Photo: Getty Images/Sarah Stier
CLEVELAND, OH--- The Knicks handed the Cavs their 9th home loss of the year Friday night 130-116 in what is most likely a preview of the first round of the NBA playoffs. It was a first quarter shootout seeing the Cavaliers break a franchise record for points scored in a single first quarter with 47, they led the Knicks 47-42 after the 1st. We would see Donovan Mitchell absolutely tear the floor up with a 23 point first quarter. Mitchell would secure back-to-back 40+ point games finishing with 42, while dishing out 5 assists and pulling in 4 rebounds.
Jalen Brunson would match up with Mitchell, going back and forth all first quarter and throughout the game as well. Brunson would score his career high in points with 48. Brunson would also finish with 9 assists and 4 rebounds. More history would be made with Darius Garland tying Wesly Person for the 8th most made 3 pointers all time in Cavalier history at 550, Garland would finish with 20 points, 9 assists and 3 rebounds. Another thing these 2 teams had in common was having star players out with injury, the Cavs were down Isaac Okoro and Jarrett Allen while the Knicks were without Julius Randle. The game was closely contested all throughout, with fatigue affected both teams as little fouls were called, a great result of NBA refs letting the players play in an important matchup. The Knicks went on to control the 4th quarter, going on a late run the Cavs simply couldn't recover from.
The Cavaliers will continue to finish the regular season strong before entering the playoffs at what will most likely be the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference. Their next game will be against the Indiana Pacers Sunday night at 8:00 pm from Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Listen to the game on your flagship for Cavaliers basketball Newsradio WTAM 1100 AM, 106.9 FM, the free iHeartRadio app, or HERE