Even his most ardent admirers may admit to a case of Scott Pendlebury fatigue right now. So let’s begin by getting a few words out of the way. Time. Space. Basketball. Saunas. Ice baths. Let’s also put aside some of the more tedious elements of the buildup to his record-breaking game – the gold-plated number, the multiple and lucrative costume changes, the signature wine range, the standing ovation at the 10-minute mark, and the discussion over whether he should have been rested or not.
Emotionally, technically and physically, Pendlebury has much in common with his fellow 400-gamers who gathered at the MCG this week. All of them were wily enough to avoid grievous harm on the field. All of them were temperamentally sound, and weren’t the type of personalities to let the outside noise seep in. And all of them avoided the kind of vices and distractions that can curtail sporting longevity.
Madison Square Garden went electric when the Knicks’ customary spark went out.
As the Knicks mounted a miraculous 22-point comeback to steal a 115-104 overtime win over the Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, Josh Hart was glued to the bench for nearly the entire fourth quarter and the extra session due to his shaky shooting, as Mike Brown turned to Landry Shamet down the stretch.
Shamet validated the decision by hitting a game-tying corner 3-pointer in the final minute of regulation, then added another in overtime, finishing with a team-best plus-20 rating.
Josh Hart finished the Knicks’ Game 1 win with 13 points. Jason Szenes for New York Post
Hart, who finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists, posted a team-worst minus-23 rating in 30 minutes after making just one of five 3-pointers, but the aesthetics were worse than the numbers.
Hart was efficient when he attacked the paint, repeatedly beating Cleveland with a series of spin moves, but the streaky shooter received no respect from Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson, whose defenders slouched off him on the perimeter.
Hart missed each of his first four 3-pointers — one barely grazed the rim, another’s flight path barely went above the rim, another hit nothing — as the Knicks missed 17 of their 19 attempted 3-pointers in the first half.
Before the playoffs began, Brown noted he was aware that Hart might be tested despite the 31-year-old making a career-high 41.3 percent of 3-pointers this season. And despite Hart’s benching fueling a historic comeback, the Knicks coach didn’t believe his starter’s confidence should be shaken.
“If Josh is open, he’s gotta let it fly,” Brown said after the win. “He’s made shots. We feel like he’ll make shots. If he doesn’t want to shoot it, he can get to his middie or [dribble handoff] with somebody. Josh, we faced this coverage all year. And played well throughout the course of the year. And faced it in Atlanta. We started the game off 2-for-19 from the 3-point line. … If those go in, the mojo is a little bit different.”
Three years ago, Hart — who had been acquired in February 2023 — helped the Knicks earn their first postseason series victory in a decade, against the Cavaliers, with extraordinary defense against Donovan Mitchell and 5-for-11 shooting on 3-pointers, including a go-ahead shot from outside in the final minutes of their Game 1 win in Cleveland.
Usually, when Hart goes cold, the Knicks go with him.
In the 2023 second-round loss to No. 8 seed Miami, Hart shot 5-for-21 on 3-pointers. When the Knicks fell apart in the second round against the Pacers in 2024, Hart went 6-for-22 from deep. And last year, Hart shot 2-for-11 in the Knicks’ first conference finals appearance in a quarter century.
In this postseason run, Hart has been a constant on both ends of the floor, filling up every column of the boxscore.
But his shooting has remained erratic.
He was just 5-for-23 from 3-point range in the first round against the Hawks and was 2-for-11 through the first three games against the 76ers, before hitting four of six in the second-round clincher.
The Cavs are certain to return to the one strategy that worked.
Josh Hart of the New York Knicks drives to the basket during Game 1. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“I got to go out there, shoot the ball with confidence,” Hart, who wasn’t available to the media after the win, said recently. “I’m a good shooter, I know I’m a good shooter. I trust my work.”
Madison Square Garden was deflated. The Knicks, down by 22 in the fourth quarter, appeared headed at rapid speed to take a series-defining loss in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals for a second straight season on Tuesday night.
And then something happened that had never happened before. Per Nate Duncan, teams down 20 in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter of a playoff game were 0-643 in the play-by-play era.
