Jock Landale is making the most of his extra opportunities.
Plus the Golden State Warriors dropped their second-straight game amid damning numbers, and Donovan Mitchell made a trade statement and a half against the New York Knicks.
Catch up on all of the day’s action in our NBA Wrap!
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Mon, 31 Oct
Monday October 31st
The Knicks’ bench, so strong to start the year, crumbled early in the fourth. The quarter began with five empty trips in six possessions and three turnovers. A nine-point lead was erased in a barrage of Love 3-pointers and Mitchell’s four-point play with 7:25 to go. Love’s four-point play, just over two minutes later, gave the Cavs the lead for good. From there, Mitchell absolutely took over, sinking a 3-pointer to extend the lead to nine and setting up Love for another 3 to put the game away. Mitchell started the game like he was shot out of a cannon, producing 15 points and five assists in the opening 8:39. The Knicks started slow-footed veteran Evan Fournier on Mitchell, and he torched him from deep. At one point, Mitchell walked into a 25-footer — one of his five first-quarter 3’s — like it was nothing as the shot clock expired, and either scored or assisted on all 14 Cavaliers points in an electric 14-5 run that gave them a 10-point edge late in the first quarter. The Knicks did well to stay close, responding to that Mitchell-led run with 10 consecutive points of their own. They were down by just three at the break despite their porous 3-point defence that enabled the Cavs to hit 12 of 22 from downtown. Barrett entered the game 4 of 28 from distance, and hit all three of his attempts from beyond the arc in the first half. He was the Knicks’ best player in the opening 24 minutes, right ahead of their key reserves, Isaiah Hartenstein and Immanuel Quickley. After his off game on Friday, Brunson didn’t start much better, shooting 1-for-7 in the opening half and missed shots he had been making the better part of the early season. He picked it up after halftime, keying a 12-1 Knicks run that turned a three-point deficit into an eight-point lead. The Cavs stormed right back, starting with a Mitchell 3-pointer and eventually got even on Dean Wade’s 3-pointer, but Brunson and Co. kept pushing in what was arguably their best quarter of the season. When it was over, the Knicks were up nine, after outscoring the Cavaliers 34-22, forcing four turnovers and holding Cleveland to 3 of 15 shooting from deep. Brunson scored 12 points in the frame, shaking off his sluggish first half.- –Written by Zach Braziller from New York Post (read original story here) ALL RESULTS PELICANS 112 CLIPPERS 91 WIZARDS 94 CELTICS 112 KNICKS 108 CAVALIERS 121 WARRIORS 112 PISTONS 128 TIMBERWOLVES 98 SPURS 107 MAGIC 105 MAVERICKS 114 ROCKETS – SUNS NUGGETS – LAKERS
