New York Knicks @ Cleveland Cavaliers
Tuesday, October 31, 2023 at 7:30 PM ET
Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, OH | Game ID: 22300112
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
CLE 24 28 16 23 91NYK 28 30 28 23 109
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson score 19 points apiece as the Knicks beat the Cavaliers 109-91
CLEVELAND -- — Julius Randle had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Jalen Brunson scored 19 points and the New York Knicks did not trail in the final three quarters of a 109-91 victory over the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night.
Immanuel Quickley added 18 points off the bench and RJ Barrett had 16 as the Knicks won the first half of a home-and-home series. It was the teams’ first meeting since New York eliminated Cleveland in five games in the first round of the 2023 playoffs.
“It doesn’t matter what happened in the past, that’s all history,” Brunson said. “The only advantage is when you get back to playing certain teams, you can lean on certain tendencies against them.”
New York native Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points in 29 minutes, and Isaac Okoro and Georges Niang had 11 points apiece for the Cavaliers, who have lost three straight and are 0-3 at home. Cleveland is 2-8 against the Knicks since the start of last season.
Mitchell, who is averaging team highs of 32.0 points and 4.7 assists, returned after sitting out a 125-113 loss to the Pacers with a sore right hamstring Saturday. The four-time All-Star was hurt in a 108-105 home loss to Oklahoma City one night earlier.
“We had to make it as hard on him as we could,” New York coach Tom Thibodeau said. “You want to have a strategy for everybody. That’s why you shouldn’t pace yourself. When that ball goes up, you’ve got to be ready to go.”
The injury-plagued Cavaliers were without point guard Darius Garland (left hamstring strain) for the third straight game and have not had center Jarrett Allen (left ankle bone bruise) in uniform this season. Top reserve Caris LeVert also did not play (left hamstring soreness), nor did backup point guard Ty Jerome (right ankle sprain).
“It’s tough because we’re missing a bunch of guys, but you can’t dwell on it because we have to come back tomorrow and do it again,” Mitchell said. “I’m never one to make excuses.”
Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said he hoped that Allen “is doing more and more work and hopefully will be back soon,” but doesn’t have a return date targeted.
“It’s hit us at a tough time, obviously,” Bickerstaff said. “Our approach is no different, but you have to accept the results of the situation.”
Isaiah Hartenstein had 13 points and seven rebounds, and fellow center Mitchell Robinson added eight points and seven boards for New York. The Knicks are 2-1 on the road and 2-2 overall.
“The luxury that we have is we have two great bigs (Randle and Robinson) and any night, one of them can step up,” Hartenstein said. “My job is just to be ready every night.”
Cavaliers undrafted rookie Craig Porter scored 10 points and Evan Mobley collected six points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Draft pick Emoni Bates had nine points and six rebounds.
“You do what you have to do to ramp a guy up for NBA basketball,” Bickerstaff said. “This is what is expected.”
UP NEXT
The teams complete their back-to-back set Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
NYKDD D. DiVincenzo
DJ D. Jeffries
DW D. Windler
IH I. Hartenstein
IQ I. Quickley
JB J. Brunson
JH J. Hart
JR J. Randle
JS J. Sims
MM M. McBride
MR M. Robinson
QG Q. Grimes
RA R. Arcidiacono
RB R. Barrett
CLECP C. Porter Jr.
DJ D. Jones
DM D. Mitchell
DW D. Wade
EB E. Bates
EM E. Mobley
GN G. Niang
IM I. Mobley
IO I. Okoro
MS M. Strus
PO Porter
SM S. Merrill
TT T. Thompson
NYK/CLE the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur