The Cleveland Cavaliers turned a six-point halftime lead into a runaway victory on Tuesday night, outscoring the New York Knicks 23-11 in a dominant third quarter to cruise to a 109-94 win and pull even with New York in the Eastern Conference standings.
Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland with 23 points while James Harden added 20 off a productive second half. Jarrett Allen rounded out a balanced attack with 19 points and 10 rebounds as the Cavaliers won their eighth game in the last nine outings.
The Knicks couldn’t find a consistent offensive rhythm all night. Jalen Brunson finished with 20 points while Mikal Bridges added 18, but the pair shot a combined 12 of 36 from the floor. New York finished the game shooting 35 of 86 overall and just 27 percent from three-point range, connecting on 10 of 37 attempts — an especially glaring number against a Cavaliers team that entered the night ranked fourth-worst in the league defending the three-ball.
The game turned decisively in the third quarter. Cleveland built a 60-54 halftime edge before strangling New York’s offense in the third, holding the Knicks to just 3 of 24 from the field. Harden poured in eight points during that stretch and Allen added six as the Cavaliers extended their lead and never looked back. The third-quarter shooting display was the worst by the Knicks since a 3-of-20 performance in the fourth quarter of a 2018 game against Boston, and the last time Cleveland held a team to three or fewer field goals in a quarter was last season against Minnesota.
From a 71-63 advantage, the Cavaliers went on a 13-2 run bridging the third and fourth quarters and pushed their largest lead to 98-78 with about six minutes remaining. Mitchell Robinson did what he could on the glass for the Knicks, finishing with 15 rebounds — one shy of a season high — but the damage was already done.
Despite the lopsided final, the Eastern Conference implications keep this rivalry tight. Both the Cavs and Knicks sit at 37-22, tied for third place in the East. New York currently holds the head-to-head tiebreaker edge after winning two of the three matchups between the teams this season, meaning a close finish to the regular season could hinge on that built-in advantage for the Knicks.
For the Cavaliers, the win continues a stretch of basketball that has turned them into one of the conference’s most formidable teams. The combination of Mitchell’s shot creation, Harden’s playmaking and veteran feel, and Allen’s paint dominance gives Cleveland a deep and balanced attack that can punish opponents in multiple ways on a given night.
Both teams head to Milwaukee next, with the Cavaliers making the trip Wednesday to open a three-game road swing and the Knicks following on Friday.