All gas, no brakes in Cavaliers’ loss at home to Knicks on Friday

Some late-season matches resemble playoff games—even the ones with both groups undermanned. The touring New York Knicks dropped by the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second time this season, this occasion without All-Star Julius Randle, and came away with a dub. The hosts were missing Jarrett Allen and Isaac Okoro.

The first quarter was fast and furious by Cavalier standards. Typically, the outfit is the slowest in the NBA, but the speed of Friday’s game in Cleveland opened at a 102-pace. After each make or miss, the Cavs and Knicks raced down the floor.

Donovan Mitchell converted his first eight shots. Screens by Lamar Stevens and Evan Mobley bought him the space on his first baskets to dice up the lane and pull up from the elbow. On his third bucket, another pick by #4 briefly got Quentin Grimes off balance so Spida could fire away at the top of the key.

The Knicks sent two at Mitchell after another Mobley screen to trap on the baseline, but even against help, he pierced the paint, hitting a floater from 10 feet out. Grimes was his cover on eight of nine attempts, but a scorer with the incredible track record of Mitchell abused him like he was tied to a whipping post.

Cedi Osman contributed eight points in the initial period too. The Knicks overplayed his ghost screen, sticking with Caris LeVert on the right wing as Osman relocated to the opposite side for a trifecta. When New York blitzed Mitchell on the strong side, he swung a crosscourt pass to the left corner, finding Cedi for three points.

On the other side, Jalen Brunson was in target practice. To shake off the length in front of him, the Knicks ran a high volume of screens up top with Mitchell Robinson. JB used them to gash the paint, hitting fadeaway jump shots. When defended by Mitchell, Brunson turned him around when he faked going left. Instead, he pulled his dribble to the right, canning a baseline jumper.

In the first frame, Brunson made eight out of 11 baskets. Mobley’s length couldn’t deter either when coming up on a switch on the wing or tracking his dribble.

While Spida rested most of the second quarter, Darius Garland got in on the action. He put Immanuel Quickley on his back hip and hit a floater over the seven-foot Isaiah Hartenstein for the first of his five buckets in frame two.

The Knicks were helping on most assignments that could create separation. One of DG’s 3-pointers was the result of doubling, and on his second before halftime, he froze Grimes, pulling up as his matchup contested from the elbow.

At the intermission, the Cavaliers were down 72-79. Six more rebounds for the visitors let them take two more field goal tries. The home backcourt combined for 44 points on 65% efficiency, but the squad had no answers for Brunson. JB had 33 on 65% shooting too. Who needs Randle and his tiresome temper anyway?

In the third quarter, the Cavaliers’ offense continued to chop away at its rival, but the pace had drastically slowed. The defense held the Knicks to 36% accuracy, but its issue was it allowed its guests to take eight free throws and recover four more rebounds.

Mitchell recorded 12 third-quarter minutes and made five out of seven baskets. Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau appeared frustrated with almost each of his scores. When #45 seized the baseline for a reverse layup, Thibs dropped his arms from a cross. Receiving a handoff on the left wing in front of the New York bench, Spida pulled up as Grimes’ chest was inches from his body. As the artillery strike swished through, all Thibodeau could do was watch Mitchell in disbelief.

The Cavs entered the fourth quarter down five points. Offensively for the hosts, this period went as smoothly as sullied former New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s political comeback. The Knicks’ defense allowed only five field goals and two free-throw attempts. Mitchell played all of the fourth, too, and was the only one on his team to do so, but his legs were out of juice. In this stretch, he made one out of three shots.

Two starters, Garland and Stevens, were scoreless in the fourth. From my view, fans didn’t start heading toward the exits until a couple of minutes left.

Thibodeau rested Robinson and Toppin in the last frame because it got a double-digit lead quickly. New York finished the game with an advantage on the boards of 15, resulting in 14 second-chance points. Usually, Cleveland has one of the top paint defenses in the NBA, but without an elite rim protector in Allen and a great perimeter defender in Okoro, it gave up 54 points.

At the postgame presser, Mitchell said the most disappointing part of the loss was the group’s lack of defensive execution.

"“We’re better than that. Both teams shot the hell out of the ball, but at the end of the day, you know, we’re messing up coverages, different things…. We didn’t do a good job of that tonight.”"

With four matches left, the Cavaliers hold a two-and-a-half-game lead over the Knicks for fourth place in the East.