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Recap: Cavs 107, Knicks 102

by Myles A. Mills on February 4th, 2009 at 11:10 pm

Lebron claimed he wasn’t thinking about Kobe’s performance monday night.  Yeah right.  How’s this for a stat line?

50 points

11 assists

10 rebounds

17/33 shooting

16/19 free throw shooting

It’s painful to watch one player dismantle the Knicks, but the Knicks had plenty of chances to take control of this game.  The game changer occurred when David Lee made two free throws after a loose ball foul called on Zydrunas Ilgauskas.  Lee made both free throws, and Mo Williams missed a terrible shot from 3.  Then, the Knicks had an opportunity to seize the momentum of the game.  Chris Duhon, who looked weary and off-beat the entire game, threw the ball behind David Lee, and Nate Robinson was unable to keep it inbounds.  A charge called on Nate Robinson and an away from the ball offensive foul called on Tim Thomas could also be classified as “momentum killers.”  In fact, the Knicks stunk in the clutch.  Despite a phenomenal performance by Al Harrington, other than Nate Robinson nobody shot over 50% on the team.  You can laud the Knicks for exerting effort and playing hard undermanned all year, but they’ve proven they can compete, so now it’s time for results.  The Cavs are clearly more talented and experienced than the Knicks, but in a close game the Knicks had the upper hand with the Cavs playing their second game in two nights.  So, 2 games through dream week, or hell week if you ask me.  Two dominating performances by the two best players in the league.  Two competitive games, two losses.  The Knicks will play the Boston Celtics on Friday to conclude this grueling stretch, but an away game in Portland comes after that.  Like all Knick fans, I just want to see results, and I hope this string of games doesn’t derail the season and suck the momentum out of this team.

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About Myles A. Mills

Myles is a sophomore at The Browning School, an all-boys private school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He's been a Knick fan as long as he can remember, and 02-03 was the last season he could remember in entirety. He hopes to one day see the Knicks in the playoffs. Myles is also fond of the Mets, and follows them vehemently, but his the bulk of his time goes to the Knicks. Myles wants to be a radio hosts on WFAN or ESPN 1050 radio, and he hopes to write for theknicksblog.com for years to come. View all posts by Myles A. Mills →
  • Chris Alvino

    The Knicks, aside from the opening minutes, played a decent game. The last play of the first half bothered me, but overall, I did not mind how they played.

    LeBron torched us tonight. At times he got royal treatment, but he simply had a great game. At times, we looked scared of him. But when he takes 33 shots, he is bound to score a lot of points. Taking 33 shots, I would expect him to take no less than 40 points.

    Let’s take the Celtics on Friday. This loss hurts because we could have won. But in every game there has to be a winner and there has to be a loser. We ended up on the wrong end of the stick.

  • Mucha

    No disrespect but Duhon and Lee didn’t play well in my opinion and what Lee got was not what I call a “real” double-double. We had a good game but we can’t win against the Cavaliers if we start missing layups and making stupid turnovers in the fourth quarter. And we could have won the game.

    Al Harrington was great. Hate it or love it, he’s our only go-to-guy on the offensive end and he doesn’t get enough credit for that in my opinion. I really don’t know if that game was an indication of Lee’s limits as a basketball player or if he simply had a bad game.

    Anyways, I got love for Nate but what would you guys (I know what your position is Chris) think of this suggestion :

    Knicks get : Courtney Lee, Tony Battie and a first round draft pick.
    Orlando gets : Nate Robinson and Jared Jeffries.

  • Mucha

    I believe we can get a lot more for Nate Robinson though, but what would you think of that trade anyways ?

  • Kid Tarheel

    While I hate how the last two games have ended up, I just can’t kill the Knicks for them. The two best players in the NBA came into the lights of the Garden with bad intentions. The type of intentions that Jordan and Reggie used to come in with. In a sick and twisted way, I think this may be a signal that we are becoming relevant again. The superstars are coming to play, and no one is going to let us slip by them. It almost seems as they are auditioning for the chance to play for D’Antoni (ok, “slight” overstatement)

    We really have no business winning either of those games. Both teams are tied in the loss column with the best record in the entire league (9). Against the lakers, not only do we not have anyone as good as Kobe, but nobody as good as Gasol OR Odom. We still could have won that game. As the Cleveland game turned out, we probably SHOULD have won that game. Could anyone have seriously expected us to be in competition with the Kobe’s and the Lebron’s at the start of the year?

