Knicks collapse late in fourth, fall 108-121 to Cavaliers

Donovan Mitchell’s fourth point play with 7:25 on the clock nullified a 9 point lead the Knicks managed to build late in the third quarter. Then, a couple of minutes later, Kevin Love’s fourth point play nailed the dagger and the Knicks couldn’t recover, falling 108-121 to the Cavaliers in Cleveland last night.

Mitchell, who was passed by the Knicks during off-season, showed them what they could have had. The Westchester product dropped 38 points and made 8 threes to go with 12 dimes as the Cavs won their fifth and improved 5-1 to take the second place in the east.

“He had a great game. I think we just have to do a better job of making it tougher for him. Once a guy like that gets going and has confident from the start, it’s kind of hard to slow him down. But it’s a team effort. It’s not just one guy guarding him. It’s all of us. We have to be more on a string defensively. Looking out for each other. But I got to give him credit, he’s capable of doing that.”

– Jalen Brunson

Jalen Brunson and Evan Fournier led the Knicks with 16 points each while Julius Randle and RJ Barrett combined 30 in the third loss of the season. None of them were able to stop Mitchell’s show down the stretch.

Kevin Love had 29 off the bench, mirroring Mitchell from behind the arc with 8-13. Dean Wade was also hot from long distance going 6-8 as the Cavs finished with 23 made threes and a 46 percentage.

The Knicks bench despite having three good quarters, collapsed in the final act. Isaiah Hartenstein scored 12 points and grabbed 9 boards, Obi Toppin had 9 buckets and Derrick Rose, Immanuel Quickley & Cam Reddish had 7 points each.

Up-next:

The Knicks (3-3) return to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday to take on the Hawks (4-2)