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Cavaliers at Knicks: Cleveland gets a rematch four days after 109-97 loss, with a rebounding problem to fix

The Cavaliers have dropped four of their last five and are 1-4 on the road; New York has won three straight but hosts Milwaukee the night before.

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Exterior of Madison Square Garden, with its dark glass facade, and the Empire State Building at the end of the street.
Exterior of Madison Square Garden in New York, where the Cavaliers visit the Knicks. File photograph from 2014. © Pegy22 / Wikimedia Commons (file photo, CC0 1.0)

The schedule hands Cleveland an immediate second chance. The Knicks won 109-97 in Ohio on Saturday behind 31 points from Jalen Brunson and 29 from Karl-Anthony Towns, and the teams meet again on Wednesday, this time at Madison Square Garden. In between, the Cavaliers also lost in Charlotte, 124-112, and slipped to 5-6. New York arrives on a three-game winning streak but with less rest: it plays Milwaukee at home on Tuesday, less than 24 hours before tip-off.

  • Competition: NBA 2026-27 regular season.
  • Game: Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks (NBA game ID 0022600218).
  • Tip-off: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT); Thursday, Nov. 12, 00:00 GMT.
  • Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York.
  • Season series: second of four regular-season meetings; New York won the first.

What Saturday showed

The Knicks led for 69% of the game in Cleveland and were ahead by as many as 19. Brunson added nine assists to his 31 points, and Towns grabbed 13 rebounds, five of them on the offensive glass. New York finished with 16 offensive rebounds, won the overall rebounding battle 49-40 and committed only 10 turnovers.

Donovan Mitchell answered with 37 points but had little help. James Harden scored seven on 2-of-9 shooting, and the Cavaliers needed 50 three-point attempts to make 16. They also left points at the foul line, missing eight of 19 free throws while the Knicks went 13 of 14. Jarrett Allen did not play.

Cleveland searching for answers on the road

Monday's loss in Charlotte was a harsher version of the same story. The Hornets made 23 of 46 three-pointers, collected 17 offensive rebounds to Cleveland's four and led by as many as 33; the final rebounding margin was 49-32. With the game out of reach, Kenny Atkinson played none of his starters more than 25 minutes, and Mitchell finished with 11 points. The Cavaliers are off on Tuesday.

Cleveland has lost four of its last five, and its only win in five road games was a 136-111 rout in Milwaukee. Mitchell is averaging 22.8 points and 5.5 assists through 11 games, according to the box scores, and Evan Mobley adds 17.5 points and 7.5 rebounds. Harden is handing out 5.7 assists but scoring 15.3 points on 36% shooting (48 of 132). The best news has come off the bench: Meleek Thomas is averaging 13.0 points in eight games and has hit 22 of 46 from three; he led the team with 18 in Charlotte.

That was also the night Allen returned. He had 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting and seven rebounds in 19 minutes.

Three straight wins, and a short night, for New York

Mike Brown's Knicks lost four of their first six games and have won the next three: 103-90 over Brooklyn, 135-105 over Chicago and the 109-97 win in Cleveland. Through nine games they are allowing 104.2 points and pulling down 14.6 offensive rebounds a night.

Brunson is averaging 26.2 points and 5.6 assists, Towns 20.9 points and 13.6 rebounds, and OG Anunoby 16.4 points. Landry Shamet, 20 of 48 from three-point range, started the two games Josh Hart has missed. Mikal Bridges is off to a quiet start on offense at 6.6 points on 23-of-70 shooting, and Andre Drummond is pulling down 7.8 rebounds in barely 13 minutes a game.

On Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET, New York hosts a Bucks team that has won one of its 10 games. Brunson, Towns and Anunoby each played 34 minutes on Saturday; how their workload is managed against Milwaukee will shape what they have left for the second game in two nights.

Injury report

Neither team had submitted its injury report for this game when the NBA updated its report at 8:15 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Nov. 10; the league requires it the day before a game. The most recent official designations for both refer to their previous games: New York's appears in that same report, and Cleveland's in the one issued Monday, Nov. 9, at 10 p.m. ET.

New York Knicks (report for Tuesday's game against Milwaukee)

  • Josh Hart: questionable — right ankle soreness. He has missed the last two games.

Cleveland Cavaliers (report for Monday's game in Charlotte)

  • Sam Merrill: out — right elbow injury management.
  • Jaylon Tyson: out — right ankle sprain.
  • Nae'Qwan Tomlin: out — low back stress reaction.
  • Jarrett Allen: available — right knee contusion; he played 19 minutes.
  • Khalifa Diop and Ernest Udeh Jr.: out — in the G League.

Hart is averaging 8.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.1 steals in seven games; his return would give Brown back a strong rebounder on the perimeter. For Cleveland, Merrill is one of the second unit's shooters and has sat out the last two games.

Where the game will be decided

The offensive glass. Cleveland gave up 16 offensive rebounds to the Knicks and 17 to the Hornets in the space of three days. With Allen back alongside Mobley, Atkinson regains size to protect his own basket against Towns and Drummond; if the second chances pile up again, the Cavaliers would have to make up for them with the outside shooting they lacked on Saturday.

Help for Mitchell. His 37 points were not enough in the first meeting. Harden is 5 of 18 from the field over the last two games; until he finds his shot, New York's defense could keep loading up on Mitchell without fearing the other guard.

The Knicks' second night. Cleveland comes in with a day of rest and New York with none. A fast pace and a deep rotation would be the visitors' way to exploit that gap, provided they first solve their own problem under the boards.

How to watch Cavaliers at Knicks

  • Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York.
  • Date and time: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 7 p.m. ET; Thursday, Nov. 12, 00:00 GMT.

United States — Wednesday, Nov. 11, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT

  • TV: ESPN nationally, according to the NBA's official schedule. The league also lists MSG in the New York market.
  • Streaming: DAZN carries the Knicks' local feed in their market, according to the same schedule.

United Kingdom — Thursday, Nov. 12, 00:00 GMT (midnight Wednesday into Thursday)

  • Streaming: NBA League Pass.
  • TV: the game is not on Sky Sports' published NBA schedule.

Australia — Thursday, Nov. 12, 11 a.m. AEDT (Sydney, Melbourne) / 10 a.m. AEST (Brisbane) / 8 a.m. AWST (Perth)

  • Streaming: NBA League Pass.
  • TV: broadcast not yet announced.

The teams meet at the Garden again on Nov. 25. Before then, Cleveland has to show that Allen's return is enough to close off its own basket; otherwise even another 37-point night from Mitchell would not guarantee a different result.