The Cleveland Cavaliers showed up and did not show out. Outside of Donovan Mitchell, the moment seemed too big for the young Cavaliers as the New York Knicks took game one on the Cavs’ home court 101-97.
Jalen Brunson shook off foul trouble and scored 21 of his 27 in the second half, Julius Randle returned from an ankle injury to add 19 and the New York Knicks welcomed Cleveland back to the NBA playoffs by holding off the Cavaliers 101-97 on Saturday night in Game 1.
Brunson was limited to nine minutes in the first half, but hit several big shots down the stretch as the Knicks turned back Cleveland’s late rally led by Donovan Mitchell.
Randle was questionable up until pregame warmups, when he tested the left ankle he sprained two weeks ago. The All-Star forward looked like himself while pacing the No. 5-seeded Knicks, who fell behind 93-92 with 2:12 left.
With Mitchell making plays all over the floor, the Cavs were within 99-97 in the final seconds when Brunson missed a pull-up, but Randle grabbed his 10th rebound and passed to Quentin Grimes, who was fouled with four seconds left.
Grimes made both free throws as the Knicks finished off the Cavs and disappointed a raucous, towel-waving Cleveland crowd that came alive in the fourth quarter when Mitchell scored 14 to bring the Cavs back.
Mitchell finished with 38 for the Cavs, who returned to the playoff stage for the first time since the 2018 NBA Finals. It’s been a long road back for Cleveland, which wasn’t as hurt by its inexperience as lack of bench production from the bench.
Josh Hart added 17 points — and hit a big 3-pointer down the stretch — for New York, whose reserves outscored the Cavs 37-14.
Jarrett Allen had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Cleveland.
Game 2 is Tuesday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
https://www.espn.com/nba/recap/_/gameId/401540752
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15 Comments
Cavs played soft. JB better get their minds right
Someone needed to put Randle on his back for his play tonight. This team is soft af. Do they have an offense outside of Mitchell? Garland didn’t show up like he should have.
They need to start featuring the 2/7 footers they
Allen needs to go.I’ve said this for too long
The look on the guys face with the hat on backwards when the other guy said that's it game over was priceless as a knicks fan I better get off this thread 😆😆
Who knew the Cavs lack of physicality and jbbs yelling at the refs all season pleading for calls would result in them getting scared and out muscled in game 1. No adjustments since the past 3 losses to the Knicks. Josh hart also killed the bench. Garland and Allen no heart. Cavs played very bad but still hung around the whole game. They can win this but jbb needs to get them ready to compete and play hard and rebound.
Earl’s grammar is atrocious. Nearly illiterate. Cleveland deserves better.
we need more guys to hit those 3 point shots, d green has to play, i dont care if he barely can run. We cant have mitchell doing all by himself
i dont know if in todays nba we can afford to have a 5 starter with 3 bad 3pont shooters…
Why is earl talking to and looking at the ceiling? Asking for a ftiend.
The ball needs to flow through the twin towers! We need high percentage shots every possession. The Cavs must put maximum effort and control the boards. Get my man Monlbley into the weight room this off season
7 game series.
Funny how none of them mentioned how RJ, Quick and Grimes had bad games. What if they have better games ?
mc nuggets im sorry but Cavs are done You dont EVER lose GM one at home
We gotta change the starting lineup. Caris and Isaac are ass, and Garland looks like a one-dimensional player. We paid 200 m’s for a spot-up shooter. I like Rickey better paired with Mitchell, and ill take Cedi in the starting five