Cavs: One stud and one dud from their win over the Knicks

Who would have thought that the Cleveland Cavaliers would be 7-4 to start the season.

Everything is going the team’s way so far. Players are making the necessary jumps in their play, new additions are showing their worth and most importantly, the young core is living up to the hype.

This New York Knicks game on Sunday was one where everything just looked to come together for the team as they defeated New York 126-109. 126 points are the most points they’ve scored on the season and they did so shooting 19-of-35 from three. What’s most impressive is that they were able to do so without Lauri Markkanen and Kevin Love as they remain in COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair with the Knicks securing a one-point lead going into halftime. Going into the second half, the Cavs were without their leading scorer, as Collin Sexton would suffer a knee injury that would take him out for the rest of the game. Per a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, Sexton is set to be further evaluated on Monday, as a side note.

The team still showed great fight and resilience against a playoff team, though, and that’s been their thing for the entire season. This team has had electric wins against the Atlanta Hawks and the LA Clippers, two teams who made the Eastern and Western Conference Finals, in their respective conferences, last season.

They defeated the Denver Nuggets two weeks ago in convincing fashion and are coming off nail-biters against the Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors. Even the losses have been competitive, showing they can stick around in games. This team is fun and last night’s game proves that.

With that said, here, we’ll take a look at the clear stud and dud from this Cavs-Knicks game on Sunday.

The biggest talking point from this game was Ricky Rubio‘s out-of-body experience and he was the clear stud that led the Cavaliers to this victory.