Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden the New York Knicks hosted LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The arena is packed with stars. Here are raw, totally unedited game notes taken from the arena:
In the first quarter the Cavs mostly did it at a team. LeBron James was content to mostly sit back and let his team show they are legit. But he did nail a pair of three-pointers along the way.
It was later in the first that LeBron started operating solo in isolation up top, and each time he drove it looked like a mismatch. Too easy. Even when the play didn’t go as planned he was clearly dominant.
End of first quarter: Cavs 34, Knicks 22. King James had 11 points and three rebounds. Delonte West scored nine. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had six. For the Knicks Chris Duhon had eight on good shooting. The Knicks had just one free throw attempt.
Second quarter:
Bill Bradley is in the house. He received some polite applause.
At 10:12 in the second quarter the Cavs got inside. JJ Hickson, Wally Szczerbiak and Anderson Varejao got easy buckets near the rim and made it 42-22 Cavs, leading to a Knicks timeout and scattered boos from the fans.
After Wilson Chandler got called for traveling the fans booed a bit more. But a play or two later th Cavs kept rolling with LeBron on the bench and a Szczerbiak three made it 55-26.
The Knicks wake up a bit and a Nate Robinson fast break layup over several defenders cuts it to 35-57. But Natev wound up limping off the court to the locker room.
A Cavs fast break resulted in Delonte West throwing down a nice uncontested dunk, hanging on the rim as a defender passed under him. Cavs up 59-35. Mike D’Antoni lashed out at a ref, I am guessing due to no tech being called on West, and the ref handed a tech to the Knicks coach.
The Cavs keep rolling, and LeBron is barely having to do anything. Cleveland guards keep penetrating and creating at will.
The Knicks defense is totally asleep. No energy.
At the end of three quarters the Cavs lead 95-66.
No more game notes from me today. It is a blowout. I will write more later tonight.
