NEW YORK — Kyrie Irving scored a season-high 37 points to lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 90-87 win over the New York Knicks Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
Cleveland (10-7) won for a season-best five straight games. The Knicks (4-16) lost their sixth game and 15 of their past 17. Irving was 12-of-18 from the floor and 10-of-11 from the free-throw line. The point guard also contributed two steals in 44 minutes.
Cleveland forward LeBron James added 19 points and 12 assists.
New York received 20 points from guard Tim Hardaway Jr., forward Amar’e Stoudemire added 18 points and forward Quincy Acy scored a career-high 15.
Carmelo Anthony missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game with six seconds and guard Jose Calderon’s made 3-pointer was ruled it went in after the buzzer.
Stoudemire scored on a layup to pull the Knicks to within 88-87 with 3:05 remaining to play, but New York missed six straight shots until a layup from Irving made it 90-87 with 10 seconds to play.
New York held the lead for most of the fourth quarter before a 3-pointer and a fast-break dunk from James gave Cleveland an 88-85 lead with 3:25 left to play. The Knicks led by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter.
A 9-2 run at the end of the third quarter provided New York with a 73-68 lead. Knicks guard Shane Larkin drilled a 3-pointer, Stoudemire scored twice and Hardaway scored on a layup.
A layup from James with 3:20 left in the third tied it at 64, then Irving scored on a runner at the 2:20 mark for a 66-64 Cavaliers lead. It marked Cleveland’s first lead since early in the second quarter.
Irving scored 17 of his 23 first-half points in the second quarter, but New York still held onto a 53-50 advantage. The Cavs cut the Knicks lead to 46-41, but a 3-pointer from guard Jose Calderon and a breakaway dunk by Anthony moved the Knicks lead to 51-41 with 1:51 left in the half.
The Knicks started gelling as the second quarter started. They opened on a 13-2 run to move ahead 37-27 with 7:40 left in the quarter. Hardaway scored 11 of those points.
Love and Irving scored six points apiece when the Cavaliers grabbed a 25-24 first-quarter lead. Anthony sat the last four minutes of the quarter with two fouls after scoring five points. He made only two of his five shots in the quarter.
NOTES: The Knicks employed their 11th starting lineup in 20 games. C Amar’e Stoudemire replaced Samuel Dalembert, who had started every game at the position this season. … Knicks F Carmelo Anthony became the sixth-youngest player in league history to score 20,000 points when he hit the milestone Sunday when he was 30 years, 157 days old. Cleveland F LeBron James was the youngest at 28 years, 17 days. … Cleveland assigned C Alex Kirk to the Canton Charge of the NBA Development League. … James has accumulated the most Player of the Week selections (47) and Player of the Month (27) selections in league history.