New York (AFP) – The New York Knicks used an explosive third-quarter to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-93 on Thursday and take a 2-0 lead in the NBA Eastern Conference finals. Josh Hart led the Knicks with a career playoff high of 26 points, drilling five of New York’s 13 three-pointers. New York star Jalen Brunson, who spearheaded the Knicks’ stunning comeback from a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit in a game one overtime win, scored just two points in the first half but finished with 19. He also handed out a career playoff high of 14 of the Knicks’ 32 assists. Hart dished out seven assists himself, as well as punishing the Cavaliers when they left him open from long range.
“It felt good,” Hart, who was held out of overtime in the Knicks’ scintillating comeback victory on Tuesday, told broadcaster ESPN. “The thing I’m most happy about is I started zero for three from (three-point range), and I just kept shooting. I’m putting the work in, and it’s kind of built that confidence. So it felt good.” Knicks coach Mike Brown called it a “whale of a game” from Hart. “He’s a gamer,” Brown said. “When you have guys that are gamers they do stuff that people don’t think that they can do at any time.”
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Mikal Bridges scored 19 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 18 points and 13 rebounds, and with another win at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks took control in the best-of-seven series before it shifts to Cleveland for games three and four on Saturday and Monday. Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points, and James Harden added 18 for the Cavs, who cut an 18-point third-quarter deficit to seven early in the fourth quarter, only for the Knicks to surge away again. The Cavs head home knowing they face a virtual must-win in game three since no NBA team has rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.
But Hart said that the Knicks’ ninth straight win in these playoffs doesn’t mean they can afford to be complacent as they try to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, and their first title since 1973. He noted that the Cavs dropped the first two games on the road on the way to their seven-game second-round series win over the top-seeded Detroit Pistons. “We know they’re going to have a sense of urgency, a sense of desperation,” he said. “We can’t just match it, we have to exceed it.”
The Cavs, showing no hangover from Tuesday’s devastating defeat, emerged from a back-and-forth first quarter with a 27-24 lead. But despite a two-point first-half performance from Brunson, the Knicks led 53-49 at halftime. Cleveland pulled level at 53-53 before the Knicks found their groove, reeling off 18 straight points to surge to a 71-53 lead. The Cavs were scoreless for more than five minutes in the third quarter and trailed 85-70 entering the fourth.
“I thought we had a lot of good looks, a lot of good looks from (three-point range), good looks at the rim,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “(We) took care of the ball, offensive rebounds. It wasn’t a great shooting night,” he added. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to put the ball in the hole. Tonight we didn’t.” Mitchell echoed those comments, insisting he wasn’t worried about the Cavaliers offense. “We just didn’t make shots,” he said. “I loved everything about the looks we got. Some days you just miss the open ones.”
The winner of the series will take on either the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals. The Thunder and Spurs are knotted at 1-1 in the Western Conference finals.
© 2024 AFP
