By james art Darius Garland scored 15 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter on Monday night for the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers, who overcame a 13-point deficit in the third quarter to beat the New York Knicks 110-104.
Donovan Mitchell scored 25 points and Jarrett Allen had a double-double (15 points, 15 rebounds) for the Cavaliers, who improved to 4-0 for the first time since opening 6-0 in 2016-17. Evan Mobley added 17 points and eight rebounds.
Jalen Brunson scored 21 points for the Knicks, who have lost their first three games. Josh Hart (16 points, 13 rebounds) and Karl-Anthony Towns (13 points, 10 rebounds) had double-doubles, while OG Anunoby had 15 points. Myles McBride added 14 points off the bench.
Cleveland led 22-18 after the first and opened up a six-point lead before the Knicks went on a 22-7 run over a 6:08 span. Hart and Brunson each had seven points during the spurt when Hart gave New York its first lead at 34-31 by draining a 3-pointer with 7:29 left.
The Knicks led 52-45 at halftime. Mitchell opened the third with a 3-pointer, but Hart answered with a 3-pointer of his own and the Knicks slowly built a lead that peaked at 13 points when Anunoby sank a 25-footer to put the hosts up 72-59.
The Cavaliers responded with a 25-8 run to cap the quarters. Niang and Mitchell hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put them ahead 84-80, then the Knicks scored nine of the next 14 points. McBride gave New York a short-lived 87-86 lead with 7:14 left, and Brunson’s free throws tied the game for the final time at 89-89 with 6:12 left.
Garland hit a bank shot 16 seconds later to start a 10-2 run in which he scored seven points, including a 3-pointer that extended Cleveland’s lead to 99-91 with 3:51 left. The Knicks got within three points before the Cavaliers iced the win, going 9-for-10 from the line over the final 1:25.
– Field level media