A 44-11 run by New York over the final 12:55 combined minutes of the fourth and overtime sealed a 115-104 win.
“I gotta give my group credit, they’ve been resilient all year,” head coach MikeBrown said, adding that the Cavaliers to that point were “shooting the ball well, they were turning us over, they were getting the ball in the pocket, and taking advantage of us.”
“And we just found a way,” Brown said. “We found a group of five guys that went out there, ended up getting stops and scoring the basketball.”
“Obviously,” the head coach continued, “we don’t get it done if Jalen Brunson doesn’t play like one of the MVP guys in the league.”
"He's an amazing player,” OG Anunoby, who added 13 points, said. “I'm happy he's on our team. I think we're all happy he's on our team."
Down 93-71, Brunson scored 15 points, including 11 straight at one point, and added two assists to send the game to OT.
“He was phenomenal,” Brown said.
Brunson said he was "just being in attack mode" during the fourth.
"Just trying tring to find seams to get to where I could be comfortable," he said. "Finally, one [three] did go down, that's just because of the rhythm I created from the shots beforehand."
The guard started the night by missing his first five three-pointers before he connected from deep to cut the lead to five with 3:30 to play in the fourth
“Brunson obviously took over at the end,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We started double-teaming him, trying to do some different things… they dominated us in the fourth quarter.”
Donovan Mitchell, who led Cleveland with 29 points, said there was nothing they could do now other than look at the film and get ready for Game 2 on Thursday.
"He was a little comfortable. We could've done some things collectively, and we didn't, and that's on us," Mitchell said.
For the game, the Knicks' leader finished with 38 points on 15-for-29 shooting with six assists, five rebounds, three steals, and was a plus-15 in 47 minutes.
Atkinson added that he felt the Cavs held Brunson “in check most of the game.”
“Basically, the fourth quarter he got loose,” he said. “We definitely tried to mix up some stuff, throw some stuff at him. We’ll have to keep looking at it. There was a lot of tough floaters, and hit that tough, contested three.”
At one point late in the game with the Knicks down, Brunson got animated in the huddle.
“He’s a leader. He’s our guy. And he felt we needed to play faster, he felt we needed to be better defensively,” Brown said. “There were a couple things he felt and he made sure we knew. And our guys responded to him.”
Brunson said the message in the huddle was to "keep fighting."
"Keep chipping away, we're not gonna get it back in one possession," he said. "Most importantly, sticking together, no matter how that game finished, habits translate; they get transferred to the next game. So just finishing the game strong, regardless of whatever's going on. Making sure everyone has the right habits."
Over the first three quarters, Landry Shamet was on the floor for a grand total of 3 minutes and 13 seconds.
He took one shot, which he missed.
Then, everything changed — for Shamet and the Knicks.
Landry Shamet hits a clutch 3-pointer in overtime of the Knicks’ 115-104 overtime win over the Cavaliers in Game 1 on May 19. 2026 at the Garden. Jason Szenes for the New York Post
With Josh Hart struggling with his shot and unable to stay with Donovan Mitchell, Mike Brown called on Shamet.
“A lot of fun,” he said after the Knicks set a franchise record for a playoff comeback, rallying from 22 points down in the final quarter. “MSG comebacks are fun, especially in the playoffs. I’m just real proud of our group, because that’s quite the deficit in the fourth.”
Shamet was a big part of it.
On one end, the veteran guard hit three key 3-pointers, including one that tied the game with 45 seconds left in regulation.
Jose Alvarado lifts Landry Shamet to celebrate his clutch shot. Jason Szenes for the New York Post
He also sank a key triple late in overtime that iced the victory, putting the Knicks up nine.
On the other end, Shamet slowed down Mitchell, limiting him to three points in the fourth quarter and overtime.
“One of the luxuries of our team is we have a lot of really good defenders,” Shamet said. “I didn’t really play the first three quarters, and you throw fresh legs at somebody who’s got it going. Just try to come in and compete and be physical, take advantage of the fact that I haven’t played, use the energy I had. Try to compete, communicate and make it hard on him.”
