For three and a half quarters, Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals looked like the JV version of the Spurs-Thunder varsity headliner. The Cavs were up 22. The Knicks couldn’t throw it in the ocean. Madison Square Garden was a cemetery. And then Jalen Brunson happened. Over the final 12 minutes and 39 seconds of the game, which included a five-minute overtime, Brunson scored 17 of his 38 points as the Knicks erased a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit by way of a 44-11 run to absolutely gut the Cavs. Final score: Knicks 115, Cavs 104. Knicks lead the series 1-0. It feels like this was worth more than one win. The Knicks are no strangers to huge fourth-quarter comebacks in Game 1 of the conference finals. Last year, they were on the wrong end as Indiana came back from 14 down inside the final three minutes to shock them in overtime. This time, the Knicks did the shocking with the second-largest fourth-quarter comeback in the play-by-play era (dating back to 1997). Over that span, teams leading by at least 22 points in the fourth quarter were an incredible 594-1. The only team to blow that kind of lead in a playoff game was the 2012 Grizzlies, who got got by the Clippers. Make that 594-2 as the Cavs have made the wrong kind of history.
How did it happen? Pretty simply, Brunson hunted down James Harden, threw him on his barbecue, and proceeded to cook him well past the point of done. If you’re a Cavs fan or a Harden defender (those two words should never be used in the same sentence, even though he has had his moments in the playoffs), cover your eyes.
Just to be extra cautious (nobody wants salmonella), Brunson left Harden on the grill for one last char job in overtime.
To even say the Knicks hunted Harden feels like an understatement. They tortured him. In the fourth quarter and overtime alone they pulled him into 21 on-ball screens, per the All NBA podcast, which resulted in nine isolations that yielded 1.9 points per play. Those are taking-candy-from-a-baby numbers.
If you’re keeping score at home, Brunson made eight of his final 10 shots while Harden and Donovan Mitchell combined to miss nine of their final 10. Some other stuff happened along the way. Mikal Bridges hit two huge 3s in the closing minutes. Landry Shamet tied it with a corner 3 that hit every part of the rim before falling with 45 seconds left, while Sam Merrill’s potential game-winner…
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2026-05-20 06:19:35
