run for the home team.
- With 6:07 left in the opening frame, Brunson reached the 5,000 career points benchmark. He came into the game with 4,998 career points and after making a technical free throw earlier in the quarter, the point guard reached the milestone with a floater.
- Meanwhile, Donovan Mitchell was the only source of offense for Cleveland to start the night, scoring the team’s first 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting while the rest of his team went 0-for-6 from the field.
- Despite Mitchell’s hot shooting night, the first quarter was a low-scoring affair as the Knicks started 1-for-7 from three and 9-of-23 overall. However, Robinson had himself a good night on the boards, reeling in six total rebounds in the first 12 minutes including three offensive boards.
- Hart hit a floating jump shot right before the buzzer to cut New York’s deficit to 24-22.
- Mitchell continued to do all he could for Cleveland in the second quarter as the 27-year-old had 23 of the Cavs' first 36 points while going 5-for-5 from deep including a 27-footer that gave his team a 36-35 lead. For whatever reason, the Cavaliers stopped going to him for the remainder of the quarter and he finished the half with 23 points.
- With Mitchell suddenly quiet, it was the Knicks who got hot with Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo leading the charge. DiVincenzo scored 10 points in the first half of the quarter while Brunson added eight in the back half. In fact, Brunson scored the Knicks final six points and eight of their final 11 points while also taking charge after charge on the defensive end.
- The Knicks outrebounded Cleveland, 27-20, in the first half and 9-2 on the offensive glass. Robinson had seven offensive boards alone and 11 rebounds overall.
- Yet, Caris LeVert drained a last-second three-pointer to cut New York’s lead to one and the Knicks went into the halftime locker room up 50-49.
- It was a total slog on offense in the third quarter, particularly for New York who scored just 13 points in 12 minutes. The Knicks missed 13 of their first 15 shots to open the second half and finished 6-for-24 in the quarter (1-for-7 from three).
It wasn’t that much better for Cleveland who had 22 points, but it was enough to take and open a bit of a lead.
- After his hot start to the game and shooting perfect from behind the line, Mitchell went ice cold and missed his next six shot attempts, including missing five three-pointers. He had zero points in the third quarter and was stuck on 23 points for the longest time after what looked like could’ve been a vintage Madison Square Garden scoring performance.
- In Mitchell’s absence, Evan Mobley scored nine points in the quarter after having just three the entire first half and the Cavs had a 71-63 lead going into the fourth quarter.
- The low-scoring affair continued into the fourth quarter, where this time Cleveland was the one that struggled mightily to find the bottom of the net. So much so that even though the Knicks’ shooting woes continued they cut the deficit to 79-77 with 2:48 left in the game after a 7-0 run.
- But when it mattered most, Mitchell found his stroke once again. After missing eight straight threes, he finally knocked one down with 2:36 to play to give his team a five-point cushion. He gave it another go on his team’s next possession and after hitting the front of the rim, he got his own rebound and scored two to make it 84-77 with 2:02 remaining. He had a game-high 30 points.
- Randle was a total non-factor in this one, going 3-for-15 from the field and 0-for-6 from downtown while finishing with six points, six rebounds, four assists, one steal and three turnovers in 35 minutes.
- Overall, the team just couldn’t buy a bucket, especially from deep. Despite taking 18 more shots than the Cavs thanks to 16 offensive rebounds, the Knicks finished 32-for-92 (34.8 percent) from the field and 5-for-30 (16.7 percent) from three. They also struggled from the free-throw line, going 20-for-30 at the charity stripe.
- Brunson finished with a team-high 24 points, Immanuel Quickley had 18 and DiVincenzo added 16 in a 95-89 loss.