East-leading Cavaliers romp over Knicks, 142-105

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News on Feb 21, 2025

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Jalen Brunson knew the challenge posed by the Eastern Conference’s No. 1-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers.

He knew they were a high-octane offense among the league leaders in 3-point efficiency, an area the Knicks have struggled defending this season. He knew Cleveland’s dual big lineup of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley wreaks havoc in the paint, and he knew the explosive offensive capabilities of the Cavaliers’ star-studded backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland.

Brunson also knew the Cavs are not just a one- or two-man show, that their rotation typically stretches 10 players deep.

Plus, they’re dogs.

“They’re a very difficult team. They don’t stop playing,” the Knicks captain said, looking on to Cleveland in the second leg of a back-to-back after New York’s overtime victory over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday. “I think in the first game we played against them, we were up 14 or 15 and we lost. So we’ve just gotta be ready to play. It’s as simple as that.”

Brunson came ready to play. So did his All-Star teammate Karl-Anthony Towns. The two alone weren’t enough, and the Cavaliers buried the Knicks beneath an avalanche of 3s for the second night in a row, routing New York in a 142-105 blowout at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Friday.

Brunson finished with 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting, and Towns added 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting, seven rebounds and four assists. The pair, however, spent the fourth quarter watching from the bench. The Cavaliers ended the first quarter on a 31-20 run and built a lead as large as 42 over the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 seed.

And for the second night in a row, poor 3-point defense is in part to blame for New York’s struggles getting stops.

On Thursday, the 10th-seeded Bulls shot 19 of 48 from downtown and forced overtime in a game both Josh Hart (knee) and OG Anunoby (foot) missed due to injury.

Hart sat out again on Friday, but Anunoby returned for the second leg of the back-to-back in Cleveland after missing six games due to a right foot sprain sustained in a Feb. 1 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

He appeared to aggravate his foot injury on Friday against the Cavaliers but played through the apparent discomfort and finished with five points and a steal in 27 minutes of action.

In Cleveland, against the top seed, the Knicks allowed the Cavaliers to shoot 19 of 37 from behind the arc, underscoring a concerning trend for a New York team ranking dead-last in opponent 3-point percentage this season.

The Knicks allowed 19 made 3s on back-to-back nights, only the Cavaliers did it on 12 fewer attempts than the Bulls.

Mitchell finished with 27 points on 5-of-7 shooting from downtown, and Evan Mobley added 21 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. Cleveland got 70 points from its bench: De’Andre Hunter, whom the Cavaliers acquired in the trade-deadline deal with the Atlanta Hawks, scored 16 points in 19 minutes and shot a perfect 4 of 4 from downtown. Backup guard Ty Jerome added 19 points on 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arc and Craig Porter Jr. shot 3 for 3 from downtown.

Meanwhile, the Knicks struggled to penetrate the paint and crash the glass with Hart missing his second consecutive game due to soreness in his right knee. Without their starting forward, who is averaging 9.6 rebounds per game, the Knicks were out-rebounded 47-32.

The Knicks will face a similar challenge on Sunday, when they travel to Boston to face the reigning champion Celtics, another team that ranks atop the NBA in 3-point attempts and efficiency.