Final Score: Cavs beat Knicks, but can’t pull away in 111-104 win

LeBron James sliced and diced, found Tristan Thompson for lobs and dunks. Kevin Love rebounded like crazy, made jump shots, and turned the ball over. The Cavs’ defensive intensity came and went. Kay Felder made you wonder why, and not in the good way. Channing Frye made you remember why you liked him in the first place.

And the Knicks were exactly the Knicks you remembered. Fits of unsustainable brilliance surrounded by disappointment. Kristaps Porzingis filling the stat sheet up and down, with some good and some bad. Carmelo Anthony making you wonder what the point even is. I want to believe he’d be helpful somewhere. He’s an NCAA champion, an Olympic gold medalist multiple times over. He’d buy into a shooter’s role, and show off that passing touch, right? You could hide him defensively, and he’s got to have something in the tank and a lot to prove. Right?

Anyway, this should have been a 20 point Cavs win, and LeBron James should have played 30 minutes. 39 minutes for James. A seven point win for the Cavs. Kay Felder’s kamikaze missions to the rim are somehow further from control than the ones I used to cringe instinctively from when it was Dion Waiters doing it. Brandon Jennings walked into a three with the diminutive Felder hanging back. It’s really not Felder’s fault, and James stood up for him recently; it’s not fair to ask a rookie second round pick under six feet tall to be part of a contending basketball team.

And yet here we were. Kevin Love moved pretty well for most of the game and that’s probably the most important thing. Frye hit three pointers, which are helpful. Kyrie Irving didn’t play, which made a team lacking depth even more hard up. And they won. Perhaps we’re spoiled.