1 stud and 2 duds from the Cavs’ loss on Tuesday night to Knicks

It was another tough night for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in New York against the Knicks, which was another disappointing L to the Knicks on the road this season. In Donovan Mitchell’s return to the court after missing over a week with a groin injury, the Cavs lost an ugly, hotly-contested matchup with the Knicks on Tuesday night, this time to the tune of a 105-103 defeat. Julius Randle led all scorers with 36 points on 8-of-12 shooting from three-point range.

For the Cavaliers, it was a poor offensive performance, combined with one of the worst outings from the bench unit all season. Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen each had 24 points for the Wine and Gold, but nothing came easy for the Cavs on the offensive end. They shot just 46% from the field on the night, combined with a fairly poor 36.4% effort from three-point range, and they weren’t able to get things going nearly enough.

It seemed to be the complete opposite for the Knicks, who seemed to get whatever they wanted, especially from the three-point line. New York was sizzling from beyond the arc, hitting 17-of-33 from deep, a 51.5 percent shooting clip. However, that wasn’t the most disappointing thing from the Cavaliers performance last night in a game that coming in, one would’ve thought they should be in line to win.

First, let’s take a look at the top performer for the Cavaliers, though, and surely the biggest bright spot from Tuesday, prior to examining their pair of duds from the contest.