Knicks vs Cleveland Game-2: bitter defeat for New York

The first half was enough for the Cavaliers to clarify things against the Knicks and win game-2, drawing one of the most fought series of this first playoff round at 1-1: the 34-17 run in the second quarter was decisive , which puts a one-way recovery downhill in which even New York already had its head projected at Madison Square Garden and in race-3.

What changed for the Cavs was first of all the impact of Darius Garland, very different from the one seen in the playoff debut in game-2: the young talent from Cleveland scores 26 of his 32 points in the first half and leads the team from Ohio thanks to 6/10 from the arc and seven assists, while Donovan Mitchell travels in a double-double with 17 and 13 winning passes. 13 is also Evan Mobley’s number of the night (for points and rebounds), while Caris LeVert adds 24 off the bench.

There is little left for the Knicks to save from a game that clearly got out of hand in a short time: Julius Randle is the best scorer of his team with 22 points and eight rebounds, while Jalen Brunson has 20 points and 14 with 13 shots by RJ Barrett : to condemn New York are above all the turnovers, which bring Cleveland 19 points in the second quarter alone and 27 in the first half of the game (numbers that have not been seen since 2009). With this gap, it is difficult to think of staying afloat.