NEW YORK — There are losses, there are bad losses and then there’s what happened to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night against the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
For the majority of the first 40 minutes of the game, the Cavaliers were excellent. After a slow start in the first quarter they fought back in the second quarter to take a lead going into halftime and then took command of the game in the third quarter.
They even opened up the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 93-71 lead over the Knicks with 7:52 left in regulation. It looked as if the Cavs were going to cruise to a stunning series-opening victory against the favored Knicks.
Then, everything that could go wrong, did.
The Knicks closed regulation on a 30-8 run. New York made 12 of its final 14 shots, including five 3-pointers, while the Cavs played some version of prevent offense that featured very little ball movement and even worse shot-making. The Cavs made just three of their last 11 shots in regulation and missed three of the four free throws that they took, too.
