For one night, the Cleveland Cavaliers exorcised their demons at Madison Square Garden. They came away with an impressive 115-107 win over the defending champion New York Knicks.
Three stars of the game
First star: James Harden
32 points on 9-for-14 shooting, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals
Few players in NBA history have been able to single-handedly raise an offense’s floor and ceiling like Harden. His ability to score from anywhere, manipulate defenders with his body, and make every pass made him nearly unguardable in his prime — while also allowing
him to remain effective into his late 30s. However, that offensive consistency hasn’t been there yet for the Cavs at the start of the season.
Harden needs his scoring and playmaking to work in concert with each other if he’s going to elevate an offense. When he’s scoring well, he draws the attention of the entire defense, which leaves teammates open for easy shots. But when he isn’t able to create space off the dribble or connect on the outside shot, defenders can stay home with their assignments. And when they are staying home, those openings for Harden to set up teammates just aren’t there. Everything is based on his scoring.
Over the last handful of games, we saw just how bad things can look when Harden isn’t scoring. Defenses don’t have to respect him and send multiple players his way. Things then become stagnant, and the entire offense suffers because of it. Against the Knicks, we saw the inverse.
The difference in this one was shotmaking. Harden found a scoring rhythm in the second quarter with his outside shot. This caused his defender to guard him much closer on the perimeter, allowing him to get inside the paint. The Knicks chose not to send multiple defenders his way, which allowed him to continue his effective scoring and close this game out with nine clutch fourth-quarter points.
It’s not too much of a stretch to say that the success of the entire team depends on Harden. Everything offensively rises and falls with his play. The Cavs need to see this version of Harden much more often than they have.
Second star: Karl-Anthony Towns
21 points on 7-of-11 shoooting, 11 rebounds, 8 assists
Towns is playing the best basketball of his career. His unique skill set allows him to affect the game in so many different ways. We saw that again here with his outside shooting, playmaking, and rebounding.
The Cavs bigs tried to contain Towns — his offense was just better than their defense.
Third star: Donovan Mitchell
23 points on 8-of-15 shooting, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals
Mitchell provided timely scoring while also being a good decision-maker. He correctly got the ball out of his hands and to his teammates when New York threw doubles at him. And his teammates rewarded him for doing so with the win.
Cleveland also did much better at controlling the glass. Head coach Kenny Atkinson has talked about rebounding being something everyone on the court needs to be involved in. Mitchell chipping in went a long way in making sure rebounding wasn’t an issue.
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Duds of the game
New York’s wings: OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart
Combined stats: 22 points on 7-of-20 shooting, 10 rebounds, 7 assists
The Knicks’ incredible championship run was partially fueled by phenomenal play from their three starting wings. Likewise, their inability to show up to this game is a big reason why the Cavs were able to come away with a win.
Anunoby was helpful defensively, but couldn’t find the range from the field, going 3-for-9. Bridges played just 17 minutes and was benched down the stretch due to being a complete non-factor. And Hart couldn’t find his shot and wasn’t an impactful rebounder.
Swing players often decide games against two high-powered teams like this. In this contest, New York’s supporting pieces just didn’t show up.
Cavaliers who deserve shoutouts
Meleek Thomas
14 points on 6-of-11 shooting, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist
We’ve yet to encounter a moment that was too big for Thomas. He played with a confidence that’s rare to see in a rookie making his debut at MSG against the defending champions.
Thomas is first and foremost a scorer. We saw that again as he was able to create off the dribble and knock down open threes when the ball swung to him on the perimeter.
Atkinson has been able to continue putting Thomas in the rotation because of how he can positively influence the game in areas besides scoring. Defensively, he did a good job of guarding his man, didn’t get lost off-ball, and forced two steals. Thomas was also effective at attacking the offensive glass as he came away with three offensive rebounds.
Thomas is scoring, but he’s also doing a lot of the little things right that you need to in order to be a rotation player. This was another good outing for a rookie who has made nights like this feel routine.
Tyrese Proctor
15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, 3 rebounds, 1 assist
Proctor showed the wide array of skills that he has. He initiated the offense as a secondary ball-handler, knocked down outside shots when the ball swung to him, and was helpful defensively.
This was exactly what you want to see from someone who’s trying to show that he should stay in the rotation when Sam Merril and Nae’Qwan Tomlin return from injury.
Peyton Watson
7 points on 2-of-12 shooting, 5 rebounds, 4 blocks, 4 assists
Watson’s defensive effort made up for his poor shooting. He was seemingly everywhere on defense and secured the victory with a chase-down block on Deuce McBride.
Play of the game
Stat of the game
The Knicks only got 24.4% of their missed shots (21st percentile) while the Cavs grabbed 32.6% of available offensive rebounds (65th percentile).
The Cavs controlled the glass, won the possession battle, and ultimately won the game.
Main takeaway from this game: Talent isn’t the issue for the Cavs
This game doesn’t fix all that has been wrong with the Cavaliers at the start of the season. Nor does it show that they’re going to put the pieces together and become the team they have the potential to be. It does, however, prove that the Cavs have the talent to beat anyone.
The Cavs were impressive on both ends of the floor. Offensively, their two elite guards controlled the game while still making way for role players like Proctor and Thomas to make meaningful contributions.
Defensively, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley made it difficult to score inside and kept the Knicks off the free-throw line. Watson also made a sizeable impact as a point-of-attack defender and weak-side rim protector. This resulted in New York becoming more of an outside-shooting team than they would’ve liked.
In short, this was a complete performance.
The Cavs have had other impressive wins this season, but they haven’t been able to back any of them up with anything substantive. At this point of the year, we don’t know what team we’ll see on a nightly basis, and there’s no evidence that they’re creating sustainable habits that will help them in the postseason. This win will only be different if they can actually build off it from a process and results standpoint.
