If it had been the regular season, this one would have hurt.
Instead, it was a meaningless preseason loss, with the Wine & Gold relinquishing an 18-point third quarter lead and falling to the Knicks, 100-93, on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
The Cavaliers were without eight rotational players, including Collin Sexton, Kevin Love, Cedi Osman, Larry Nance Jr., Matthew Dellavedova, Kevin Porter Jr., JaVale McGee and Dante Exum. Sexton and McGee are slated to make their preseason debuts on Friday night when these two squads wrap up the two-game set.
Andre Drummond, who logged just eight minutes after intermission, picked up the slack for Cleveland – finishing with a team-high 18 points and game-high 14 boards, going 7-for-16 from the floor and tying Darius Garland for the team lead with five assists.