Garland scores 32 as Cavaliers even East series
Darius Garland couldn’t change what happened in a disappointing playoff debut.
On Tuesday night, he made sure he didn’t repeat it.
Setting the tone with his aggressiveness from the start, Garland scored 26 of his 32 points in the first half, and the host Cavaliers evened their Eastern Conference playoff series against the New York Knicks at one game apiece with a 107-90 victory.
“That’s the All-Star we know, and it was good to see,” said Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, one of many who urged Garland to be more assertive. “He came out with a purpose.”
For two days, Garland had beaten himself up for his performance in Game 1, when he didn’t attempt a shot in the fourth quarter and finished with one assist in 43 minutes.
Cleveland’s blowout in Game 2 ended with a hard foul. With the Knicks down by 23, Julius Randle went in for a breakaway dunk and was hit by Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen. New York’s AllStar forward fell awkwardly out of bounds. Randle was upset by the contact and exchanged words with Cavaliers players and coach J.B. Bickerstaff. Allen was called for flagrant foul.
Caris LeVert scored 24 points off the bench and Mitchell had 17 points and a career playoff-high 13 assists for the Cavaliers.
Randle scored 22 points and Jalen Brunson had 20 for New York, which got the split it needed at rowdy Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse before heading home for Game 3 at Madison Square Garden on Friday.
at Boston 119, Atlanta 106: Jayson Tatum scored 29 points and had an emphatic dunk to end a clinching late run, and the Celtics beat the Hawks to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round series.
Derrick White contributed 26 points and seven rebounds for Boston. Dejounte Murray led Atlanta with 29 points.
Game 3 is Friday night in Atlanta.
Notes
The NBA suspended Golden State forward Draymond Green for one game without pay for stepping on the chest of Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis in Game 2, and he will miss Game 3 of the Warriors’ first-round playoff series Thursday night. The league made the announcement late Tuesday, two days before the series shifts to the defending champions’ home court at Chase Center. The NBA made the announcement of a decision by Joe Dumars, executive vice president and head of basketball operations. “The suspension was based in part on Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts,” the release said. Golden State trails the series 2-0. ... Miami guard Tyler Herro will have surgery Friday on his broken right hand and likely won’t return this postseason unless the Heat win the Eastern Conference title.