It has been a roller-coaster postseason for Shamet. He was out of the rotation late in the opening-round series against the Hawks and early on against the 76ers — then picked it up when OG Anunoby missed the last two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Tuesday night, he was back on the bench as Anunoby returned. But Shamet stayed ready.
“He played big time. That’s just who he is. He’s a true professional, ever since he walked into the league,” Jalen Brunson said. “He’s up to any task you put in front of him. He’s been that player, he’s been that player for us. We have utmost faith in him.”
After the win, Shamet was greeted by John Starks, Spike Lee and Ben Stiller. The celebrities wanted to acknowledge the unsung hero of this victory.
“It’s kind of wild when I think about it,” Shamet said.
May 19, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte (4) is greeted by teammates with bubble gum after hitting a three run walk off home run against the San Francisco Giants during the ninth inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
Tonight almost fell into the bucket of the very frustrating games that this team definitely should have won category. Their starting pitcher went 7 strong innings while their offense continued to squander opportunity after opportunity late into the game. However with 2 outs in the 9th, the biggest star on the team Ketel Marte finally broke through and put this team on his back with a walk off 3 run home run! What a swing and what a swing of emotions for this fanbase!
Ryne Nelson was very solid tonight as he was able to go deep and get through 7 innings. The lone blemish on the night for Nelson was a 3 run 2nd inning, but he was able to right the ship quickly and get on a roll.
It was the offense that refused to come to play tonight. The Dbacks were able to get on the board first in the first inning today when Corbin Carroll lined a ball into the gap and when he slid into 3rd base, the throw glanced off of Carroll’s head and he was able to take the extra 90 feet and score. According to the broadcast, Carroll made it from home to 3rd in just 10.7 seconds which is the fastest in Carroll’s career and the fastest recorded time in the major leagues in nearly a decade! After that exciting play on the second hitter of the game, this teams offense went dead silent until late in the game.
One of the defining moments in the game for me was In the 7th inning when the Dbacks offense began to show some signs of life and loaded the bases with just 1 out and down 3-1. Torey Lovullo then elected to stay with his designated hitter Adrian Del Castillo who came into the game with a wRC+ of just 53. A startling 47% below league average hitter up in the biggest moment of the game. Del Castillo then proceeded to hit into a double play and kill the rally and get the Giants out of the inning. It is also worth noting that if anyone else on the team were running they would’ve beaten out the throw from the SS and the Dbacks would’ve scored a run as Del Castillo’s speed is in just the 21st percentile. It is also worth pointing out that Jose Fernandez was sitting on the bench and has speed in the 98th percentile and has been a much better hitter.
As if this heartbreak wasn’t bad enough, in the 8th inning the Dbacks would also load the bases again with 1 out and this time Nolan Arenado grounded into a double play. Back to back innings the Dbacks strand the bases loaded with one out in what has to be some of the worst timely hitting of the season so far. At least Arenado has been one of the hottest hitters on this team and put a good swing on the ball so its hard to be too critical. Just an unfortunate at bat.
In the 9th inning Del Castillo was given another opportunity for some reason unknown to anyone else on the planet and was surprisingly able to come through and knock in Ildemaro Vargas and make it a 3-2 game. Rookie Ryan Waldschmidt who had several good at bats tonight was able to get on base via a catcher’s interference call giving Ketel Marte a golden opportunity with the winning run on base. Ketel had just missed a 2 run home run in the at bat before and was visibly frustrated when the CF caught the ball on the warning track, but he got another opportunity with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and his team down 3-2. And this time, he delivered!!!!! Ketel with the whole fan base down in the dumps ready to see yet another very winnable game slip through their fingers delivered a walk off 3 run home run with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning and tossed his bat in the air with an epic bat flip! This was the first walk off home run of Marte’s career per the broadcast. If there was one guy on this team who deserved this moment it was absolutely Ketel Marte who has hit so many balls so hard this season and had so very little to show for it.
The Dbacks were able to win this game tonight because Ketel Marte chose to put this team on his back and come through when his team needed him most. We are so lucky to have Ketel Marte on this team and for him to get through the stretch that he has had where he has had such bad luck on hard hit balls and come out the other side with a moment like this was just awesome to see. And lastly, anyone who has any questions about Ketel’s commitment to this team and his desire to win, watch him hit that home run and look at his face as he is rounding the bases. Watch his postgame interview and listen to the passion in that guy’s voice. Ketel just wants to win and tonight he did just that.
