CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers made drastic trades at the deadline because they believed they could compete in a wide-open Eastern Conference. A regular-season win doesn’t validate those moves, but it does provide good proof of concept. The Cavs came away with a 109-94 victory over the New York Knicks.
As has been the case in much of James Harden’s initial tenure with the team, the Cavs won on the strength of their two guards and Jarrett Allen.
The Cavs failed to get Allen involved in their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday and paid the price. They rectified that issue by ensuring Allen was a part of the offense early and often. He was continually able to get downhill to attack the basket and held up better than he has in a matchup with Mitchell Robinson in recent memory.
Getting Allen touches opened up things for the rest of the offense. The guards had lanes to attack off-the-dribble and from beyond the arc. And they made sure to take advantage of that.
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Donovan Mitchell and Harden continue to complement each other well on the court, even though they didn’t put up gaudy stat lines.
Harden orchestrated the offense all night while finding opportunities to score from the outside.
Mitchell relentlessly attacked the defense off the dribble. Even though he didn’t have his usual efficiency from the floor, he made up for it with his ability to get to the free-throw line.
The Cavs took control of this game in the third quarter after not being able to create much separation in the first half.
They continually forced New York to beat them with their outside shot by cheating off guys like Josh Hart and OG Anunoby, daring them to beat them from deep. This cut off lanes to the basket, which resulted in the Knicks only attempting three shots at the rim in the third quarter. And the Knicks weren’t able to make up for it with their outside shooting as they went 1-12 from beyond the arc in that frame.
This all led to Cleveland winning the quarter 23-11 and jumping out to an 18-point lead that they never gave up.
This was a great game from the Cavs, but they struggled to get Evan Mobley involved offensively. He felt like the odd man out when playing with the starters and wasn’t able to take advantage of the additional spacing in the bench lineups.
It will be an adjustment period for Mobley, who is still on a minutes limit. This was just his third game with the team since they made their drastic moves at the deadline, but this is something to keep an eye on. He finished this one with 12 points on 4-7 shooting with seven rebounds.
Mithell provided 23 points on 5-18 shooting to go along with five rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Harden had 20 points on 8-18 shooting with four assists.
Allen supplied 19 points and 10 rebounds on 7-8 shooting.
The Knicks were led by 20 points from Jalen Brunson. Mikal Bridges provided 18 points on 6-17 shooting with five rebounds.
With the win, the Cavs are now tied with the Knicks for third in the conference and are a game and a half behind the Boston Celtics for the second spot.
This was the last meeting between the Cavs and Knicks this season. This was the Cavs’ lone win in the series.
The Cavaliers are back in action tomorrow night as they hit the road to take on the Milwaukee Bucks. Tip-off is at 8 PM.
