Cavs Offense Stalls, Fall to Knicks on Sunday

The Cavaliers have been almost unbeatable – literally – on their home floor, running out to a 10-1 start to the season at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Life on the road has been a different story.

On Sunday night in New York, the Wine & Gold dug themselves a double-digit hole in the first half and spent the rest of the contest trying to dig their way out. They never did, as the Knicks evened the season series – sending Cleveland to a 5-8 mark away from home and going wire-to-wire for the 92-81 decision. 

Neither team was sharp at The Garden on Sunday, and the numbers bear that out. Cleveland shot 35 percent from the floor, including 23 percent from deep. For the Knicks, it was 41 percent and 17 percent. But New York out-hustled a sluggish Cavs squad on the boards, 54-39, outdoing them in the paint, 56-40, and in second-chance scoring, 17-5. 

Both teams also combined for 40 turnovers, including 14 traveling calls in the ugly affair. 

Donovan Mitchell – despite struggling from the floor like the rest of the squad – led the Cavs with 23 points on 8-for-22 shooting, including 2-of-11 from long-range, adding a team-best five assists and a blocked shot. 

Darius Garland followed up with 17 points, going 5-for-19 from the floor and 3-of-9 from deep, adding three helpers and a steal. 

Evan Mobley doubled-up with 11 points and a team-high 10 boards – half of those off the offensive glass – adding three assists and swatting four shots, one more than the Knicks as a team. 

Cedi Osman was the only other Cavalier in double-figures, pitching in with 10 points off the bench, going 4-of-8 from the floor to go with a team-high three steals in 30 minutes of work off the bench. 

The Cavaliers were once again without Jarrett Allen – who missed his fifth straight contest with an injured hip – and confirmed before Sunday’s loss that forward Dean Wade would miss 3-4 weeks with a left shoulder injury suffered in Friday night’s win over Orlando. 

The Knicks were led by Jalen Brunson, who finished with 23 points on 7-for-16 shooting, Julius Randle added 18 points of his own and Mitchell Robinson led both teams with 11 boards in the win.

Sunday’s contest in New York was a weird one. The Cavaliers were never really out of the game, and somehow never really in it.

Midway through the second quarter, the Knicks opened up an 18-point edge – their biggest of the night – but Cleveland chipped away until half, cutting the deficit to just three with under a minute to play in the opening stanza. 

But the Knicks would open up a double-digit lead midway through the third quarter and again in the fourth. Eventually, the cool-shooting Cavaliers simply ran out of gas down the stretch – with New York scoring the game’s final six points over the final two minutes. 

8 … Double-doubles that Evan Mobley has registered over his last 13 outings – averaging 16.8 points and 13.0 boards and shooting 58 percent from the floor in those eight games. 

During that 13-game stretch overall, Mobley is averaging 14.8 points and 11.5 points on 56 percent shooting, with four 20-point outings and seven games with multiple blocked shots.

 Head Coach J.B. Bickerstaff, on moving past Sunday’s loss in New York …

“Tonight is not who we are. We just didn’t play well tonight. But if you take into account all the things we’ve been through – the injuries that we’ve had – and the ability to overcome those things and be sitting in the position that we’re in, I think we’re in a good spot. It’s gonna take all of our bodies to get back, and then give them some time to play together to become the best team that we can become. But I think we’re headed in the right direction.”

Enjoy the best broadcast calls of the night from Cavaliers Radio Network's Tim Alcorn and Rafa Hernandez-Brito from Power 98.1.

The Cavaliers have been excellent at home this year – and that’s good news for their upcoming stretch, including a three-game homestand beginning with a visit from LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the suddenly-hot Lakers on Tuesday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. 

On Friday, the Wine & Gold can avenge an early road loss when the Kings come to town before the three-game stay wraps up when the Thunder roll in the following night. After a two-game trip to Texas next week, the Cavaliers come home for a six-game homestand that extends past Christmas.