The Knicks built a lead as big as 23 on Monday, holding the Cavaliers to just 38 points in the first half. It looked as if New York was ready to pull off its eighth win in its first 13 games.
LeBron James hit a go-ahead 3 over Kristaps Porzingis, then stared down the MSG crowd
James’ triple capped off a 23-point comeback victory for the Cavaliers.
But then LeBron James and the Cavaliers hit the Knicks with a barrage of threes in the fourth quarter that sucked the energy out of a Madison Square Garden crowd that booed The King all throughout the first quarter.
With the game tied at 97, LeBron hit a side-step triple over Kristaps Porzingis. The shot hushed any doubts left that James could not hit big shots late in games.
Then, he stared down the MSG crowd:
Why was this shot so big?
LeBron made comments earlier in the week that the Knicks made a mistake by drafting French point guard Frank Ntilikina over Dennis Smith Jr., who was taken by the Mavericks. Enes Kanter and Kristaps Porzingis came to their rookie’s defense through the media, and Ntilikina dismissed James’s comments all together.
But Knicks fans had something else in mind for LeBron, booing a usually welcome figure at The Garden.
Tensions rose between James and the Knicks after he and Frank Ntilikina got physical with one another, which prompted Kanter to press up in LeBron’s face.
After the Knicks built a 23-point lead, it was LeBron who dragged his team back into the game. James finished with 12 assists, many of which came in the fourth as he dimed his teammates, who pelted New York from downtown.
And when he hit his side-step three-pointer over Porzingis’ eight-foot wingspan, it was a liberating moment for a player who had struggled in crunch time earlier in his career.
That’s why James stared down all of Madison Square Garden after drilling that big shot to cap off Cleveland’s monster comeback on Monday.
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