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CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers couldn’t keep up with a New York Knicks team that just has their number. They dropped Saturday’s game 109-97.
Three stars of the game
First star: Jalen Brunson
31 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds
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Brunson is a certified Cavs killer. He picked up right where he left off last postseason by torching whatever defender Cleveland put in front of him. He got inside the paint and to his midrange floater with ease. And when he didn’t, the outside shot was working as well.
There really isn’t much that you can do when Brunson has it going as he did here. The Cavs sent some doubles at him and tried to shade their defense toward him. When they got too far, he made the easy pass to the open teammate, never forcing anything.
The Cavs’ strategy was fine. The defense also wasn’t necessarily horrible. Cleveland’s guards competed, but that didn’t matter. Brunson is just too good a shot and decision-maker.
Second star: Donovan Mitchell
37 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block
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Mitchell is putting together an impressive season from a process standpoint. He’s doing a better job of looking for his teammates, while also finding avenues to score.
“I think the biggest thing is creating an opportunity,” Mitchell said. “I haven’t shot as many shots as I have in my career, so trying to balance that and figure out trying to make the right basketball play. Sometimes that is shooting. Sometimes that is passing. Sometimes that is running the blitz, and it’s going to help to make me better.”
Mitchell tried to will the Cavs back into this game, scoring 21 in the final quarter alone. But as impressive as he was, a one-man army wasn’t enough to take down a well-oiled machine like the Knicks. Especially when the rest of his co-stars struggled.
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Third star: Karl-Anthony Towns
29 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
Towns is such a difficult player to defend. His outside shot requires him to be…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/diving-deeper-cavs-109-97-110000701.html
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Publish date : 2026-11-08 11:00:00
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