NEW YORK — As exultant fans leaked slowly back out into an unseasonably warm night in the city, the New York Knicks players huddled briefly near midcourt and embraced each other.
Just minutes earlier, this building had been dazed, silent. That was before Jalen Brunson carried his teammates and this city to an improbable comeback in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
The Knicks frantically erased a 22-point fourth quarter deficit to stun the Cleveland Cavaliers in overtime, 115-104, Tuesday, May 19 to position themselves three victories away from the NBA Finals.
It was the second largest comeback in the fourth quarter of a postseason game since 1997, the start of the play-by-play era.
Here are takeaways from the Knicks’ victory Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals:
The Cavaliers wasted a pristine chance — maybe the best they’ll have — to steal a game at the Garden
Entering Tuesday night, teams holding a 22-point lead at any point in the fourth quarter of a postseason game were 594-1, a winning percentage of .998. The Cavaliers made it 594-2.
This was, practically speaking, as good a chance as Cleveland will have to steal a game on the road. From the 7:49 mark until the end of regulation, the Cavs allowed the Knicks to ignite on a 30-8 extended run to send the game into overtime.
In fact, if you extend it further, the Knicks closed the game on an astounding 44-11 fusillade that snatched Cleveland’s soul.
“Should’ve won the game,” Cavs All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell told reporters after the game. “Even if there was complacency, we were up 22 with God knows how much time — eight minutes? Gotta win the game.”
In the fourth quarter and overtime, Mitchell and James Harden combined to go 2-of-13 for 9 points. The pair was scoreless after regulation. As New York clamped up its defense and forced Cleveland into turnovers, possessions devolved and shots became forced. The Cavaliers were initiating their actions well beyond the paint and they were starting late in shot clocks.
The biggest issue for Cleveland is that it now needs to flush this result and move on. Because a loss like this can linger. It can seep into the team’s preparation and erode their confidence. And falling in an 0-2 hole could
“We lost,” Mitchell added. “We (expletive) blew it. All right, let’s get ready for Game 2. Simple as that.”
Jalen Brunson was a flamethrower in the fourth
This was special. It was one of the world’s best closers willing his team to overcome the improbable. Knicks All-Star captain Jalen Brunson went on an absolute heater, strafing the Cavaliers with clutch shot-making in the fourth quarter. He shot 7-of-9 in the period, finishing with 15 points. During one stretch, he poured in 11 consecutive points to single-handedly shrink Cleveland’s lead to five.
This was Brunson at his best, no wasted movement, an understanding of space and leverage, a commitment to get to his spots. And when he’s like this, the Knicks are very difficult to beat.
Brunson finished the game with 38 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals.
The Cavaliers need to find a solution to James Harden being hunted on defense
This, to be clear, is not the only reason the Cavaliers blew their 22-point lead. But it was painfully transparent how readily the Knicks were hunting James Harden on defense, seeking him out in pick-and-rolls so that Jalen Brunson would get matched up with him. And every time New York found itself in that scenario, it took advantage.
The Cavaliers were trying to do the same thing when they had the ball, only seeking out Brunson in a matchup.
Needing to launch that massive run to reclaim the lead, the Knicks had to resort to that strategy.
“Sometimes you’ve got to do what the game dictates,” Knicks coach Mike Brown told reporters after the game. “They were trying to do the same thing with Jalen, so we said, okay, we feel like we can play that game. We try not to play that game much, but we feel like we have a guy we can play that game with in Jalen.
“There is no secret: we were attacking Harden.”
The puzzling part about Tuesday night’s loss is that Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson didn’t adjust. He didn’t bring Max Strus, a guard who has solid (if unspectacular) defensive ability. In fact, Atkinson called timeout only once during New York’s relentless barrage.
“Yeah, I like to hold my timeouts,” Atkinson said. “I didn’t want to have one timeout at the end of the game. One or two-point game, I try to hold them.”
This won’t stop in Game 2. The Knicks will continue to exploit the matchup, so the Cavaliers need to find a way — whether it’s avoiding switches, whether it’s sprinkling in zone, whether it’s having Harden drift off to less potent scorers — to keep runs like this from happening again.
New York’s recipe for success in the series: get to the paint
As much as the 3-point shooting struggles were a massive factor for New York falling in an early hole, and as much as its catching fire late was a big reason for the comeback, the more sustainable path toward success in the series is in the paint.
The Knicks outscored the Cavs there by a margin of 60-38 on Tuesday night. This is particularly notable because Cleveland tied for 10th in the statistic during the regular season, putting up an average of 52.0 paint points per game, while the Knicks ranked 22nd, at 47.8.
By having Jarrett Allen guarding Josh Hart, and by having Hart leak out toward the perimeter, that left the paint open for the Knicks to attack. Look for Cleveland to find ways to keep both Allen and Evan Mobley closer to the basket to protect the rim.
Because if New York can keep gaining a similar edge down low, it’s tough to see how the Cavaliers can stay competitive in the series.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Knicks vs Cavaliers Game 1: Jalen Brunson was special in comeback
