New York Knicks beat Cleveland Cavaliers 130-93 on the road on Monday, May 25. The final margin was 37 points.
When it got away
The Knicks broke it open in the first quarter, winning that quarter 38-26. Their lead was 12 at that break, and it stayed in double digits at every break after.
Why it was lopsided
The Knicks recovered 42.6% of their own misses against 13% for the Cavaliers and the Knicks gave the ball away on 13% of their possessions while the Cavaliers did so 21.4% of the time. Extra possessions add up quickly over 48 minutes.
The Cavaliers did win one battle, the free-throw line: FT rate of 23.4 against 15.3. The Knicks made up for it elsewhere.
The game played at about 101 possessions per team. The Knicks scored 128.4 points per 100 possessions and the Cavaliers scored 91.9, a difference of 36.5.
The Knicks' reserves also made a difference, outscoring the opposing bench 58-24.
Who stood out
Karl-Anthony Towns (NYK) posted the best line of the night by Game Score (21.4): 19 pts, 14 reb, 3 ast on 8-11 shooting. The team was +25 in the minutes Karl-Anthony played.
For the Cavaliers, Donovan Mitchell was the best of the rest at 18.9: 31 pts, 4 reb, 1 ast on 9-18 shooting.
Karl-Anthony Towns (19 pts, 14 reb, 3 ast) recorded a double-double.
Game Score is a single number that weighs points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, shooting efficiency, fouls and turnovers. It is not an official stat, just a quick way to rank lines.
What it means
The pre-game Win Meter had it close to a coin flip, at about 56% for the Knicks.
Across the last 10 meetings in our records, the series is even.
Written automatically by Tip Off Live software from box score data. Ratings and probabilities are our own model estimates.