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NEW YORK — History rarely repeats itself. It can rhyme, though.
The New York Knicks were up by 17 points with 6:26 to go in Game 1 of the 2025 Eastern Conference finals, before Aaron Nesmith became engulfed in flames and the walls of Madison Square Garden began to come tumbling down. They were down by 22 with 7:49 to go in Game 1 of the 2026 Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday, before Jalen Brunson saw the bull’s-eye painted on James Harden’s chest and began rebuilding what the Cleveland Cavaliers had spent the previous three quarters tearing asunder.
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The Knicks missed four free throws in the fourth quarter of Game 1 last May — empty trips that gave an Indiana Pacers team that had been gasping for air earlier in the frame just enough oxygen to stay alive. The Cavs missed four free throws in the fourth quarter of Game 1 on Tuesday — this time, giving the Knicks the chance to find a way to keep breathing.
When Tyrese Haliburton pulled up with 1.1 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter last May … well, we probably don’t need to remind you what happened on that one. So maybe, when Landry Shamet caught the ball on Tuesday in the right corner with New York trailing by three with 47 seconds to go, whoever’s in charge owed the Knicks a friendly bounce.
“To be honest, when I shot it and then I looked up, I was like, ‘Oh, s***, we’re tied up,’” Shamet told reporters after the game. “I didn’t realize at the time that that one would have tied it up, which is kind where you want to be. When you’re flowing, you don’t want to be thinking about things.”
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At that point, with the Knicks in the midst of erasing a 22-point deficit and the Garden faithful in the throes of something akin to a full-scale collective out-of-body experience, nobody was thinking about much of anything. Except, maybe: Is this really happening here AGAIN?
“I’ve got to give my group credit,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said late Tuesday night. “I don’t know if I’ve seen that in a playoff game. I don’t know if I’ve been a part of it. Maybe I have.”
Whether he has or hasn’t, his…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/after-furious-game-1-rally-jalen-brunson-and-knicks-show-this-isnt-2025–this-new-york-team-hits-different-061234772.html
Author : Dan Devine
Publish date : 2026-05-20 06:12:00
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