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James, Cavaliers power past Knicks

Feb 22, 2015 - 11:09 PM New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - LeBron James and Kyrie Irving each scored 18 points in limited minutes and the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled to a 101-83 win over the New York Knicks on Sunday.

James passed Allen Iverson for 22nd place on the NBA's all-time scoring list during the game.

Kevin Love added 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Cavs, who improved to 2-1 on a four-game road trip and 16-2 in their last 18 overall. James, Irving and Love saw between 26 and 29 minutes of court time in the rout.

J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert played against the Knicks for the first time since they were traded to Cleveland in a three-team deal last month.

In a highlight, Smith punctuated an alley-oop from Shumpert with a double-pump reverse dunk that gave the Cavs a game-high 30-point lead in the fourth quarter.

"I told him in the time out, 'Thank you for the price of admission,'" said Cavs coach David Blatt. "That was special. It was really nice, too, that it was here in New York against a team that J.R. has been part of.

"A lot of people appreciate what he's done and what he does and I thought he played really well."

Smith had 17 points in his return to Madison Square Garden and Shumpert scored four.

Langston Galloway had 13 points, six rebounds and five assists to lead the Knicks, who have dropped seven in a row to fall to an NBA-worst 10-45 this season.

New York failed to score even 90 points while taking 99 shots.

The Cavs led wire-to-wire.

James passed Iverson on a layup 1 1/2 minutes into the game. He scored 12 in the first quarter and the Cavs led by as many as 19 at the end of a 10-0 run during which five different players scored.

After his dunk made it 32-13, the Cavs carried a 36-17 lead into the second quarter. They went ahead by as much as 29 on Smith's dunk in the last minute of the half and led 62-38 at the break behind 16 points from James, 13 from Love and 10 from Irving.

"They were able to score 20 points in the first six minutes," Knicks coach Derek Fisher said. "You allow a team on the road to come in and get that type of rhythm, it's hard to slow it down."

James played a team-high 11 1/2 minutes in the third quarter despite the Cavs' big lead. He was whistled for a foul after driving his shoulder into Knicks guard Jose Calderon, knocking him down.

Cleveland's lead reached 28 points after a 3-pointer from Love and dunk from James. It was 81-55 going into the fourth quarter.

Game Notes

The Knicks are 0-15 this season with Carmelo Anthony out of the lineup. Anthony is out for the remainder of the season after having knee surgery ... Alexey Shved played 3:24 in his Knicks debut. He is playing for his first team this season after being acquired from Houston as part of a three-team deal before Thursday's trade deadline ... Cleveland won two of the three meetings with New York this season ... The Cavs finish their four-game road trip Tuesday in Detroit ... The Knicks start a two-game road trip on Wednesday in Boston.