On April 02, 2022, Darius Garland of the Cleveland Cavaliers took a shot against RJ Barrett # 9 and Mitchell Robinson # 23 of the New York Knicks in the first half at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Jim McIjack / Getty Images / AFP
Darius Garland has a total of 24 points and 13 assists as the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers never back down and took control of the third quarter on Saturday afternoon on the way to a 119-101 win over the short-hand New York Knicks.
The Cavaliers (43-35) substituted nicely from an ugly 131-107 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday. Seventh-ranked Cleveland is 2 1/2 games ahead of the Brooklyn Nets and Hawks in the Eastern Conference, and sixth-ranked the Toronto Raptors are 2/2.
Garland posted his 27th point-assist double-double and seventh in nine games. The All-Star Guard made 8 of 19 shots and hit five 3-pointers
Caris Levert added 19 when the Cavaliers started pulling towards the end of the third before snatching the win in the fourth. Horsemen shot 54.3 percent from the 3-point range, including 44.1 percent (15 of 34).
Moses Brown continued to fill in for Jarrett Allen (broken finger) and contributed 16 points with 13 rebounds. Isaac Okoro added 16 points and Kevin Love added 15 points for the Cavaliers, who swept the three-match season series from New York.
Always make a showdariusgarland22 | # Learn pic.twitter.com/11z1KvWlEm
– Cleveland Cavaliers (avcavs) April 2, 2022
New York (34-44) fell for the second time since being officially dropped from the post-season debate on Thursday. Without Julius Randall in the right quadriceps pain, the Knicks had said that coach Tom Thibodeau could keep the forward out for the remaining four games.
OB Topin led the Knicks with a career-best 20 points. Evan Fournier added 19 and Emanuel Quickley 17 but RJ Barrett shot 4 of 18 and was caught for 12.
Garland scored 10 points as Cleveland outscored the Knicks 19-10 in the final 4:40 over for a 39-30 lead after the first quarter. Topin’s Dunk tied 45-45 with 6:34 left and Brown had a lead of 68-60 at halftime with 1.8 seconds left.
7:41 Cleveland made an 80-71 lead in Garland’s bank shot with the rest and two minutes later when Levert snatched Fournier and converted Brown into a two-handed dunk, the cushion increased to 87-74.
Cleveland finished third in 12-6 bursts and held a 102-85 lead before finishing midway through the fourth.
Quickley’s 3-pointer in a row led New York to fourth place in two minutes, 102-91. Quickley then fouled Seddy Osman in the 3-pointer and Cleveland finished a four-point game to start a 13-3 run that made it 115-94 when Garland found Okoro for the cutting lap with six minutes left.
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