Cavs vs Knicks: James Harden Scores a Season-High 32 as Cleveland Wins 115-107 at the Garden
Harden's 3-pointer with 4:22 left put Cleveland ahead for good. The Cavaliers ended a five-game losing streak against the Knicks — the team that swept them in May on its way to a title.
NEW YORK — James Harden picked Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden to break out of his slump. Harden scored a season-high 32 points, including the fourth-quarter 3-pointer that put the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers ahead for good in a 115-107 win over the New York Knicks, Reuters reported.
The 32 points were a season high for the 37-year-old Harden, who signed a three-year, $97 million extension in August and had topped 20 points just once in Cleveland's first 11 games. Donovan Mitchell added 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists, Jarrett Allen had 11 points and 14 rebounds, and Tyrese Proctor (15) and Meleek Thomas (14) scored in double figures off the bench as Cleveland improved to 6-6.
New York trailed by 12 in the first quarter, led only twice, tied the game twice in the third and erased a 10-point deficit in the fourth — OG Anunoby's free throws tied it at 101-101 with 5:09 left. Harden answered with his 3-pointer at 4:22, and after a Jalen Brunson bucket the Cavaliers scored the next six points and never led by fewer than five the rest of the way. Peyton Watson blocked a Miles McBride layup to start a fast break that Allen finished with a three-point play for 113-105 with 29.6 seconds left. Karl-Anthony Towns posted 21 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists — his 11th double-double in as many games — Brunson scored 27 and McBride 19 for the Knicks, who fell to 6-5 and saw a four-game winning streak end.
The win ended Cleveland's five-game losing streak against New York, a run dating to the Eastern Conference finals in May, when the Knicks swept the series on their way to the franchise's first NBA title in 53 years. Cleveland's trip continues at Miami on Friday before the Cavaliers return home to face the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday — the Texas stop on this story.
