Cavaliers at Knicks
The Cleveland Cavaliers continue to dominate teams one night and lose to some of the worst teams in the league on other nights as they fight for consistency heading into the playoffs. The Cavaliers will try to come up with a better effort than they showed in a 104-95 loss at Brooklyn on Thursday when they head across town to visit the New York Knicks on Saturday.
LeBron James scored 30 points on 13-of-14 shooting in the first three quarters on Thursday to help Cleveland take a three-point lead into the fourth but went scoreless in the final period and missed his only two field goal attempts as the Cavaliers were outscored 24-12 by the hapless Nets. “It's not about LeBron, it's about the team," Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue told reporters after the loss. "We have to play hard for 48 minutes, and if we don't, things like this will continue to happen." The Knicks took a turn at playing spoiler on Wednesday and Thursday, when they earned back-to-back victories over Chicago to knock the Bulls out of the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference. New York averaged 110.5 points in the two wins after failing to hit the century mark in any of their previous five contests.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Cleveland), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (51-21): Cleveland is 2-2 in its last four games as it tries to stay clear of the Toronto Raptors in the race for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Little of the blame for the inconsistent play can be put on James, who is averaging 28.8 points on 61 percent shooting over the last four games, but the star forward still feels a need to go further. "I just need to do more," James told reporters. “Just need to do more, and I have been able to do that, except for (Thursday), for the most part."
ABOUT THE KNICKS (30-43): New York star Carmelo Anthony and rookie sensation Kristaps Porzingis led the charge in the home-and-home sweep of the Bulls, giving people a glimpse of what a contending team featuring the two could look like in the near future. Porzingis appeared to be hitting a rookie wall with his slow start in March but recorded back-to-back double-doubles against Chicago – the first time he managed double figures on the boards in six weeks – and went a combined 18-of-31 from the field. “I thought the level of energy we played with, the way we got off to fast starts and then multiple guys contributed out there,” Anthony told reporters about how the Knicks managed to knock off a playoff contender on consecutive nights.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Cavaliers F Channing Frye is 1-of-11 from 3-point range in the last two games.
2. Knicks F Derrick Williams is 10-of-15 from the floor in the last two games off the bench.
3. Cleveland has taken five straight in the series and held New York under 90 points in each of those wins.