Darius Garland scored 15 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter Monday night for the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers, who overcame a 13-point third-quarter deficit to beat the New York Knicks 110-104.
Donovan Mitchell scored 25 points and Jarrett Allen had a double-double (15 points, 15 rebounds) for the Cavaliers, who improved to 4-0 for the first time since they opened 6-0 in 2016-17. Evan Mobley added 17 points and eight rebounds.
Jalen Brunson scored 21 points for the Knicks, who have alternated losses with wins in their first three games. Josh Hart (16 points, 13 rebounds) and Karl-Anthony Towns (13 points, 10 rebounds) each posted double-doubles while OG Anunoby had 15 points. Miles McBride added 14 points off the bench.
Cleveland led 22-18 after the first and opened up a six-point lead before the Knicks mounted a 22-7 run over a span of 6:08. Hart and Brunson had seven points apiece during the surge, when Hart gave New York the lead for the first time at 34-31 by draining a 3-pointer with 7:29 remaining.
The Knicks led 52-45 at the half. Mitchell opened the third with a 3-pointer, but Hart answered with his own 3-pointer and the Knicks slowly extended their lead, which peaked at 13 points when Anunoby sank a 25-footer to put the hosts up 72-59.
The Cavaliers responded with a 25-8 run bridging the quarters. Niang and Mitchell hit consecutive 3-pointers to put them ahead 84-80, after which the Knicks scored nine of the next 14 points. McBride gave New York a short-lived 87-86 lead with 7:14 left and Brunson’s free throws tied the game for the last time at 89-89 with 6:12 remaining.
Garland hit a bank shot 16 seconds later to begin a 10-2 run in which he scored seven points, including the 3-pointer that extended Cleveland’s lead to 99-91 with 3:51 remaining. The Knicks got as close as three points before the Cavaliers iced the win by going 9-for-10 from the line over the final 1:25.
