Key: Knick of Time
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The 2020-21 season is only about a week old, but two of the East’s most surprising teams over that stretch meet on Tuesday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse when the Wine & Gold welcome in Tom Thibodeau’s Knicks.
The Cavaliers improved to a perfect 3-0 -- their best start to a season since 2016-17 and the best start without LeBron James on the roster since 2000-01 – with Sunday night’s lopsided home win over the Sixers. Needing a laugher the night after a draining and dramatic win over Detroit, the Cavs got exactly that – running out to a big lead before half and extending their edge to 26 in the second stanza.
The Knicks pulled off an even bigger upset on Sunday night, dropping the heavyweight Bucks by 20 points at the Garden. Like the Cavs, the 1-2 Knicks opened up a big lead just before half, blew things open in the third quarter and watched Milwaukee empty its bench in the fourth.
New York dropped the Cavaliers twice in the preseason, including a drubbing in New York in the final contest. After winning four straight against the Knicks – including their first meeting last season – Cleveland has dropped its last three.
After tonight’s home matchup with New York, J.B. Bickerstaff’s squad hits the road for six straight.
Key: Facing Forward
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Of the Knicks players who seem to be flourishing under new coach Tom Thibodeau, you can place Julius Randle at the top of that list.
Only three games into the season, the rugged lefty from Kentucky is putting up career numbers – averaging 27.3ppg through the first week, shooting 55 percent from the floor and 56 percent from long-range. In Sunday night’s blowout win over the Bucks, the seven-year vet doubled-up with 29 points, 14 boards, adding seven assists and a block.
Randle has had some monster games over the Wine & Gold over the years, too – averaging 23.4 points and 10.6 boards over his last seven games against Cleveland, boasting a 6-1 mark over that stretch.
With Kevin Love sidelined with a calf injury, the Cavaliers will dip into their bench once again.
On Sunday night, Larry Nance Jr. got the start in place of rookie Isaac Okoro, who tweaked his foot in an awkward landing on Saturday in Detroit. When Love was unable to start the second half, Coach Bickerstaff went with Dante Exum – who responded very well, finishing with six points on 3-of-5 shooting, to go with six assists and four boards all in the second half.
For his part, Nance posted another strong all-around game – finishing with 13 points on an efficient 5-of-6 shooting from the floor, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc to go with five assists, four boards and a pair of steals.
Key: Guard Duty
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Since being hired as the Cavaliers head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff has emphasized ball movement and unselfishness – and his team has responded by the numbers.
Through three games this season, the Wine & Gold lead the league in assists – handing out an average of 31.3 per contest. The Cavaliers dynamic guard tandem has been a big part of this, but the team’s second- and third-leading assist men right now are Larry Nance Jr. and Andre Drummond.
Darius Garland leads the squad at 8.3apg, but he’s also scoring the ball well – averaging 19.0 points per so far, shooting 55 percent from the floor, an even 50 percent from long-range and is perfect from the stripe.
Collin Sexton has simply picked up where he left off last year and has topped the 20-point mark in all three games this season, leading the Wine and Gold with 27.0ppg scoring mark. The Young Bull has also been deadly from the field this year – shooting 59 percent from the floor, including 67 percent from beyond the arc.
The Knicks go with a starting lineup of Elfrid Payton and R.J. Barrett, both who’ve been good in spots this year. Barrett – the 3rd overall pick last year – was excellent in the opener, finishing with 26 points on 11-for-16 shooting. In Sunday night’s win over the Bucks, Barrett went for 17 points and eight boards in the win.