By james art By Brian Mahoney
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Darius Garland scored a season-high 34 points, 15 in the fourth quarter, and the Cavaliers improved to 4-0 with a 110-104 win over the Knicks on Monday night.
Donovan Mitchell added 25 points, Evan Mobley had 17, and Jarrett Allen finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who got off to their best start since beginning their 2016 NBA title defense with a 6- 0.
Jaylen Brunson had 21 points and seven assists for the Knicks (1-2), who led by 13 in the second half. Mikal Bridges scored 19 points, Josh Hart had 16 points and 13 rebounds and OG Anunoby scored 15 points. Karl-Anthony Towns dropped 13 points and 10 boards.
Food to take home
Cavaliers: Coach Kenny Atkinson warned that the schedule is about to get tougher after the start of Toronto-Detroit-Washington, but his team did well in the first test, even if it didn’t come close to averaging 128 points in those three games .
Knicks: The Knicks should have enough talent to overcome the absence of Brunson, who went to the locker room in the third quarter after appearing to injure his ankle on a hit, but was unable to do so on a night when he was just 8 against 24.
Key point
The kick of the match was disallowed. After the Knicks missed their final shot of the first quarter, Mobley scooped up the rebound and passed to Mitchell, who dribbled past the cheese and casually fired a one-handed shot from about 85 feet.
Key statistics
Garland made three of his five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. One erased the Knicks’ last lead midway through the period and later hit back-to-back hits to open an eight-point advantage.
Next up
The Cavaliers welcome back LeBron James and his Lakers on Wednesday. New York begins a four-game road trip Wednesday in Miami.
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