The Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks played a home-and-home set on consecutive nights in the first week of the season — a convenient bit of scheduling for teams linked together after a first-round playoff series last spring,
Five months later, the teams remain connected by their similarly undermanned status — even as the Knicks are in danger of losing any sort of association with the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Cavaliers will look to continue their post-New Year’s Day surge Sunday night when they host the reeling Knicks in the final game of the regular season between the rivals.
The Cavaliers are returning to Ohio for a pivotal two-game homestand after winning without All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell as well as Caris LeVert on Friday night, when Cleveland never trailed in a 110-100 win over the Detroit Pistons.
The Knicks have been off since Thursday, when they trailed wire-to-wire in a 110-99 loss to the visiting Golden State Warriors.
With Mitchell (sore left knee) and LeVert (sprained right elbow) sidelined, Darius Garland posted 29 points on 8-of-12 shooting from 3-point land, and Evan Mobley stepped up Friday with 22 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists. The Cavaliers improved to 21-6 since Jan. 1 and remained in a virtual tie for second place in the Eastern Conference with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Both teams are eight games behind the Boston Celtics, who visit Cleveland on Tuesday night.
“It felt really good coming out of my hand tonight,” said Garland, whose eight 3-pointers were two shy of his single-game career high set against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Nov. 13, 2022. “We were missing two big pieces of our team, so I had to be super aggressive.”
The Cavaliers lost another key piece Friday, when Isaac Okoro was limited to 24-plus minutes due to a tight back. Coach J.B. Bickerstaff acknowledged the injury but had no update after the game.
Cleveland.com reported LeVert, who was injured in Wednesday’s 132-123 double-overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls, could be out more than one game but that Mitchell sat out Friday in hopes he could be available for the key set against the Knicks and Celtics.
Cleveland endured its lone losing streak of the new year Feb. 22-23, when it fell to the Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers with Mitchell sidelined due to an illness.
Being without multiple starters is nothing new for the Knicks, who appeared ready to build off last spring’s five-game first-round win over the Cavaliers when they went 14-2 in January.
But New York was just 4-8 in February, when starters OG Anunoby (right elbow), Julius Randle (right shoulder) and Mitchell Robinson (ankle surgery) were all sidelined. Fellow starters Jalen Brunson and Isaiah Hartenstein also missed multiple games.
The February skid dropped the Knicks into fourth place in the East, a half-game game ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers and just 1 1/2 games clear of the seventh-place Miami Heat entering the latter’s game Saturday night against the Utah Jazz. The seventh- through 10th-place teams in each conference participate in the play-in tournament to determine the final two playoff teams.
“We are playing the best we can with the bodies that we have,” Knicks swingman Josh Hart said. “We’re playing our (rear ends) off. It’s not like we’re just sitting there and crying about injuries and laying down.”
The Knicks and Cavaliers split the home-and-home set Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, when visiting New York earned a 109-91 win on Halloween before Cleveland returned the favor with a 95-89 victory.
–Field Level Media