CLEVELAND, Ohio — The rally towels spun around the deafening arena. The fans, dressed mostly in white to match the night’s theme, rose to their feet. Cleveland waited five long years for Saturday night — the first playoff game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse since 2018. The crowd tried to push the Cavs to another comeback. They did their part.
Unable to match the moment early, the Cavs got off to a slow start, with the Knicks opening the game on a 9-2 surge. But the young Cavs eventually settled in, responding with a spirited 9-0 surge and battled until the final buzzer, nearly adding another double-digit comeback to their league-leading resume.
Even though Jarrett Allen’s putback at the 2:12 mark of the fourth quarter gave Cleveland its first lead of the second half and caused the building to explode, New York stayed calm and ripped off the next five points — a ruthless top of the key 3-pointer from Josh Hart and then a clutch pull-up jumper from Jalen Brunson to go back in front by four.
The Cavs were never able to reclaim the lead, as Brunson, frustrated by first-half foul trouble, repeatedly came through and got the best of Cavs star Donovan Mitchell once again.
Mitchell poured in a game-high 38 points on 14 of 30 from the field and 6 of 16 from 3-point range. He scored 14 of those points during Cleveland’s fourth-quarter rally, repeatedly roaring and firing up the crowd with timely buckets.
Darius Garland, making his playoff debut, chipped in with 17 points. Second-year forward Evan Mobley added eight points and 11 rebounds. Allen finished with 14 points, 14 boards and four assists.
The Knicks were led by Brunson, who scored 27 points in 29 minutes. After being limited to just nine minutes in the first half, Brunson had 21 in the second half.
Julius Randle, who missed the final weeks of the regular season because of a sprained ankle, ended the night with 19 points and 10 rebounds, including a back-breaking offensive board in the final seconds that gave New York another possession and two clinching free throws from Quentin Grimes. The first one spun all around the rim and thought about popping out before dropping through. The second was all net.
The Cavs worked all season for home-court advantage, believing it could be a difference-maker in this series. It took less than three hours for the scrappy, tough-minded Knicks to rip it away.
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Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell heads up court after a steal chased by New York Knicks guard Josh Hart in the first half of round one, game one in NBA playoffs, April 15, 2023, at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
