Cavs hang tough in opener, fall late to Knicks despite Mitchell’s 31

Donovan Mitchell came out firing. Evan Mobley looked every bit the player the Cavaliers are relying on.

Still, Cleveland walked out of Madison Square Garden with a loss — 119-111 to the Knicks on opening night.

Mitchell brings the fire

Mitchell nearly stole it himself, exploding for 21 of his 31 points in the third quarter before seemingly running out of gas late.

He even limped off briefly with a leg tweak, then came back with under two minutes left.

Overall, it was typical Mitchell stuff — fearless, fiery, carrying the offense because someone had to.

Mobley shows rise

This version of Mobley looked even better than most of last season. Confident. Aggressive. Composed.

He finished with 22 points on 8-for-17 shooting, including 4-of-7 from deep (yes, four threes) and added eight boards.

More important than the numbers was how he did it. It was an array of moves in the post, comfortable face-ups, even pull-up jumpers.

If this is the Mobley we get all season, that’s a problem for the rest of the East.

Backcourt blues

The Cavs were short-handed without Darius Garland, De’Andre Hunter, and Max Strus, and it showed.

Sam Merrill started and drilled five threes for 19 points, but things fell apart when the backups took over.

Lonzo Ball struggled shooting (1-of-7, four turnovers) and at times looked just a little hesitant offensively despite six assists.

Meanwhile, rookie Tyrese Proctor showed flashes in 16 minutes.

At any rate, it was pretty clear the Cavs really miss Garland. He gets to wherever he wants on the court — and they could’ve used a little more of that on this night.

Cleveland competed, though. They defended, moved the ball, and fought deep into the fourth quarter.

But without three rotation regulars and with Mitchell doing most of the heavy lifting, the Cavs simply ran out of answers down the stretch.

No matter, there was plenty to like, even if the scoreboard didn’t agree.