Garland scores 32, Cavs beat Knicks 107-90 to even series

CLEVELAND(AP) — Darius Garland couldn’t change what happened in adisappointing playoff debut.

On Tuesdaynight, Garland made sure he didn’t repeat it.

Setting thetone with his aggressiveness from the start, Garland scored 26 ofhis 32 points in the first half and the Cavaliers evened theirEastern Conference playoff series against New York at one gameapiece with a 107-90 victory.

“That’s theAll-Star we know, and it was good to see,” said Cavs guard DonovanMitchell, one of many who urged Garland to be more assertive. “Hecame out with a purpose. There was just a different look in hiseye.”

Garlandscored 15 points in the second quarter, when Cleveland tighteneddown defensively and dominated New York, forcing nine turnovers onthe way to opening a 20-point halftime lead. The Cavs pushed theirlead to 29 in the fourth.

For two days,Garland had beaten himself up for his performance in Game 1, whenhe didn’t attempt a shot in the fourth quarter and finished withone assist in 43 minutes. During film sessions, his teammatespointed out moments when he needed to shoot. Everywhere he went, heheard the same message.

“Everybody inthe building told me to go be aggressive, go shoot the ball,” hesaid. “I watched the film from the first game and seeing someopportunities where I can go get mine and go be aggressive andthat’s what I just tried to do today.”

Cleveland’sblowout ended with a hard foul and some questions about why NewYork’s starters were still on the floor.

With theKnicks down by 23, Julius Randle went in for a breakaway dunk andwas hit by Cavs center Jarrett Allen and New York’s All-Starforward fell awkwardly out of bounds. Randle was upset by thecontact and exchanged words with several Cavs players and coachJ.B. Bickerstaff.

“I thought itwas a little unnecessary,” Randle said. “I understand that in theplayoffs, you don’t give up on plays. But typically, you run acrossthe body. Not like that.”

Allen wascalled for flagrant foul, which Bickerstaff felt wasundeserved.

“They keptplaying hard. They kept running through passing lanes. Why wouldone team play hard and not the other,” he said. “There was nothingdirty about the play. It wasn’t a flagrant foul. He contested ashot at the rim. It’s that simple.”

Caris LeVertscored 24 points off the bench and Mitchell added 17 and a careerplayoff-high 13 assists for the Cavs, who were much more physicalthan in Game 1 and went toe to toe with the Knicks.

Randle scored22 points and Jalen Brunson added 20 for New York, which got thesplit it needed in rowdy Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to head homefor Game 3 at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.

“You knowwhat to expect,” Randle said. “It’s the Garden. It’s theGarden.”

The Cavsmatched the Knicks’ physicality from the outset, winning the 50/50balls that went to New York in the opener. And if handlingCleveland’s new-found toughness wasn’t enough of a challenge, theKnicks bashed each other.

During onesequence in the second quarter as the Cavs were beginning to pullaway, Randle turned to run up the floor and accidentally smackedBrunson in the face, causing his teammate to recoil in pain.

Garlandinflicted his own damage.

The23-year-old was uncharacteristically timid in Game 1 and heardabout it from fans and teammates. Following practice Monday, he hada deep conversation with Mitchell, who urged him to be letloose.

Garland gotthe message.

He drained apair of 3-pointers during a 13-4 run in the second quarter and thenshowed no fear when he drove to the basket and tried to dunk over7-foot Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein, who got away withgoaltending while fouling Cleveland’s guard.

“I’ve neverseen him try to dunk on anyone, let alone a seven-footer,” Mitchellsaid.

The Cavsbench erupted at seeing Garland’s bravado, and Mitchell slapped hishands before urging the sellout crowd to recognize him. The momentseemed to rattle the Knicks as New York’s Josh Hart was called fora technical foul.

TIP-INS

Knicks:Didn’t score a field goal in the first 5:13 of the second quarter.... Randle had two extended conversations in the second withreferee Tony Brothers. ... Hart was ineffective on the balky ankle.He scored just 5 points after getting 17 in Game 1.

Cavaliers:Scored 19 points off turnovers in the second quarter, and 27 in thefirst half. Cleveland is the first team to do that since Denver in2009. ... F Danny Green made his first appearance in the series,scoring 3 points in 20 minutes. His 315 career playoff 3-pointersare ninth most in NBA history. ... F Isaac Okoro picked up twoearly fouls and played just three minutes. ... Garland’s 26 pointsin the first half were three shy of the club playoff record for ahalf held by LeBron James (2018). ... Cleveland snapped a five-gameplayoff losing streak.

UP NEXT

The Knickshost their first playoff game since June 2, 2021, on Friday. NewYork is 3-1 at home in the playoffs against Cleveland.