Comeback or collapse? Knicks’ Game 1 rally against the Cavaliers was a little bit of both

NEW YORK (AP) — Call it a comeback. Or chalk it up as a choke.

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals was both. The Knicks wouldn’t have been able to charge all the way back without Cleveland collapsing.

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The Cavaliers led 93-71 with under eight minutes to play before the Knicks outscored them 44-11 the rest of the way to win 115-104 in overtime. The only bigger fourth-quarter playoff comeback in the last 30 years was when the Clippers rallied from 24 down to beat Memphis in Game 1 in 2012.

“We should’ve won the game,” Cavaliers All-Star Donovan Mitchell said. “We didn’t.”

A look at some of the reasons they didn’t.

The turning point?

Impossible as it became to imagine a few minutes later, James Harden made a good defensive play on a then still-struggling Jalen Brunson with the Cavs leading by 20 with 7:04 to play. Harden blocked Brunson’s shot on a drive, but Karl-Anthony Towns came up with the ball to extend the possession and kicked it out to Landry Shamet, who made a 3-pointer. After a Cavaliers turnover, New York took a timeout with 6:41 to play. The lead was still 93-76, but as players walked off the court with Shamet pumping his fist to urge on his teammates, the Knicks suddenly looked like they had life for the first time in a while.

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“If you’re going to make a run, that’s when you’ve got to do it. So might as well throw your best punch at that point and try to do what you can,” Shamet said.

“You’ve got to leave it all out there especially at this time of the year and that’s what we did. We had a group that didn’t flinch at that deficit and made some effort.”

Hunting Harden

The Knicks’ game plan over the next few minutes was basic basketball. Whoever Harden was guarding when Brunson brought the ball up the court — usually either Mikal Bridges or OG Anunoby — would come set a pick on Brunson’s defender, so Harden would then have to switch onto Brunson. Brunson then attacked Harden off the dribble, creating angles for a series of floaters and bank shots that he has mastered to become an All-Star.

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Brunson made four straight Knicks baskets that…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/comeback-collapse-knicks-game-1-161417128.html

Author : BRIAN MAHONEY

Publish date : 2026-05-20 16:14:00

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