The Dbacks are finally back over .500 at 24-23 and go for the series sweep tomorrow afternoon. Time to step on the gas pedal and go get the sweep!
Kenny Atkinson attempted to explain the rationale for his curious decision-making in the fourth quarter as his Cavaliers watched a 22-point lead disappear.
The Cavaliers coach was ripped by fans and analysts on Tuesday night after the Knicks completed a 115-104 comeback win to take Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. Questions mounted over his decision to call just one timeout while the Knicks went on a 30-8 run in the final quarter, and over why he left James Harden in the game as he got torched by New York.
The questionable decision to take one timeout amid a catastrophic collapse was a result of Atkinson saying he likes to “hold my timeouts.”
Kenny Atkinson made some curious decisions during the Cavaliers’ crusing Game 1 defeat to the Knicks. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“I didn’t want to have one timeout at the end of the game. One- or two-point game, I try to hold them,” he bizarrely explained.
But that wasn’t the only odd response following the Cavs loss.
Harden’s defense left much to be desired, and Jalen Brunson, who finished with 38 points while leading the Knicks’ comeback, lit up the 36-year-old whenever he guarded him.
But Atkinson never gave a thought to taking Harden out of the game.
2 MINUTES AND 45 SECONDS of Jalen Brunson HUNTING James Harden in the 4th and OT pic.twitter.com/SzqflCwZ4j
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 19: Alex Call #12 of the Los Angeles Dodgers scores a run ahead of the tag by Freddy Fermin #54 of the San Diego Padres during the ninth inning at Petco Park on May 19, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The first two games this season between the teams with the two best records in the National League West have been close, hard-fought battles going down to the wire. After not scoring in the series opener, the Dodgers found just enough offense on Tuesday and capitalized on an absolute gift from the most dominant closer in baseball to beat the San Diego Padres 5-4 at Petco Park.
Mason Miller was wild on Monday, walking his first two batters in the ninth inning before getting the final three outs to close out the 1-0 San Diego win. Max Muncy worked a one-out walk against Miller in the ninth inning on Tuesday, then was replaced by pinch-runner Alex Call.
Call took off for second base on Miller’s first movement, but it coincided with Miller delivering a pickoff throw to first base. Ordinarily, Call would have been dead to rites, except that Miller’s cannon of a throw got by, just off the glove of Ty France and down the right field line, allowing Call to get to third base.
Andy Pages fell behind 0-2, then fouled off four more pitches, working the count even before driving a fastball just deep enough to right field to score Call with the winning run on a very close play at the plate. That’s pretty much been the margin for things through two games of the series.
Freddie Freeman has been battling an illness the last few days, manager Dave Roberts told reporters in San Diego before the game. But the first baseman went from under the weather to over the left field wall against Griffin Canning in the first inning for a two-run home run to not only get the Dodgers on the board but also snap a personal string of 16 hitless at-bats (with five walks) dating back to last Wednesday.
Freeman homered again in the sixth inning, this time to right field off reliever Jeremiah Estrada to tie the game at four apiece. It’s the first multi-homer game this season for Freeman, and his third game in 2026 with two extra-base hits.
Shohei Ohtani doubled and scored in the first inning, then doubled again to lead off the eighth, setting up a golden opportunity.
With Ohtani on third base and one out, Freeman chased a 3-1 fastball outside the strike zone, then struck out swinging against Padres left-hander Adrián Morejón, who then got ahead of lefty Kyle Tucker 0-2 before inducing a tapper back to the box to end the Dodgers’ wasted threat.
Ohtani has reached base multiple times in each of his last six games, during which he’s 12 for 23 with six extra-base hits and six walks, good for a .522/.621/.913 batting line.
Trouble with the fastball
Emmet Sheehan got the first two batters in the bottom of the first and was ahead in the count 1-2 on Gavin Sheets before walking him. Then Manny Machado clobbered a middle-middle fastball on a full count for a two-run home run of his own. The Padres third baseman was in his own slump, with just three hits in 29 at-bats between home runs.
