A Tale of Two Halves

The Knicks showed up at the start against the Cavs, but were plagued by all the same issues down the stretch

Well…that was fun for a while.

Game 76: Cavs 124, Knicks 105

• Despite missing Mitch in addition to the trio of injured point guards, things started out better than anyone could have expected, with the Knicks racing out to a 23-12 advantage behind nine assists on nine made field goals.

• OG Anunoby was unconscious, hitting 5-of-6 from deep out of the gate.

• The lead grew to as many as 15 before the Cavs held New York to just two points over the final four minutes of the half with KAT and OG both in foul trouble.

• The momentum kept shifting with Cleveland going up by as many as seven in the third, but a Knick push briefly tied it up at 83 with just over 14 minutes to go.

• That was the end of any excitement, as the Cavs outscored the Knicks 41-22 over the remainder of the game, dominating the fourth at both ends.

I struggled with this one.

Part of me - the naive part, probably - wants to give the Knicks some credit.

On the second night of a back to back, traveling from New York to Cleveland, without their best player and top three bench options, the Knicks gave a 60-win team everything they could handle for 34 minutes on a court they’ve lost just five times this season. At one point up 15 behind exceptional ball and player movement out of the gate and a ridiculous first half performance from OG Anunoby, New York withstood the inevitable Cavs counterpunch and fought back to tie it after a 22-point turnaround. That the Knicks closed the game by making just six of their final 26 shot attempts, including missing all nine threes, could be written off as a casualty of the NBA scheduling gods that spotted Cleveland two extra nights of rest.

Josh Hart said after the Sixers game that they had to go out last night and compete, matching the Cavs’ energy they knew would be there. They did that, in a sense, until they ran out of gas.

For that reason alone, this shouldn’t be grouped in with the handful of dispiriting losses that came earlier in the season against Boston, OKC, and these same Cavaliers.

But if you were looking for reasons to further justify any positive vibes that have come from winning five of their last six games against far lesser competition, I’m not sure this game gave you many. If anything, even with the valid excuses for why the outcome got away from them in the end, some of the same old concerns reared their ugly head.