CLEVELAND, Ohio — Collin Sexton has thrown down more impressive dunks with higher degrees of difficulty than the one he slammed home against the New York Knicks at Quicken Loans Arena. But few, if any, have elicited the type of response the rookie got out of his Cleveland Cavaliers teammates Monday night.

With seven minutes left in the second quarter, Matthew Dellavedova deflected a pass from New York’s Noah Vonleh and started a fast break when he flipped the ball ahead to Larry Nance Jr.

Nance’s bounce pass found Sexton cutting along the baseline for an uncontested two-handed flush that brought Cavaliers teammates Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson to their feet on the Cleveland bench.

The play seemed to spark a bit more emotion than your run-of-the-mill NBA game dunk generally does.

After the game, Nance was asked what was different about Sexton throwing one down.

“Did you see him win the McDonald’s slam dunk contest?” Nance quipped. “We’re yet to see that. Him getting that one was a pretty momentous moment. It was like ‘Oh my God, this is incredible.’”

Sexton is just two years removed from winning the Powerade Jam Fest dunk contest at the 2017 McDonald’s High School All-American Game. But, apparently the rookie’s aerial skills have not been on display to quite that degree during practices and games with the Cavaliers.

“We gave him a hard time about getting his first — what we called his first ‘real dunk,’” Nance said. “It was just giving him a hard time.”

For the record, Monday’s dunk was Sexton’s fourth in five attempts this season. He recored his first NBA game dunk Oct. 30 with 26 seconds left in the first half against Atlanta. The slam gave Cleveland a 58-57 lead.

Sexton’s next dunk came Nov. 24 against Houston in the second quarter of a Cavs win, 117-108. He also rocked the rim this past Saturday against Indiana early in the third quarter.

The only time Sexton has missed a dunk attempt this season was Nov. 13 against Charlotte. But the Cavs went on to win that game, 113-89.

Love, meanwhile, said he got a kick out of seeing the emotion Sexton’s dunk inspired in his teammates.

“He’s been talking now for three weeks he can dunk the ball, he finally showed it in game,” Love said. “So I was happy for him.”

Love has noticed Sexton’s confidence growing lately, as well.

“There’s times when you’re just trying to break habits and being a rookie there’s times where it’s going to be up and down,” Love said. “He’s been able to push through, he’s been able to show a lot of bright spots and he’s playing with a lot of confidence. It’s really good to see.”