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Game 20: New York Knicks v Cleveland Cavaliers (Review)
Predicted Score: 95-99
Actual Score: 94-109
By: Malcolm Merritt
Email: mjmerritt23@gmail.com
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Kyrie Irving
brought the ball to the top of the key. Tristan
Thompson came to meet him with a screen. Irving dribbled behind his back
and swung back across his body. Unfortunately, Pablo Prigioni was guarding him.
Prigioni did a full turn around and had to run around Thompson’s screen as
Irving rose up for the three-point shot. Splash. The Cavs had a 13-point lead.
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| Irving dominated the Knicks with a strong supporting cast. |
Irving did that all night. He terrorized the New York Knicks
(5-15). They have always struggled when it came to defending the young star. He
averaged 30 points and 10 assists against the Knicks in his career and dropped
a career high of 41 points in a loss at MSG. This year the Knicks have always
struggled against strong point guards. Kyrie Irving took full advantage of
that, dropping 37 points and 11 assists on spectacular shooting. It seemed like
he could not miss. He was hitting fade-aways, driving in the lane, drawing
fouls and constantly using his dribble moves, playing with defenders. He truly
put his handles on display Tuesday night.
Overall, he led his Cleveland Cavaliers (8-13) to victory,
winning their fourth straight at home. He got a lot of help from his teammates,
and even more from New York. The Knicks once again had a slow start in the
first quarter and once again, they were not able to recover. Their shots were
just not falling as the entire team settled for jump shots, and were dominated in
the paint by Andrew
Bynum (8 rebounds, 1 block in the first half), Anderson
Varejao and Alonzo
Gee. At one point, the Knicks were in a 18-point hole, 27-9. Three Knicks players were in foul
trouble in the first quarter, throwing off their entire rhythm.
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| The Knicks haven't played as a unit this year, resulting in this look on the bench constantly. |
They recovered in the second quarter with the bench unit.
The Knicks succeeded in keeping the Cavaliers out of the paint. Bargnani, who
struggled mightily on the offensive end, shooting 5-17 for 11 points, played
extremely well defensively on Andrew Bynum in that quarter. New York also used
the Pick and Roll between Pablo Prigioni
and Amar’e
Stoudemire. It was beautiful, almost reminiscent of Stoudemire’s time in Phoenix
with Steve Nash.
Stoudemire finished with 15 points on 70% shooting in his highest minute total
of the season, 27. He also made a difference on the defensive end with 2 HUGE
blocks on Tristan Thompson. Prigioni has 6 points and 9 assists, hitting 2
three-pointers.
The second half was when things went down hill. At half
time, the Knicks had cut the lead down to 1 point and it looked like New York
had found its groove. It was the exact opposite. The Cavaliers came out in the
third quarter firing, especially Irving, who had 12 points and 5 assists in the
period. In the second half he had 22 points. He was dueling with Carmelo
Anthony. Anthony had a great night but not enough help. Playing 38 minutes, he
shot 63.2% (75% from behind the arc) for 29 points and 8 rebounds.
The struggle really came from the 1 and 2 guard spot for the
Knicks. Felton
was battling injuries through the night, as he limped off the court more than
once. He was cold from the field and had one key play during the Knicks run in
the 2nd quarter. Shumpert was
seemingly non-existent. He shot 1-4 for 2 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. In
the Knicks 5 wins, he is averaging 10.6 points. In their losses, he is
averaging 6.4 points. With him scoring, there is another weapon on the floor
that the defense needs to worry about, giving all the more reason he needs to
get out of his slump. Shumpert didn’t contribute much defensively either. He
wasn’t on the floor enough defending Kyrie Irving, making him virtually
useless. Woodson even inserted World Peace
in the starting line up to try to add some defensive intensity in the beginning
of the game. It didn’t work; the Cavaliers scored 31 points that quarter.
Ultimately, Cleveland beat New York 109-94. New York stood
no chance when specifically Alonzo Gee exploited them in the paint. No one
boxed him out as he spent time cleaning the boards with put-back slams
throughout the second half. He had 6 rebounds and 8 emphatic points that were
always results of the little things in the game, such as defense and
rebounding. And Kyrie Irving, who ended up being the biggest factor in the
game, didn’t help the Knicks cause.
New York is playing a stretch of 4 games in 5 days, this
being the first. Wednesday night, they play at home against the Chicago Bulls
(8-11), on the road against the Celtics (10-13),
and home again versus the Atlanta Hawks
(11-11). Let’s see how fatigue will take a toll on the teams this week.
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