The Cleveland Cavaliers blow by the New York Knicks on the road 107-93. Cavs improve to 52-21 and Knicks fall to 30-44 on the season. Kevin Love posted a double double with 28 points on 10 of 19 from the field including 12 rebounds, two assists, and drained four three-pointers. Love was scoring a lot of points inside, and outside, and when Love is playing effective inside, and he’s shooting well, thats when he plays like an all-star. LeBron James recored a triple double with 27 points on 10 of 21 from the field, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out 11 assists, and blocked two shots.
J.R. Smith put in 13 points on 5 of 11 from the floor, and sunk three triples. Matthew Dellavedova scored 10 points on 3 of 8 from the field, plucked four rebounds, and made three from deep. Mo Williams added eight points on 3 of 5 from the floor in 13 minutes off the bench. Tristan Thompson racked up six points, gathered seven rebounds, and blocked one shot off the pine. Cavaliers shot 44.6 percent from the field, and they shot a phenomenal 41.2 percent on 14 of 34 from three-point range. Cavaliers out-rebounded the Knicks 53 to 41.
Cavaliers played much better defense in this game as they held the Knicks to score only 93 points, and only 32 of the Knicks points came in the first half. Cavaliers get back on track with a win after a disappointing loss on the road to the Brooklyn Nets. The Cavaliers were winning by 24 points at halftime, and the Cavs were winning by double digits for most of this game. Cavaliers overall played a great game from start to finish. Meanwhile, Kyrie Irving was held out for the Cavaliers in this game for rest. Cavaliers will head back home and face off the Houston Rockets next game Tuesday.
LeBron James said “I was just in attack mode and understanding that they had two shot blockers at the rim and just try to finish strong at the rim. I have the ability to do that at times and we needed a bucket.”
For the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony led the way with 28 points on 9 of 24 from the field to go along with nine rebounds, two steals, and hit five three-pointers. Rookie Kristaps Porzingis dropped in 19 points on 7 of 16 from the floor, pulled down six rebounds, and gave out three assists. Derrick Williams contributed 11 points on merely 2 of 7 from the field, and snagged eight rebounds off the bench. Sasha Vujacic concluded with nine points on 4 of 6 shooting, and picked up five rebounds. Robin Lopez registered eight points on 4 of 8 from the field, and collected six rebounds.
The Knicks shot only 41.6 percent from the field, and shot 34.8 percent on 8 of 23 from three-point distance. The Knicks also shot merely 67.9 percent on 19 of 28 from the free-throw line. The Knicks were getting blown out, and they never really had a chance to be able to come back and win this game. The Knicks scored 40 points in the third quarter alone, but they only finished with a total of 93 points in the game. In fact, the Knicks scored more points in the third quarter than they scored in the entire first half. The Knicks could have had a better flow offensively, but they did not play defense good enough to win this game either.
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