The return of All-Star Julius Randle to New York meant that the Knicks needed someone else to take the lead. Jalen Brunson accomplished all of that and much more.

On Friday night, the New York Knicks defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 130-116. This victory allowed the Knicks to move closer to a playoff berth while they wait for Randle to regain his health. The point guard for New York scored a career-high 48 points.

“This loss hurts,” Donovan Mitchell said, who led Cleveland with 42 points and was the team’s scoring leader. “We need to get a feel for it and be prepared to utilize it when the time comes,” the leader said. Evidently, we are in charge of our own destinies, and it is likely that we will run across these individuals again in two weeks.

During the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, the Knicks outscored the Cavaliers by a score of 14-2 to give themselves some breathing room in a game that was being played at a frenzied pace. In the first quarter, the teams scored a combined total of 89 points, and in the first half, they scored 151 points.

Brunson put the game out of reach for the Cavaliers with a layup immediately after a timeout, followed by a 3-pointer. Prior to that, the Cavaliers had cut the deficit to 123-116. In the waning seconds of the game, he had the opportunity to score a floater that would have given him 50 points.

Brunson, who normally scores 23.6 points a game, put up 33 points in a wild first half in which there wasn’t much defense. The combined 89 points scored by both teams in the first quarter tied for third place all-time among the most points scored in the opening quarter of an NBA game. The state of Utah, the city of Denver in 1982, Miami, and the state of Washington both tied for the record of 91. (2021).

In addition, Cleveland’s first-quarter score of 47 points was the highest for any quarter in the franchise’s 53-year history.

The injury to Jarrett Allen’s groin forced the Cavaliers to play without two of their best defenders, and Isaac Okoro was the other (knee).