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CLEVELAND
— The Cleveland Cavaliers came away with an impressive 109-94 victory over the New York Knicks to pull even with them in the standings.
The stats in the table below are taken from Cleaning the Glass.
Now, let’s dive into the numbers.
- The Knicks were held to 11 points in the third quarter. Cleveland won this frame by 13 to push their halftime lead of six to 18 heading into the final quarter, all but sealing the win.
- New York went 1-12 from three in the third quarter. The Cavs dared the Knicks to beat them from beyond the arc all evening, but they weren’t able to do so for this 12-minute run, which contributed to this game getting out of hand.
- The Cavs held the Knicks to just 1-3 shooting at the rim in the third quarter. Head coach Kenny Atkinson has prioritized protecting the rim over defending the three-point line this season. The benefits of this approach showed through during the team’s third-quarter run.
- Cleveland is 19-2 when Jarrett Allen scores 15 points or more. The guards found a way to get him involved early and often. He went 7-8 from the field and was a factor on both ends.
- James Harden finished with fewer than seven assists for the first time as a Cavalier. He played well despite the lack of assists. He finished with 20 points and four helpers in the victory.
- The Cavs are now 5-10 when Mitchell plays and scores 23 or fewer points in a game. This was one of the rare times the Cavs have won when Mitchell hasn’t had an outsized impact on scoring.
- Cleveland won the second-chance points battle 16-15. Mitchell Robinson had six of the Knicks’ 11 offensive rebounds. The Cavs finished with 13 offensive rebounding with Allen having three.
- The Knicks turned it over 17 times to the Cavs’ 11. Cleveland cleaned up both areas they struggled with against the Oklahoma City Thunder: rebounding and turnovers.
- Both teams struggled to finish at the rim as they both finished below the 20th percentile in rim shooting accuracy. Cleveland went 44.4% from the restricted area while New York went 57.1%.
- This is the seventh time the Cavs have held an opponent under 100 points. The Knicks finished with a 100 defensive rating (9th percentile).
- Dean Wade finished with a team-best plus/minus of +22. Wade had a great performance after really struggling against the Thunder on Sunday. He provided 11 points on 4-9 shooting with eight rebounds.
- The Cavs attempted nine more free throws. Donovan Mitchell was able to get to the line consistently as he went 11-14 from there.
- This was the fifth time Harden attempted no free throws in a game since 2021. Harden was aggressive and probably deserved a few trips to the line. Overall, he hasn’t gotten to the charity stripe as much as he likely deserved.
- Six Cavaliers finished in double figures scoring, including the entire starting lineup: Mitchell (23), Harden (20), Allen (19), Jaylon Tyson (12), Evan Mobley (12), and Dean Wade (11).
