For the first 24 minutes tonight in Cleveland, the Knicks played like the undefeated road team they were. They blitzed the Cavs, 32-18 in the first quarter, scoring at a whopping 139.1 points-per-100-poession pace. And when the offense came back down to earth, the defense tightened up to hold LeBron and Co. to 35.1 percent shooting from the floor and 1-for-15 from 3 for the first half.
Sasha Vujacic’s nine points paced a balanced scoring effort and the Knicks led by as many as 15 at one point, but Cleveland had cut the lead to eight at the break. Then, less than three minutes into the 3rd, Kristaps Porzingis’ fourth foul forced the big man to the bench.
That’s when the Cavs mounted their first run; Mo Williams scored 10 of his 22 points in the 3rd and Cleveland would tie the game at 65 by the 2:35 mark. Carmelo Anthony had begun to heat up, scoring 8 of his team-high 17 in the period, but New York would struggle to get stops and trail by one after three.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Langston Galloway and Derrick Williams put the Knicks back ahead 75-72 early in the 4th, but from there, the Cavs went on a 17-4 run. James, out-of-sync to that point, scored or assisted on nine of the 17 points.
The Knicks responded behind Galloway (12 points, 3-5 from 3) and Anthony, who both hit shots to stall Cleveland rallies down the stretch. But without Porzingis, who returned with 8:42 remaining and picked up his 5th foul about a minute later, the Cavs were able to control the glass (48-40 rebounding advantage) and pull away for the comeback victory.
