Knicks at Cavaliers
Two days was plenty of time for the New York Knicks to dwell on a 41-point home loss, and they'll try to produce a more palatable result when they travel to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers on Tuesday. The Knicks, who have the third-worst record in the NBA, had won two straight games by 30 or more points before Sunday's 114-73 clunker against Boston. "It's a step backwards," Knicks coach Mike Woodson told reporters. "I thought we had turned the corner somewhat."
The Cavaliers have won three of four with an ugly 19-point loss at Atlanta in between. They bounced back with one of their best defensive performances of the year in Saturday's 88-82 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. While Cleveland has struggled to the league's worst road record, it's a respectable 6-3 in its own building and has won 10 of its last 12 home games against New York.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), FSN Ohio (Cleveland)
ABOUT THE KNICKS (5-14): New York does a good job of taking care of the ball and keeping opponents off the offensive glass, but the list of accolades ends there. The Knicks haven't found another consistent scorer to complement Carmelo Anthony (25.2 points, 9.7 rebounds) and they're not getting to the foul line enough. Anthony (7.6) is the only player on the team who averages more than three trips to the free-throw line.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (7-13): Cleveland has a tough post duo with Tristan Thompson (11.5 points, 10.4 rebounds) and Andrew Bynum (9.3 points, 5.1 rebounds), whose impact continues to grow as he works his way back to full strength. Bynum has averaged 18 points and nine rebounds over the past four games. The Cavaliers' talented backcourt tandem has been less consistent, as leading scorer Kyrie Irving (19.7 points) scored 20 against the Clippers after being shutout versus Atlanta while Dion Waiters followed up a season-high 30 points against the Hawks with just three against Los Angeles.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Cleveland's Bynum, Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao have combined for at least 30 points and 30 rebounds in three straight games with a combined average of 41.3 points and 35.7 rebounds over that span.
2. New York F Amar'e Stoudemire scored a season-high 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting against Boston and has averaged 14 points while going 10-of-13 from the field over the past two games.
3. The Cavaliers' bench averages 38.1 points and has outscored the opponent's reserves in 16 of 20 games.