Bite the Big Apple
The up-and-coming young Cavaliers get another chance to show their mettle, a test at the Mecca on Sunday evening.
Cleveland comes into the Garden looking to run its win streak to four after coming off a Friday night thriller north of the border – trailing for all but 4.8 seconds and still finding a way to grind out the 102-101 win over the Raptors. The victory snapped Toronto’s five-game run and halted a six-game losing skid in Toronto.
Friday night’s hero, Darius Garland, capped an incredible fourth-quarter performance with a pair of free throws to ice the win – scoring 12 points in the final period, going 4-of-5 from the floor in the quarter and 8-of-12 overall for 21 points, adding a game-high eight assists and a steal.
Five Cavs finished in double-figures on Friday – including rookie Evan Mobley, who finished with 18 points and five boards as well as Jarrett Allen, who continued to dominate the interior – doubling up with 16 points and a game-high 15 boards. His late triple to beat the shot-clock late in the fourth capped a Cleveland comeback and the 5th-year man comes into tonight’s game averaging 21.3, 16.0 over the Cavs’ three-game roll.
Ricky Rubio – 11 points, five boards and four dimes – along with Cedi Osman – 17 points on 5-of-10 from long-range – also came up big in the win.
The Knicks avoided a three-game losing skid in dramatic fashion on Friday night – trailing by 21 points in the second quarter and leading by as many as 22 in the fourth over the World Champion Bucks in Milwaukee.
New York got off to a red-hot start to the season, winning five of its first six before the recent two-game skein. Tonight’s test will be a bit of measuring stick for both squads carrying some strong early-season momentum.
The Wine & Gold also know that they close the month of November with eight of the month’s final 10 games at the cozy confines of a newly re-energized Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
History
There’s an odd back-and-forth win-loss history in this series, which New York ultimately leads 116-100 – with the two teams splitting the last two decisions, the Knicks winning the four previous games coming off Cleveland’s four-game run. The Cavs won last January on Andre Drummond’s big night and lost by three TDs two weeks later at the Garden.
The Cavaliers have a rough postseason history against New York, piling up exactly one win in three Playoff series – a 90-84 victory in 1995. Chris Mills and Bobby Phills led Cleveland with 21 points apiece.
The all-time single-game assists leader in the series for New York is Michael Ray Richardson, who handed out nine dimes in a Knicks loss in 1981 – with the late, great Mike Mitchell finishing with 26 points. Cleveland’s top assist guy is the legendary Mark Price, who finished with 18 assists and 16 points in Cavaliers blowout over New York – with Ron Harper pacing both teams with 29 points.
Connections
It seems like a long time ago that Derrick Rose played with the Wine & Gold – a brief, 16-game stint in Cleveland during the 2017-18 season. Rose, who has resurrected his career in New York, signed a free agent deal that offseason before being dealt to Utah along with Jae Crowder in a three-team deal at the Deadline.
The season before Rose’s arrival in Minnesota after signing an offseason deal, Ricky Rubio was the T-Wolves point guard under Coach Tom Thibobeau.