CLEVELAND — Kevin Love scored 20 points and Darius Garland had 12 assists as the Cleveland Cavaliers survived a late rally by New York to beat the Knicks 95-93 Monday night.
Down by 15 in the fourth quarter, the Knicks rallied but came up short as Julius Randle's 38-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer was way short. Garland hit a late 3-pointer, rookie Evan Mobley had 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Isaac Okoro scored 14 points for the Cavs (29-19).
Cleveland has won seven of eight and played much better after a sloppy win over Oklahoma City on Saturday. Love made just one field goal in that game, but on this evening had six from 3-point range, including four during a three-minute stretch in the third quarter.
RJ Barrett scored 24 points and Randle had 18 for the Knicks (23-25), who have lost four of five. New York made just 52% of its free throw attempts.
Now just 1 1/2 games behind the Miami Heat for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, the current No. 5 Cavaliers will next host the No. 4 Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night. The Cavs have split their season series with the defending NBA champions thus far.
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