CLEVELAND – The Cavaliers wasted no time, hanging a 2008-2009 Central Division championship banner in the rafters before tonight’s game vs. the Knicks.
The Cavs, who clinched the division for the first time since the Bicentennial, had a much tougher time with the pesky Knicks, who closed down LeBron James and battled close late into the fourth quarter before running out of gas and poise in the final minutes.
The Knicks’ impressive Rust Belt Revival Tour ended with a 98-93 loss at Quicken Loans Arena, ending the trip 3-1 and at least putting a scare into their possible first-round playoff foe. The Knicks fell 1 ½ games out of the eighth slot, with the No. 8 Bucks upsetting the Celtics.
“We got two more banners left,” James told the crowd after the game.
The Knicks, after wins in Milwaukee, Detroit and Minnesota, didn’t have their shooting legs, racking up a 37-percent rate and unable to buy a bucket in the last minutes. They held James to 19 points and 10 assists as he looked more into having a Sunday siesta than playing a basketball game following their West Coast trip. The Knicks were tied with Cleveland with seven minutes to go.
“No reason to be tired,” Mike D’Antoni said before the game. “The road is not tiring. It’s just sleeping in a different bed.”
Nate Robinson went down hard after missing a driving shot, hitting his head. He stayed down as play resumed and the Cavaliers played an entire possession 5-on-4, with Pavlovic finishing it off with an open 3-pointer from the left with 5:18 left for an 85-81 lead. The Knicks could’ve committed a foul to stop action.
They weren’t aggressive enough defensively in the final minutes. twice Anderson Varejao scored on easy layups because of Lee’s soft defense. The first time a pass went through him right to Varejao under the basket. Lee, playing on a sprained knee, then was beaten tot he spot by the Cavs 6-10 power forward who received a James pass for another uncontested layup with 2:17 left for a 92-87 lead. Harrington (8 of 19, 26 points) then missed a 3-pointer and it was all but over.
Nate Robinson finished with 20 points on 9 of 21 and Larry Hughes was just 6 of 17 for 15.
Harrington sparked the club in the third quarter. The Knicks hauled in three offensive rebounds – one by Robinson, two by Chandler – leading to a Harrington 3-pointer. That made it 57-54 with 7:00 left in the third.
After James missed a jumper, Lee scored on a fastbreak, got fouled with 1:00 left in the third, getting the Knicks within two. Chandler tied it 72 on a driving layup with 21 seconds left in the third . But James put the Cavs in the lead at 74-72 after three quarters.
James was held to 8 points in the half, with a rotation of Quentin Richardson, Wilson Chandler and Harrington all seeing time on him. The Knicks stopped him from getting into the lane and driving for easy baskets but he was very content to feed his new running mate Mo Williams, who ripped the Knicks for 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting. James had five assists in the half but didn’t get to the foul line once.
With 35 seconds left in the half, James couldn’t even get a hometown call, nailed for a charge on Harrington. Harrington proceeded to nail an open 3-pointer, to cut the deficit to 48-43. But James closed the half with a rare runner in the lane as the Cavs led 50-43 at intermission.
The Knicks shot just 35.6 percent in the half. Lee was a main culprit, shooting 1 of 8. Lee, at 6-9, was abused inside, blocked by Cavs 7-2 center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, James and Pavlovic.
Robinson scored 12 first-quarter points, including an eye-opening, soaring putback dunk off a miss by Richardson.
Before the game, James, whose challenged Robinson to a Slam-Dunk battle next All-Star Weekend, called the 5-7 ½ dunk champion “a freak of nature – to be able to get up that high and do those things above the rim.” .
“The thing about Nate,” said James before facing the Knicks last night. “Certain players in this league, you know what you’re going to get out of them every night. Every night you’re going to get high energy and going to compete every night. they may make mistakes but they play hard and give it all every night. You can live with those type of players and Nate is one of those players.”
Hughes added 10 points in the half. After each of his four buckets, he was booed by the Cavaliers fans who remember his inconsistency and injuries during his three-year stint in Cleveland.
“He’s a very good player, man,” James said. “I think D’Antoni’s system really helped him. Our system didn’t benefit him. Or he didn’t benefit with our system — however that happened.
“D’Antoni gives him that opportunity to just go out and play and live free and do things he does on the court. He’s been pretty good. I’ve been keeping up on him. He does a great job.”