Cleveland Cavaliers @ New York Knicks
Wednesday, November 1, 2023 at 7:30 PM ET
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY | Game ID: 22300120
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
NYK 22 28 13 26 89CLE 24 25 22 24 95
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Mitchell scores 30 points as the Cavaliers snap a 3-game skid, beating the Knicks 95-89
NEW YORK -- — Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers snapped a three-game skid with a 95-89 win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
Caris LeVert scored 19 and Eric Mobley added 14 for Cleveland, which was again missing starters Darius Garland (strained hamstring), center Jarrett Allen (ankle bone bruise) and backup guard Ty Jerome (sprained ankle) with injuries.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 24 points. Immanuel Quickley scored 18, Donte DiVincenzo had 16 and Mitchell Robinson finished with 16 rebounds.
New York was without RJ Barrett , who sat with a sore left knee. Julius Randle’s offense was also missing, as he finished with six points on 3-for-15 shooting from the field and 0-for-6 sniping from long distance.
“Their defense was tough. It was a defensive game,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We needed more easy baskets and we didn’t get those. You gotta find a way to win. That is the bottom line.”
The Knicks led 50-49 at halftime before the Cavaliers opened the third quarter with a 13-5 run and never relinquished the lead. Cleveland took an eight-point lead at 69-61 on Dean Wade’s 3-pointer with 55 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The Knicks were held to 13 points in the period and the Cavaliers carried a 71-63 lead into the fourth.
“We haven’t been defending the way we are capable of defending so far this year,” Cavaliers’ coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We challenge our guys to go out and defend and play Cavaliers basketball. That’s what I’m proud of. We showed our true grit.”
Wade hit another 3-pointer that gave Cleveland its biggest lead of the game at 77-68 with 9:10 remaining.
The Knicks closed within two points, 79-77, on Robinson’s free throw with 2:48 remaining. But Mitchell followed with a 3-pointer and a floater on the Cavalier’s next two possessions.
“I just needed to make a damn shot. I work for the moments like that,” Mitchell said. “I was a little tired, but my teammates count on me when it matters most. Sometimes you just gotta go out there and find a way to win. That’s what I pride myself on.”
The Knicks, who were held to 34.8% shooting (32 of 92) from the field and 16.7% (5 of 30) from 3-point range, never got closer than five points the rest of the way.
The Cavaliers scored the first five points of the game and the Knicks scored the next nine.
Mitchell had 13 points in the opening quarter, but the rest of the team scored only 11 as Cleveland led 24-22 after the first.
The Knicks took their biggest lead of the first half, 33-28, on Josh Hart’s basket with 9:21 remaining in the second quarter. Hart finished with 11 points.
“That’s who number 45 is,” Bickerstaff said of Mitchell. “He can create at the end of games. He has the courage to take big shots and make big shots. When you have a lead and you have 45 on your team, you always have a chance to win it.”
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
CLECL C. LeVert
CP C. Porter Jr.
DM D. Mitchell
DW D. Wade
EM E. Mobley
GN G. Niang
IO I. Okoro
MS M. Strus
TT T. Thompson
NYKDD D. DiVincenzo
IH I. Hartenstein
IQ I. Quickley
JB J. Brunson
JH J. Hart
JR J. Randle
MM M. McBride
MR M. Robinson
QG Q. Grimes
CLE/NYK 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