KeyBank Keys to the Game: Cavs at Knicks

There hasn’t been a better team in the Eastern Conference on their home floor than the Cavaliers. Now they need to replicate that success on the road – beginning with a Sunday night showdown, taking on the struggling Knicks at Madison Square Garden. 

The Cavaliers improved to 10-1 on the corner of Huron and Ontario – manhandling the Magic on Friday night using the same formula they did in the previous home win over Philly, jumping on Orlando early and never letting up the rest of the way. Playing again without Jarrett Allen, Cleveland got big performances from its other starting stars – Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley – along with an outstanding showing from Kevin Love off the bench in his return. 

Now, the Wine & Gold just need to improve on their 5-7 mark away from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. 

At 10-13 overall, the Knicks sit in the cellar of the rough-and-tumble Atlantic Division – having dropped six of their last eight, including last night’s three-touchdown defeat at the hands of Luka and the Mavericks on their home floor. New York led by double-figures before half, but were outscored, 45-10, in the third quarter and never made a push from there. Julius Randle led the Knicks with 24 points and Immanuel Quickley added 23 in the loss. 

The Cavs have taken five of the last six against the Knicks, including a double-digit home win earlier this year and each of the last two in the Big Apple. Cleveland returns to New York in late January; the Knicks come back to Cleveland on the final day of March. 

The Knicks haven’t lived up to expectations so far this season, but Jalen Brunson – who’s had to live up to a big offseason free agent deal – has been as good or better than advertised. 

The former Villanova star comes into this evening’s contest averaging a career-best 21.0ppg, second-best on the squad to only Julius Randle. Brunson also leads New York with a career-best 6.3apg, has netted double-figures in every game this year, including a three-game stretch last week of 30-points plus. 

True to form, the steady point guard is averaging 17.0 points and 6.5 assists in his last two starts against Cleveland. 

Brunson is a very good defender, and he’ll have his hands full on Sunday night, tangling with Darius Garland, who comes into the contest with career-high marks of his own. And after finding his rhythm following an uneven start to the season because of an eye surgery, the 4^th-year man from Vandy is averaging 26.0 points per over his last 11 games, shooting 49 percent from the floor and 47 percent from deep, with three double-doubles over that stretch. 

Once again, Julius Randle is doing most of the heavy lifting in New York. 

The lefty workhorse from Kentucky is leading the team in scoring this year at 21.3ppg, with nine double-doubles and three outings of at least 30 points in the mix. Just last week in a 30-point blowout over Detroit, Randle went off for a season-high 36, drilling six triples in the process. 

The Cavs have done a decent job against Randle over the past few meetings, but the rugged forward is still averaging 19.4ppg in 18 career games against Cleveland, netting three double-doubles and a triple-double. 

Evan Mobley will be surrendering about 40 points when he locks horns with Randle down low tonight. But he held his own back in late October, finishing with 16 points and seven boards the previous matchup. In two meetings against New York last year, Mobley was very good – finishing with 26 points in one outing; doubling-up with 15 points and 12 boards in the other. 

Over his last 12 games, the sophomore from USC is averaging 15.1 points and 11.6 rebounds per, with seven double-doubles over that stretch.