Revamped lineupi lacks chemistry, routed as LeBron & Co. cop rings
CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers ran rings around the Knicks.
Derrick Rose was rusty, Carmelo Anthony was sloppy, Kristaps Porzingis looked far from a budding superstar and Courtney Lee and Joakim Noah were shut out.
No, the Knicks’ new glittering starting five didn’t sparkle and the bench was a liability. The Cavaliers got their championship rings for breaking the city’s sports-title curse, raised their maroon banner during a stirring ceremony and then flew past Jeff Hornacek’s passive Knicks, 117-88, at Quicken Loans Arena in the season opener Tuesday night.
The Knicks, hurt by Rose’s 16-day absence for his civil rape trial, are still trying to find chemistry and defense off a shaky preseason in which their starting five never played together.
“Just hurts,’’ Rose said. “I hate losing. I’ve got to replay a lot of this in my head. Tonight left a bad taste in our mouths. Thank God it’s just the first game but we have a lot of room to improve.’’
Rose, playing his first game since the preseason opener Oct. 4, committed all four his turnovers in the first half, finishing with 17 points on 7 of 17 shooting in 29 minutes in his ballyhooed Knicks debut. He had his moments powering to the hoop but also was wild at times. He had just one assist, still learning his teammates.
LeBron James, who received his third ring in a loud and moving pregame ceremony, and Kyrie Irving were sensational. James jacked the pace all night and posted a dunk-heavy triple-double — 19 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists — leaving the game to another serenade with 6:44 left.
Rose said the Knicks weren’t physical enough on the high-flying James.
“We got to put people down,’’ Rose said. “We got to foul. Not put him down but we sure have to foul him in the open court to make sure he doesn’t get the crowd into the game.’’
Irving, whose previous Cleveland sighting was winning Game 7 with a last-minute 3-pointer, struck for 29 points, making 3 of 7 from downtown.
James, who shot an efficient 9 of 14, seemed to be flying upcourt whenever the Knicks turned the ball over. And they turned it over plenty — committing seven turnovers in the first quarter and 17 total.
“We have to get better in every aspect of our defense,’’ Noah said. “Nothing was good.’’
James savored the ring ceremony, saying afterward, “Tonight was that exclamation point when you receive your rings in front of your fans — it was just a great moment.’’
The revved-up Cavs jolted to a 13point led in the second quarter. The Knicks cut it to three by halftime but didn’t show for the second half when the Cavs shot 25 for 40 (9 of 14 from 3-point land).
The Cavaliers knocked out the Knicks for good in the third quarter with a 20-4 run, started with backto-back high-flying jams by James.
“Defensively as a team we have a lot of room to get better,’’ Rose said. “We’re willing to take that challenge. There’s a lot of room for improvement. Communication is huge.’’
“We will improve — I guarantee that,’’ Anthony said. “We will get better, especially defense. That should be more of our focus.’’
During that game-sealing run, Porzingis lost the ball and James flew in for a fast-break dunk. Kevin Love followed with a fakeout of Porzingis and drained a 3-pointer for a 61-49 lead. By the end of the surge, it was a 74-53 lead and the Knicks were toast.
Anthony scored 19 points but was in foul trouble and committed four turnovers. Porzingis got caught napping on defense and wound up 5 of 13 for 16 points and seven rebounds after a 2 of 7 start.
“I thought we were unsettled in the things we were doing,’’ said Hornacek, whose Knicks host Memphis in their home opener Saturday.
Lee had a particularly gruesome debut, going scoreless (0-for-5), blowing an easy dunk and finishing a minus-19. Noah played 17 minutes and didn’t score, taking just one shot. After falling behind by 13 points in the second quarter, the Knicks tightened their defense, got out on the break and trailed just 48-45 at halftime. It was five minutes of inspired speedball but that’s all the spunk they showed.