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CLEVELAND — It felt like early November on the streets of Northeast Ohio. Inside Rocket Arena, it looked like late May.
Jalen Brunson was untouchable. Karl-Anthony Towns was unstoppable. Analytics were unnecessary. The eye test was enough for anyone to determine the best team on the floor.
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The Knicks extended their dominance over the Cavaliers in their first meeting since their Eastern Conference finals sweep, earning their first three-game winning streak of the season with a 109-97 win Saturday night.
After becoming the first defending champion in 15 years to drop its first three games of the season, the Knicks (5-4) are now over .500 for the first time this season.
Jalen Brunson, who scored a game-high 31 points drives past James Harden en route to the basket during the Knicks’ 109-97 win over the Cavaliers on Nov. 7, 2026 in Cleveland. NBAE via Getty Images
“Going into the season … one of my concerns was, ‘Are we gonna attack this season the way we should?’ and obviously we didn’t,” head coach Mike Brown said. “That’s why we got knocked in the head, and I was OK with it because right now is the time to get knocked in the head. If you have championship pedigree — which that group does have — it’s going to wake you up, and it’s going to make you realize that nobody’s going to give anything to us, and it’s harder than what we think.
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“When you win games, you’re human, it’s easy to start letting go of the rope because you just start to relax, especially over an 82-game season. And now the challenge for us is, can we hold on to the rope and keep climbing a little higher?”
Brunson initially struggled in his return to the floor where the Knicks clinched their first NBA Finals berth in 27 years, but eventually resembled the Finals MVP, finishing with 31 points (12-for-25 shooting, including 3-for-7 on 3-pointers), nine assists and six rebounds.
Towns had 29 points, 13 rebounds and two steals.
The Cavaliers (5-5), coming off an impressive win over the 76ers the previous night, ended their back-to-back home set looking as far from contention as the team that lost the final three games of the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/jalen-brunson-karl-anthony-towns-035708384.html
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Publish date : 2026-11-08 03:57:00
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