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Hapless Knicks prove to be the better team as Cleveland falls flat
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Thursday, Dec 20, 2007
NEW YORK: There was a blowout at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. The listless, focusless, and defenseless team mired in a long slump got hammered.
No, it wasn't the New York Knicks. Yes, that's how far the Cavaliers have fallen.
The fans showed up at the world's most famous arena ready to boo Knicks coach Isiah Thomas and instead wound up giving their team a standing ovation after a 108-90 pounding of the Cavs.
There seems to be no end in sight for the Cavs' (11-15) woes, no matter the opponent. Now losers of nine out of their past 11 games, once again their defense was on hiatus and their intensity questionable at best.
The Knicks (8-17), a team that hadn't won a game by more than eight points this season, pranced their way to the basket all night long. On their bench, often a place of desolation for the downtrodden, players were uproariously laughing at the Cavs as the lead stretched to 24 points at one point.
They shot a season-high 56 percent from the field, spreading out their jumpers, drives to the basket and fast breaks like they do it all the time, and became the fourth straight team to outrebound the Cavs.
The Knicks piled up 50 points in the paint, hit 8-of-17 3-pointers and delighted the crowd with a flurry of uncontested slam dunks as the Cavs watched below.
''They did not feel us and they kicked our behind, no more than that,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said, adding that he was ''embarrassed.''
Those would be strong words, had he not said them on several previous occasions this season. After all, it was the sixth time the Cavs have been beaten by 18 points or more. He even heaped on some frustrated hyperbole, saying it was ''one of the worst defensive performances I've been a part of.''
''We think it is going to be easy, like we can show up and win the game,'' the coach continued. ''If guys on our team think we defended tonight, we're going to be in trouble.''
Oh, the Cavs are in trouble, and it's not just because they haven't been defending. They've also got a lingering case of malaise, and it had ugly consequences in this latest edition. Once the Cavs called a full timeout and thought it was a 20-second timeout, which left them standing on the court looking and arguing with each other while music blared and the Knicks stayed in their huddle.
There was Sasha Pavlovic's perfect bounce pass under his own basket . . . to Knicks guard Nate Robinson, who gladly took the free layup. There was LeBron James complaining about a call to an official while a Knick scored right behind his back.
''They beat us pretty bad; we had no answer for them defensively and they took advantage of it,'' James said. ''It doesn't matter who you are playing against, if you don't play defense you're going to get beat up.''
James deserved better. He played one of the best games he's ever played at the Garden, scoring 32 points with eight rebounds, six assists and six steals before the white towel was waved with five minutes to play.
Four different Knicks scored 16 points or more, led by David Lee with his 22 points and 11 rebounds. Lee jumped over and around any of the Cavs' big men assigned to him, firing up the crowd with his nine baskets that all came inside the paint. Jamal Crawford added 21 points, often finding wide-open jumpers.
''When you are inconsistent defensively you are a below-.500 team and that's where we are,'' Brown said. ''We have to want to bring it every night as a group; right now we're not on the right track.''
Brian Windhorst can be reached at bwindhor@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/.
NEW YORK: There was a blowout at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. The listless, focusless, and defenseless team mired in a long slump got hammered.
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