Cleveland shocks new-look Knicks

By Mary Schmitt Boyer

The Cleveland Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND

It’s going to take more than Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups for the New York Knicks to beat the Cavaliers at The Q.

The Cavs beat the visiting Knicks for the second time this season, 115-109, on Friday night in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 20,562, including Joe Thomas, Joe Haden and T.J. Ward of the Browns.

It was the first time the Cavs have seen the Knicks with Anthony and Billups, obtained in trades earlier this week. But it didn’t make any difference.

“I don’t know what it is playing New York, but I liked what I saw tonight,” Cavs coach Byron Scott said as his team improved to 11-47.

Cavs forward Antawn Jamison had 28 points and 13 rebounds. Center J.J. Hickson had 24 points, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots. Ramon Sessions added 22 points, including five free throws in the final 24.3 seconds, and eight rebounds for the short-handed Cavs, who were without newcomers Baron Davis and rookies Semih Erden and Luke Harangody, all obtained in trades Thursday.

“We had great energy from our players, from the fans,” Scott said. “I thought J.J. would bounce back and play really well because he didn’t play real well the last game and he did just that.”

Even Davis, expected to arrive in Cleveland today, tweeted, “Love the energy I’m seeing.”

The Knicks, no doubt still wondering how they lost, 109-102, in overtime on Dec. 18 at The Q in the only victory separating the Cavs’ 10-game and 26-game losing streaks, got great individual performances on Friday, although they shot just 41.9 percent (39-of-93.)

Center Amar’e Stoudemire had 31 points and 11 rebounds, Anthony added 27 points and eight rebounds, and Billups had 26 points and eight assists for the Knicks (29-27). Billups stepped up with 20 points in the fourth quarter. Limited to just eight minutes in the first half after picking up three fouls, he made four straight free throws and then hit a 3-pointer to get the Knicks within 96-93 with 5:03 left.

But Jamison hit back-to-back hook shots and then drew two straight fouls on Anthony, making 3 of 4 free throws to push Cleveland’s lead to 103-97 with 3:19 left.

Stoudemire made two baskets, blocked a layup by Sessions and grabbed a defensive rebound to set up a layup by Billups to bring New York within 103-101 with 2:05 left.