First 20-point loss of the season. The Cavs were obviously tight with the whole MSG thing and the celebrities. They couldn't hit a shot in the first half, even missing free throws. They finished the game at 21% on 3's and 59% at the foul line. They were really tight.
Garland may have had the worst game of his career at 4-for-21 with 3 assists and 3 turnovers. The Cavs were outscored 28-8 on points off turnovers which matches the margin of defeat exactly.
I was hoping they would stop shooting 3's in the first half but the Knicks packed the paint and Robinson is tough to shoot over so the Cavs had to take those 3's. Cedi has made just one of his last nine 3's.
Hopefully with this experience out of the way the environment won't be so intimidating the next game and the Cavs can hit some shots in the first half.
Robinson was pushing Allen around and had five offensive boards. He outplayed Allen, who was held to six points and (incredibly) only five rebounds. Mobley had 10 and 10 and was largely responsible for Randle going 3-for-15 from the field.
Had the Cavs gone 14-for-33 from deep they would have had 21 more points and this game comes down to the last shot. They started to hit a few in the second half, going 5-for-14, an improvement over the 2-for-19 they had at halftime. But they were too nervous to shoot until settling down a little in the second half.
