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What a Relief! Knicks' Bench Joins Resurgent Barrett to Crush Cavs in Game 3
For the New York Knicks, there's no place like home.
The Knicks opened a potentially very lucrative weekend at Madison Square Garden on a high note, dominating another defensive struggle to the tune of a 99-79 on Friday night to take a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-seven set.
A resurgent RJ Barrett led the way for the Knicks, setting the pace by scoring 10 of the Knicks' 17 points in the opening frame en route to 19 on 8-of-12 shooting. Jalen Brunson had 21 elsewhere in the starting five to lead the team while the Knicks' bench replicated their brilliance from last Saturday's opener, outscoring Cleveland's reserves 39-14.
The Knicks set several landmarks en route to victory: despite the dreariness of Game 2, Brunson became the first Knick since Patrick Ewing in the 1990 first round against Boston to tally 20 points and five assists in back-to-back games. Additionally, the 79 points the Knicks allowed were the fewest in a single game thus far this postseason or regular season.
That obviously meant Cleveland reached its lowest-scoring output during the entire 2022-23 campaign ... an achievement that saw New York replace itself in that same record previously set in December.
Like Tuesday's second game, it took a while for either offense to generate anythin resemblng positive momentum, but the Knicks struck gold with Barrett's rise amidst first quarter sloppiness. Chastised by both amateur and professional observers alike for coming up short over the first two games, Barrett was responsible for a majority of the Knicks' offense in the early going, scoring 10 of their 17 first quarter points en route to a tie.
While the New York defense continued to flex its muscle, the offense final found a rhythm in the second period. After a rare successful triple for the Cavs, Isaac Okoro's with just over three minutes gone by being the latter of only two Cleveland conversions from deep, the Knicks erased a miniscule deficit with a 21-8 run to close out the latter eight-plus minutes of the frame. New York's outside output was hardly anything to brag about (hitting just four), one of those tallies came from the arms of Immanuel Quickley in the final minute. That and a Barrett dunk put the Knicks up 13 at the break.
Dragged down by a brutal outing from Game 2 hero Darius Garland (1-of-12 from the field in the first half), Cleveland only came as close as nine on two brief occasions over the final 24 minutes. The Knicks permanently shifted momentum by responding to one of those attempt at a takeover with a speedy 8-0 run over the last two minutes of the third, setting the stage for the most jubilant form of window dressing.
To the tune of chants of "MVP" and the players' own names, some of them likely coming from the postseason heroes of metropolitan past gathered in Manhattan (such as Allan Houston, Bernard King, John Starks, and Latrell Sprewell), the Knicks built a lead that reached as high as 29, allowing them to put in some of their exiled representatives to run out the clock with fans particularly delighted by the insertion of Derrick Rose.
Allowing the bench stars to get into the game capped off a stellar performance from the Knicks' reserves: Josh Hart tallied 13 points, six rebounds, and two steals in an effort that saw him take over Quentin Grimes' spot in the starting five when the latter went to the locker room shortly before the halftime horn. Quickley had 11 more and sank 4-of-6 from the field while Obi Toppin earned first-name chants with eight points in the final frame, pairing it with four steals.
Rocked by the Knicks to the tune of just over 38 percent shooting from the field, Cleveland wasted a 22-point outing from Donovan Mitchell, who did what he could to beautify the Cavs' box score by shooting 9-of-19 from the field but losing six turnovers. Garland failed to truly recover, reaching double figures at 10 but needing 21 attempt from the field to do it. The Cavs' bench struggles were perfectly defined by Caris LeVert's issues, as the former Brooklyn Net hit 7-of-17 upon a promotion into the starting five after scoring 24 off the bench in Game 2. Evan Mobley reached a quiet double-double with 10 points and rebounds each.
Game 4 of the series will be held at MSG on Sunday afternoon (1 p.m. ET, ABC), as the Knicks look to take a commanding 3-1 lead.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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