NEW YORK, N.Y. - A chance to gain ground in the playoff race was there, until Jarrett Jack took it away. Now the New York Knicks have 3,000 miles to think about how this game — and maybe any realistic post-season hopes they had — was lost. Jack scored a season-high 31 points Sunday night in the Cleveland Cavaliers 106-100 victory over the Knicks, who had their eight-game winning streak snapped. The Knicks wasted a chance to pull within two games of a playoff spot before leaving for a five-game Western Conference trip that starts Tuesday against the Lakers. "This was a huge opportunity lost, one we cant afford," Knicks guard J.R. Smith said. "But we cant get it back. Weve just got to go on the road, win some games and try to come back home and win." Hours after being handed a chance to get closer to the final spot in the Eastern Conference when Atlanta blew a fourth-quarter lead in Toronto, the Knicks responded with an inept final period of their own after they led by 17 points in the first half. They couldnt stop Jack and couldnt get a basket from Carmelo Anthony, who missed all five shots in the final period and finished with 32 points. New York remained three back with 12 to play. "Its tough. We shouldve won this game. We gave it away. They earned it, they beat us. We didnt play well coming down the stretch or in the second half and they did," Anthony said. "But its behind us now, theres nothing we can do about that." Jack scored 23 in the second half after coach Mike Brown challenged his team at halftime. "It was just about making a stand and each individual person making a stand and then collectively as a team us all bringing that same mindset to the table," Jack said. "Thats pretty much what it was about. I just thought guys responded." Jack finished with 10 assists for the Cavaliers, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Dion Waiters scored 22 points and Luol Deng had 13 in his return from a three-game absence with a sprained left ankle for the Cavs, who didnt miss All-Star Kyrie Irving because Jack torched the Knicks for 13 points in the fourth quarter on 6-of-7 shooting. "I just challenged them. Thats all. I didnt say that much," Brown said. "The guys in the locker room, they decided to go play and they went out and got it done." New York was missing ailing Iman Shumpert, their best perimeter defender who surely wouldve gotten a chance to defend Jack since nobody else could. The Knicks, who suddenly were back in the playoff race after looking out of it after a seven-game skid dropped them to 21-40 after a loss in Detroit on March 3, will have to bounce back on the road. The Hawks had already lost at Toronto by the time the Knicks showed up for work Sunday. Coach Mike Woodson said he was glad but didnt appear overjoyed, realizing the Knicks still have plenty to do to get to the 35 to 40 wins he think will be necessary to earn a playoff spot. "Its good that they lose, but again, its about what we do at this point," Woodson said before the game. Even getting to 35 wins will be difficult considering they still have games against Miami and Chicago, plus two apiece against Brooklyn and Toronto after their trip. New York made 15 of 21 shots (71 per cent) in the first quarter, getting 14 points from Anthony and taking a 34-27 lead when Smith made a 28-footer with 0.2 seconds left. The Knicks pushed the lead to 17 in the second when Pablo Prigioni made a 3-pointer, then stole the ball and threw an alley-oop pass that Smith slammed down to finish off a fast break and make it 51-34. But down 61-46 at halftime, Cleveland scored the first nine of the second half to get within six, and the Knicks never really got the momentum back. The Cavs used an 11-4 spurt to tie it at 90 on Jacks jumper with 7:29 remaining, then Dengs 3-pointer gave them a 93-92 edge with 5:46 to play. Anthonys free throws gave the Knicks their last lead, but Jack knocked down a jumper, Waiters made a 3-pointer and Anderson Varejao had an easy dunk after a pick-and-roll to make it 100-94 with 2:37 remaining. New York cut it to two, but Jack answered with another jumper, finishing two points shy of his career high. Smith finished with 18 points. NOTES: New York had won the previous five meetings at home. ... On Noche Latina, Spanish for Latin night, former St. Johns star Felipe Lopez announced the starting lineups in Spanish. Cheap Pirates Jerseys .The result meant Juventus will spend the winter break three points clear of Roma after the league leader beat Cagliari 3-1 on Thursday.Milan remained seventh ahead of the rest of the weekends fixtures, but was provisionally two points behind third-place Napoli in their duel for the final Champions League spot. Pittsburgh Pirates Store . With just under five seconds remaining - the Raptors having clawed back from a 19-point deficit and pulled within one - DeRozan took the handoff from Chuck Hayes. https://www.cheappiratesjerseys.us/. Indeed, must be among the greatest challenges in all of sports. The pressure he applies, from set to set, game to game, point