Brunson brilliance, bench lead Knicks to road W over Cavs in Game 1

Before tipoff, New York Knicks forward Julius Randle was ruled available after spending most of the day as “doubtful” on the injury report. With his return for New York against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of their first round series, both units rolled out with the usual suspects.

It was all systems go from there for the visitors, and led by Jalen Brunson and a dominant bench performance, the Knicks drew first blood against the Cavs.

In man-to-man coverage, Isaac Okoro went after Jalen Brunson but was beat off the dribble on consecutive possessions to start. Two early fouls on JB forced him to sit for Immanuel Quickley four minutes into the game.

The Knicks flashed a 2-3 zone with RJ Barrett sticking to Donovan Mitchell on the left wing. The size differential wasn’t enough to bother #45; he stepped back, canning a trifecta in Barrett’s eye as Cleveland roared to nine straight points.

Defensively the Cavaliers were late getting back across halfcourt. The hosts gave up nine fastbreak points in the first quarter, but these were most of New York’s interior scores, as it only had three more in the frame. When the Cavs weren’t playing catch up, they forced misses inside in the halfcourt.

Randle had eight on his scorecard early on three of five shots. In transition, Cleveland over-tracked Barrett’s drive and missed a closeout to Randle on the left wing. When doubling Darius Garland up top, Barrett intercepted his pass and dished it to Randle, the first Knick on the break for two points. At the end of the period, he hunted Dean Wade and splashed a step-back triple in the left corner.

Through 12 minutes, Cleveland was down 24-30. The outside shot was a non-factor, and five turnovers had taken away offensive opportunities.

The Knicks mixed schemes defending pick-and-roll by sending doubles at Spida and Garland on the wings to get the rock out of their hands and playing drop coverage. DG dissected the latter with a midrange jumper on his first two baskets.

In the second quarter, Mitchell converted five straight buckets. He pickpocketed Josh Hart at the top of the key to get on the break for a spinning layup between two defenders. His next two were jumpers against Mitchell Robinson in drop coverage. His last couple was a turnaround jump shot at the nail and a step-back triple over four limbs.

On the other side, the Cavaliers contained the perimeter, forcing a miss on each 3-point attempt (8) in quarter two.

At the intermission, New York held a 50-45 lead, and both squads logged below 40% efficiency in the period. New York was helping off the corners to clog the lane on opposing invasions. Cleveland’s backline was switching up top and recovering back.

In the third quarter, Brunson, an all-around scorer, got into the lane without a screen, isolating DG and Okoro for two turnaround jumpers. To start the second half, he had 12 of New York’s 28 points. The Knicks’ pressure on the glass also gave the visitors three additional shots at the goal.

For the first time in the game, Cleveland was scoring efficiently, but it was still outdone by three as its defense’s legs began to tire. After Mitchell turned it over on a drive, Okoro was the only one retreating, but he got caught on Obi Toppin’s tomahawk slam. The hosts even allowed New York four offensive rebounds and four second-chance points in the third frame.

To start the fourth, New York was up 78-70. Mitchell then went nuclear as the lone Cavalier in double-digit scoring through the last 12 minutes. Brunson put up nine for the Knicks as the duel continued until the end.

Midway through the quarter, Randle hit Garland in the face trying to reach for a steal. I’ve lost count of how many blows to the head DG’s taken this season, but this time Randle was out of control and didn’t have a chance of making the play. When the refs whistled him for a foul, he instinctively whined and wasn’t flagged with a flagrant or technical penalty when the officials had two chances in fewer than five seconds.

Anyways, with fewer than four minutes left, Cleveland was down eight points. It followed up with a 9-0 run to briefly capture a one-point lead. As the shot clock ticked down, New York’s Hart reset at the key and swished a 27-foot bomb to put the Blue and Orange ahead by two.

On the succeeding possession, Brunson crossed over Cedi Osman at the nail to extend the advantage to four points. Next, Spida dribbled up the court and was fouled by Quentin Grimes on a dash to the cup. He converted two freebies to cut it back to two.

With under a minute left, the Knicks got away. Hart missed on a well-contested midrange jumper, but Isaiah Hartenstein tapped out the miss, and it quickly got back to Brunson. Guarded by Osman, JB darted left for the layup.

The free throw formality ensued as hope of a comeback evaporated for Cleveland. New York struck first blood in the series on the road, 101-97. The Cavs’ reserves were also outscored 14-36.

At the postgame presser, the lack of bench production was the first thing coach J.B. Bickerstaff was asked about, and it’s clear Cleveland needs more from those players.

Another area of concern was the glass. A terrific crashing team in New York finished with 17 offensive rebounds that turned into 23 second-chance points. That’s a combination of the Knicks being nastier in pursuit of 50-50 balls and the result of the backline players being out of position when the guards are beat up top. In fairness, the Cavaliers need to have a group effort from the perimeter players to help out down low, too.

Bickerstaff said the game was a wake-up call. For the Cavaliers’ sake, he better not be bluffing. The series is far from over, but hopefully, it goes seven, with each club winning a pair on the road.