Sports Writing (USA), Apr 23 (EFE).- The Knicks beat the Cavaliers in New York this Sunday (102-93) and left the Cleveland team on the brink of elimination in this series of the first Eastern round (3-1).
For the Knicks, who were superior to the Cavaliers especially in rebounding (59 vs. 42), Jalen Brunson stood out with 29 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and RJ Barrett with 26 points.
Mitchell Robinson’s double-double also helped at home with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
For the Cavaliers, Darius Garland was the top scorer with 23 points and 10 rebounds while Donovan Mitchell had a very unfortunate game with 11 points, a weak 5 of 18 shooting from the field and 6 turnovers.
The Spanish Ricky Rubio contributed 2 rebounds and 2 assists in 6 minutes in a Cavaliers that on Wednesday will receive the Knicks in Cleveland in a decisive fifth game.
BRUNSON PULLS THE KNICKS
A three-pointer from Josh Hart, who started to replace Quentin Grimes in the starting five (unavailable due to a bruised right shoulder), defended the home team’s advantage until the middle of the first quarter (13-8 with 6.17 in the watch).
Another triple, this time from Brunson with a step back assisted by Hart, raised the fans of Madison Square Garden in New York, very involved in the game from the initial jump, from their seats.
Garland debuted with his first basket in the game hanging from the hoop after more than 8 minutes of play and the buzzer signaled the end of the opening quarter with the locals ahead (30-23).
Rubio, who had entered the field in the last minutes of the first quarter, began to move the ball in the second segment, finding Isaac Okoro on several occasions to define, but the triples by Miles McBride and Obi Toppin, both coming off the bench, kept the Knicks advantage.
A Brunson with unstoppable runs assisted with a high pass to Robinson, who dunked in “alley-oop”, and then, from a triple, he reached his 16 personal goals before the break to get the maximum advantage of the Knicks shortly after surpassing the midway through the second quarter (46-31).
The visitors played timidly from long distance in the first half and only attempted 9 triples, of which they scored 3; Neither did the locals shine from the perimeter with 5 hits from 17 shots in the first half.
With Evan Mobley as the top scorer for the Cavaliers (10 points), the game went to halftime with 54-45 favorable to the New Yorkers.
THE AWAKENING OF GARLAND IS LATE
Garland did not make his second basket until the beginning of the third quarter, but he got the third a few seconds later and, after a dunk from Mobley, the luminous adjusted to 55-51 and Tom Thibodeau called his charges to chapter.
Garland’s explosive awakening included three straight assists in seconds and two consecutive baskets that tied the score at 59 with eight minutes left in the third quarter.
Another service from the Cavaliers point guard, this time to Jarrett Allen, put the visitors ahead for the first time in the game before reaching the middle of the third quarter (61-63).
However, a three-pointer from Brunson seconds before the horn prevented the Cavaliers from leading the scoring at the end of the third segment (73-71) despite Garland’s 11 points and 5 assists in that chapter.
Already in the last twelve minutes, a Barrett on a roll took a 5-point lead for the Knicks in half a minute and Brunson, with a triple step back, increased it to 7 (84-77 with 7.07 to go).
JB Bickerstaff called timeout when the Knicks broke from 9 past the middle of the fourth quarter despite Garland continuing to dunk and assist.
Finally, a triple from Brunson gave the Knicks a 10-point margin with 1.45 remaining that Garland answered with two shots from three but with no comeback time for some Cavaliers against the ropes in this series.