to point, shot to shot. Pittsburgh Pirates Shirts . In the days leading up to the draft, TSN.ca and TSN Radio basketball analyst Duane Watson looks at some of the names that will be headlining the event. Tonight, Michigans Nik Stauskas of Mississauga, Ontario. Pittsburgh Pirates Gear . Jimmy Howard made 44 saves and Henrik Zetterberg scored two goals, leading the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.PHILADELPHIA -- Scott Hartnell was concerned he had broken his foot. He had been playing with pain for two weeks and wore a walking boot at a Flyers charity event over the weekend. But after getting cleared to play following a negative CT scan, he looked as good as he has all season. Hartnell and Claude Giroux each had three points, Steve Mason made 33 saves and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the banged up Detroit Red Wings 5-0 Tuesday night. "We needed a big win, we needed two points," Hartnell said. "Were (about to go) on a really tough road trip against some big opponents out west and we needed to get our confidence back going into that trip." Adam Hall and Sean Couturier also scored for the Flyers, who snapped a four-game losing streak. The Flyers (26-22-6) won an eighth straight game at home against the Red Wings (23-19-11), a franchise best against Detroit, which has not won in Philadelphia since the 1997 Stanley Cup final. Mason turned in his best performance since signing a three-year extension with the Flyers last week. In the three previous games since inking the deal, Mason had allowed 11 goals and been pulled twice. "These games are building blocks," said Mason, who recorded his second shutout of the season and the 21st of his career. "Over the course of the season, youre going to have ups and downs, its just a matter of how you come out of it. This is a small step in a bigger picture and thats how Im going to look at it." Flyers coach Craig Berube shuffled his lines before the game, moving Hartnell up with Giroux and Jake Voracek. Hartnell scored the Flyers first two goals of the game and Giroux netted one in third. Each time Giroux or Hartnell scored, the other picked up an assist. "Hes pretty easy to play with," Hartnell said, referring to Giroux. "You get him the puck and youre going to get it back." Hartnell opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 6:18 mark of the first period when he redirected Kimmo Timonens drive from the point and notched his second of the night 8:08 into the second period when he scored off a cross-ice pass from Giroux, who assisted on both of Hartnells goals. Timonen later left the game with a lower-body injury and did not return. The veteran defenceman will be reevaluated Tuesday but, when asked after the game, Berube said Timonen was "fine.dddddddddddd" The Red Wings arent nearly as lucky on the injury front. They played Tuesday night without three of their top forwards in Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg, and Pavel Datsyuk. Franzen missed 16 games with a concussion and returned to action against the Florida Panthers on Sunday but is once again dealing with concussion symptoms. Zetterberg missed his third game with a bad back and Datsyuk his 11th with a lower-body injury. "We want to get our big guys back," Red Wings forward Drew Miller said. "A lot of the guys that are out right now are big leaders and guys we look to for scoring. But were not looking at that as an excuse. Weve got guys who can step and play." Starting in place of Jimmy Howard, who was back on the Detroit bench after missing three games with an injury of his own, Detroit goaltender Jonas Gustavsson stopped 23 of 28 shots. In the second period, Detroits Luke Glendening, Kyle Quincey and Tomas Tatar all hit posts. Forward Riley Sheahan would have gotten the Red Wings on the board in the third, but his shot over the glove of Mason came after Flyers defenceman Nicklas Grossman dislodged the net, stopping play. Grossman was whistled for delay of game but Detroit, which came into Tuesday night with the leagues top-ranked road power play, but failed to score on its four man-advantages. "These are the times when you have to find a way, get a step," defenceman Niklas Kronwall said. "The power play has to be clicking. We have to find a way to get one goal. I thought we had good chances in the second period. (Quincey) had a grade-A chance right in the middle of the slot. I think (Tatar) had one off the crossbar. But the puck didnt go in, and we have to find a way to be a lot better." NOTES: Hartnell was cleared to play Tuesday after being seen in a walking boot at the Flyers Wives Fight for Lives Carnival on Sunday. The forward has been dealing with soreness in his left foot for the last two weeks, but a CT scan came back negative. ... Out of the lineup Tuesday night for the Flyers was winger Zac Rinaldo (ankle). Defenceman Andrej Meszaros was a healthy scratch. ... For the Red Wings, Howard missed his fourth straight game but was on the bench backing up Gustavsson. Todd Bertuzzi was a healthy scratch. ' ' '