Knicks’ perimeter defense in question after Darius Garland’s 34-point performance

Tyrese Haliburton missed open shots. Darius Garland didn’t.

It’s why the Knicks fell to a 1-2 record with Monday’s 110-104 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers: Haliburton shot 0-for-8 against the Knicks in their home opener at Madison Square Garden, but Garland put up 34 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the field to lift the Cavs to a 4-0 record, tied with the Boston Celtics for best in the Eastern Conference to start the season.

“He got going on us. Guys like that, felt like he got too much space,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said after the loss. “I’m going to look at the film to see what we can do better.”

Garland shot five-of-seven from the field in the fourth quarter alone, with the Knicks unable to stop the shifty scorer from getting to his spots in the final period. He shot a perfect six-of-six, however, on attempts guarded by Knicks forward Mikal Bridges, including a botched switch with Jalen Brunson on a three that gave the Cavs a 99-91 lead with under four minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

“Personally myself in the fourth, I wasn’t as good as I wanted to be,” Bridges said after Monday’s loss. “Just bogged down by Donovan [Mitchell] and D.G. and giving up threes.”

The Knicks are expected to be a better defensive team. It’s why they went all-in on the combination of Bridges and OG Anunoby, including five first-round picks traded to Brooklyn to acquire Bridges, and a $212.5 million contract for Anunoby, their chief defensive stopper who threatened to walk in free agency over the summer.

Mitchell and Garland, however, combined for 59 points on 21-of-36, or 58% shooting from the field. The defense is a work in progress, as expected of a team reconstructed three days ahead of training camp.

The Knicks boast the league’s second-worst defensive field goal percentage (49.2%) through the opening week of NBA basketball, though those numbers are inflated by an historic Celtics onslaught that featured 29 made threes on 61 attempts in the season-opener.

“I think he just hit a couple,” Anunoby said after the loss to Cleveland. “[Garland is] a great player, so he hit a couple and he was hot.”

“Give credit where credit is due,” added Karl-Anthony Towns. “He hit a bunch of floaters. When they needed some timely threes, he hit. So you gotta give credit where credit is due.”

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Jericho Sims logged just four minutes in Monday’s loss to the Cavaliers. Instead, Thibodeau went with Ariel Hukporti, the 58th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.

Hukporti nearly had the dunk of the century when he drove down the middle of the lane and posterized Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley with a vicious one-handed tomahawk. The 6-11, 246-pound rookie, however, cleared Mobley’s block attempt with his off arm and was whistled for an offensive foul.

Hukporti logged 12 minutes and finished with two rebounds and a block but did not score on Tuesday. Thibodeau said he wanted to experiment against Cleveland’s dual bigs of Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

“Getting a look at someone different to try to change it up,” he said. “Their bigs are pretty dynamic. We wanted to see what it would look like.

Asked directly about Hukporti’s minutes on the floor, Thibodeau said: “Good. I thought his minutes were solid.”

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The Knicks are listing Josh Hart as questionable with a lower right leg contusion for Wednesday’s matchup against the Miami Heat.

Hart is known for his durability and played in 81 of 82 possible games for the Knicks last season. He was clotheslined, however, on a reverse layup attempt under the rim in the fourth quarter against the Cavaliers, and later, while chasing a loose ball, took a shot to the midsection from Caris LeVert.

“Anybody that doesn’t finish the game, it’s hard to see, and you want your brothers out there finishing the game with you,” Brunson said after the game. “I mean, we’ll see. Don’t know what’s the situation, but we’ll see going forward.”

The Knicks were already without Precious Achiuwa (hamstring) and Mitchell Robinson (ankle surgery) prior to Hart’s injury. If he can’t go, Miles McBride is the likely suspect to be bumped into the starting rotation, and rookies Pacome Dadiet or Tyler Kolek could see a minutes uptick with a need for more back court help.