    I know it may seem that I am making excuses, but we are heading in the right direction. And fast. We played the best two players in the league the past two games, who play on the teams tied with a third with the best record in the league…. and guess who’s next? We”ll have another chance to see if we can beat a 9 loss team on Friday. And I for one, am looking forward to it.

    PS- I need more for Nate. Any combination of Reddick and a 1st round pick would do it for me I think. I’d like to see how many three’s he could make in our offense with wide open looks.

  • zaphod

    Gallinari plus/minus stas are incredible…he is by far the best in the league for 40 min.

  • krayziehustler

    dude, even i can score 50 points if i took 33 shots and 19 free throws. Im not too impressed by his scoring. His rebounds and assists are more impressive.

  • JohnnyG

    These last two games should prove that the cap clearing 2010 plan is 100% the correct path. You need a superstar to win in this league.

    This should put to bed all the complaining about having to wait two years in hopes that the knicks can sign a major free agent or two.

    It is absolutely necessary. Do you need any more proof?

  • Moody Rush

    We had a chance to win both games. Superstar (none on our team, and a heck of one on theirs) or not. This isnt the Isiah era where we get destroyed by 50 points on national TV. This team has a chance EVERY time we take the floor. Not saying that we’re better than the Lakers and Cavs (records dont lie), but as Chris said, some one has to win and some one has to lose and we have a chance to come out the victor nearly 50% of the time (or whatever winning percentage we have).

    I cant be too mad at Chris Duhon. According to the media he was under the weather, and dude is a warrior as he STILL suits up and balls no matter if its a bad back, stitches, or flu- like symptoms.

    As for Lebron- its clear he was trying to one- up Kobe. Some would argue he did with that triple double. If his intentions werent clear by the way he dove out of bounds at the final buzzer to collect that 10th rebound (securing his triple double), then I dont know what to tell you. That too should tell you not to take Lebron’s word at face value- especially regarding 2010 and his intentions for that summer- as he stated serveral times prior to the game that his goal was not to put on a (one man) show at MSG, yet he came in and did just that.

  • http://www.hotstovenewyork.com gozer

    what’s the big deal. you look at this week’s games, you look at the schedule, it’s an easy 0-3. it actually makes me a little angry that so many fans out there were expecting them to win a game. hell, some of you wanted them to go 2-1. why would you suddenly thrust such unrealistic expectations on this group when they just seemed to have turned a corner. Prior to Monday, the Knicks had gone 10-7 over the course of their last 17 games. That’s something to build on. Fan should be feeling good about this group. Fans shouldn’t let three losses to the leagues three best leave a bad taste in their mouths. Even after another L on Friday, this team will still have a .500 record over their last 20 games – and when was the last time a Knicks team managed that? It’s such a small benchmark, but even basic achievements like that have eluded this franchise over the last several years. I’m looking forward to this upcoming road trip, where hopefully we can get back to playing winning basketball. Losing can often breed bad habits on fragile teams, and like Myles said, I’ll be content if they simply come out of this stretch with any mojo intact.

  • bob knick slave

    Can we get rid of nate now?his schitzo play is maddening.he makes a shot,feels confident,thinks anything he puts up will go in,so he dribble into a crowd,throws up a stupid shot(or loses ball)thenhe doesnt feel as confident,doesnt take the open shot,passes the ball to whoever misses next.and then makes a bonehead defensive play.i have been watching the NBA since the mid-sixties,and players like this do not change or get better(although media types and fans think he will)GET RID OF HIM BEFORE ITS TOO LATE

  • Mucha

    KNICKS GET ANTHONY RANDOLPH
    Bucks get : Nate Robinson
    Warriors get : Joe Alexander

    Somebody has to tell Sir Donnie Walsh. We want Anthony Randolph.