To say that the Cleveland Cavaliers came up short in their Game 3 performance against the New York Knicks on Friday would be a complete understatement. The Cavs were not only blown out, 99-79, but they ended up being completely destroyed en route to an atrocious NBA record this season.
79 points. There’s no typo there. That’s really Cleveland’s final score in their Game 3 shellacking at the hands of the Knicks. Unfortunately for the Cavs, they have now set a league-wide record for the least points scored in ANY game this year — both in the playoffs and the regular season:
The fact that the Cavs didn’t even surpass the 80-point mark this season is horrendous. However, for them to reach this low in a crucial playoff game is even more troubling. Cleveland had a tremendous opportunity in their hands to try and retake home-court advantage with a Game 3 win in Madison Square Garden, and they failed miserably.
Donovan Mitchell and Co. will need to dust themselves off quickly with Game 4 coming in just a couple of days. These two teams do it all over again on Sunday in New York, and another loss for the Cavs would put them in a deep 3-1 hole against the Knicks. The Cavs obviously can’t afford to lose that one, so it goes without saying that they will need to play much better than they did tonight. Friday’s collective performance is the type that you want to flush down the toilet as soon as humanly possible.