NEW YORK (AP) — Darius Garland scored a season-high 34 points, 15 in the fourth quarter, and the Cleveland Cavaliers improved to 4-0 by beating the New York Knicks 110-104 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, off to their best start since beginning defense of their 2016 NBA title by starting 6-0.
Jalen 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 fouled out with 13 points and 10 boards.
Takeaways
Cavaliers: Coach Kenny Atkinson cautioned that the schedule was about to get tougher after a Toronto-Detroit-Washington start, but his team handled the first test just fine even while coming nowhere close to the 128 points it averaged in those three games.
Knicks: The Knicks should have enough talent to overcome off nights by Brunson, who went to the locker room in the third quarter after appearing to hurt his ankle on a shot, but couldn’t do that on a night he was just 8 for 24.
Key moment
The shot of the game didn’t count. After the Knicks missed their final shot of the first quarter, Mobley grabbed the rebound and passed to Mitchell, who took one dribble after the buzzer and casually fired in a one-handed shot from around 85 feet.
Key stat
Garland made three of his five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. One wiped out the Knicks’ final lead midway through the period, and he later hit back-to-back to open an eight-point advantage.
Up next
The Cavaliers welcome back LeBron James and his Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday. New York starts a four-game road trip Wednesday at Miami.
