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A few notes from the Knicks’ remarkable Game 1 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday…
HARD TO BELIEVE
The Knicks were down by 22 points with 7:50 to go in the fourth quarter. That’s when Jalen Brunson went to work on James Harden.
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Brunson scored 15 points in the final seven minutes, hitting seven of his last eight shots. His primary defender during several of those possessions? James Harden.
Brunson abused the entire Cavs defense – and Harden in particular – down the stretch in the fourth quarter.
At one point in overtime, Brunson had scored or assisted on 23 of the Knicks’ last 32 points. This was Brunson at his best, picking apart the Cavs defense. Landry Shamet and Mikal Bridges both buried good looks from beyond the arc, thanks to Brunson’s gravity.
“Sometimes you gotta do what the game dictates,” Mike Brown said of targeting Harden in the fourth quarter. “They were trying to do the same thing with Jalen. And so we said, OK, we feel like we can play that game. We try not to play that game much, but we feel like we have a guy that we can play that game with in Jalen.
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“And just like we have to try to figure out different ways to guard Harden and [Donovan] Mitchell, they gotta figure out different ways to guard Jalen. But there’s no secret we were attacking Harden.”
Harden was just as bad on the other end of the floor. He went 1-for-6 in the fourth quarter. You’d have to think Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson will adjust this strategy in Game 2. It was a big part of New York’s historic comeback on Tuesday night.
CHESS MATCH
Another key decision in the fourth quarter? Brown going to Shamet. The Knicks coach initially went away from Shamet in Game 1. But with the Knicks down 14, he called Shamet’s number. He put Shamet, OG Anunoby, Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns around Brunson. It’s not often that Brunson is surrounded by shooters. But he was on Tuesday night. And it was a significant factor in New York’s historic comeback.
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“We found a group of five guys that went out there, ended up getting stops and scoring the basketball,” Brown…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/knicks-cavaliers-notes-mike-brown-060000532.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-20 06:00:00
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