Fresh off their first win of the season, the New York Knicks (1-3) head to Quicken Loans Arena for a Sunday night meeting on the road against the Cleveland Cavaliers (3-3).
New York’s first taste of winning basketball (including the preseason where they went 0-5) came in a 107-86 final score over the intrastate Brooklyn Nets. The Nets entered the game as the NBA’s highest-scoring team but were held a little over 35 points below their average as well as only 14 points in the second quarter.
The Cavaliers have now lost three of their last four after Saturday night’s 123-101 defeat at the hands of the New Orleans Pelicans.
After trailing by 13 at halftime, Cleveland actually took a one-point lead in the third quarter before being outscored 51-28 the rest of the way. They have given up at least 112 points in each of their last four outings.
Projected starting lineups
Knicks: PG - Jarrett Jack, SG - Tim Hardaway Jr., SF - Courtney Lee, PF - Kristaps Porzingis, C - Enes Kanter
Cavaliers: PG - Iman Shumpert, SG - J. R. Smith, SF - LeBron James, PF - Kevin Love, C - Tristan Thompson
Team stats leaders
Knicks: Scoring - Kristaps Porzingis 26.5, Rebounding - Enes Kanter 10.5, Assists - Ramon Sessions 4.3
Cavaliers: Scoring - LeBron James 26, Rebounding - Kevin Love 11.2, Assists - LeBron James 8.8
Injury report
Knicks: Out - Joakim Noah (suspension), Questionable - Ron Baker (ankle)
Cavaliers: Out - Isaiah Thomas (hip), Questionable - Derrick Rose (ankle)
What Knicks fans should watch for
As has been the case in recent seasons, Knicks’ fans will see plenty of familiar faces that used to wear their jersey that are currently in Cleveland.
The Cavaliers’ likely starting backcourt of Iman Shumpert (or Derrick Rose if he returns from injury) and J. R. Smith are former Knicks players as are Jose Calderon and Channing Frye.
While most Knicks had the knack on Friday night, that continued to not be the case for free agent pickup Tim Hardaway Jr. He finished the game 4-12 (33.3 percent) from the field which actually gave him his best field goal shooting performance through four games.
In the season, the 25-year-old is 13-49 (26.5 percent) from the field and 6-27 (22.2 percent) on threes.
Kristaps Porzingis was fourth in the NBA in scoring average entering Sunday, but he only averaged 11.3 points per game in his four appearances against Cleveland last season. He shot just 35.4 percent from the field and made less than half his free throws (5-11).
His scoring average against the Cavaliers was his lowest against any Eastern Conference team.
History of Knicks/Cavaliers
The Knicks and Cleveland first met on November 21, 1970, and have now met 202 times in the regular season. New York holds a 109-93 advantage in the win column all-time vs. the Cavaliers.
The edge in wins by the Knicks used to be much larger, but the Cavaliers have now beat them 10 straight times. Only one of the four matchups was somewhat close last season as Cleveland won the four games by an average of 20.8 points.