Miguel Andujar took advantage of another Sheehan meatball in the third inning, cashing in an infield single by Fernando Tatis Jr. for another two-run home run, the second homer of the series for Andujar.
Sheehan nearly allowed another two-run home run on a fastball to Ty France in the fourth inning, but it was hit to one of the deepest parts of the park in right center field, and needed a bounce to get over the fence. What would have easily scored Jackson Merrill from first base instead was a ground-rule double, forcing Merrill back to third base. Sheehan was able to escape the damage with an inning-ending groundout.
The Padres swung at 19 of Sheehan’s 28 fastballs and didn’t miss once, and his day was done after four runs in four innings at just 67 pitches, not allowed to see the top of San Diego’s lineup a third time.
Sheehan’s early exit led to some earlier appearances for the Dodgers’ most trusted relievers, such that Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, and Tanner Scott were used in tight spots in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings.
That left the ninth inning for Will Klein, who struck out France and retired all three batters he faced to preserve the win and earn his first career save. Edgardo Henriquez and those four Dodgers relievers combined to get the final 15 outs in scoreless fashion, allowing one hit and three walks, with four strikeouts.
Tuesday particulars
Home runs: Freddie Freeman 2 (6); Manny Machado (7), Miguel Andujar (5)
LP — Mason Miller (1-1): 2/3 IP, 1 unearned run, 1 walk
Sv — Will Klein (1): 1 IP, 1 strikeout
Up next
Shohei Ohtani takes the mound in the final game of the series, the road trip, and this stretch of 13 game days in a row on Wednesday evening (5:40 p.m., SportsNet LA), with right-hander Randy Vásquez starting for San Diego.
It was a quarter to remember for Landry Shamet and the Knicks.
Down 22 points to the Cavaliers with less than eight minutes to go in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Shamet helped New York orchestrate their largest comeback victory in franchise playoff history.
While Jalen Brunson exploded for 15 points to lead the comeback, Shamet's defense and clutch shot-making gave the Knicks captain some help in the team's improbable 115-104 victory in overtime on Tuesday night.
"Landry Shamet was great. He was great on both ends of the floor. He came up big," head coach Mike Brown said after the win. "You’re not going to stop a guy like Donovan Mitchell. Landry tried like heck to make him work. He was fantastic. He was the difference in the ballgame tonight on both ends of the floor."
"He played big time," Brunson said of Shamet. "He's up to any task that you put in front of him. He's been that player for us, and we have the utmost faith in him."
The Cavaliers star went for a team-high 29 points, but in the final frame, he scored just three on 1 of 4 shooting thanks to Shamet.
"He didn’t just change the game with the clutch shots, but defensively bringing energy," Miles McBride said of Shamet. "Getting hands on deflections and picking up full court. Things like that inspires the whole team."
For Shamet, he credited Game 1's defense on Mitchell on the Knicks' depth. Shamet played just three minutes through the first three quarters -- all in the first half -- so he had the energy to stay with Mitchell in the fourth.
"One of the luxuries of our team is we got a lot of really good primary on-ball, primary off-the-ball defenders. Team defenders," Shamet explained. "I didn’t really play the first three quarters and then you throw fresh legs at someone whose got it going. Just come in try to compete, be physical, take advantage that I didn’t play. Use the energy that I had. That's really it. Compete, communicate, make it hard on him. He's a helluva player.
"We expect him to have a good game against us. Gotta give him his credit, he really hurt us. We have to make adjustments. We were connected, played hard and was physical."
Although the Knicks applauded Shamet's defense in the fourth quarter, he made some timely shots, including a three-pointer with less than a minute to go that tied the game at 99 apiece. Shamet said he was saying "just stay down" as it rattled around the rim before going through the hoop.
"I didn’t realize at the time that one would have tied up," Shamet said of the shot. "That's where you kinda want to be. When you're flowing, you don't want to be thinking about things. The ball found me, I was open in transition, let the ball fly and it went in."
Shamet would also make an open three in overtime after Brunson found him, which put the Knicks up nine with 1:49 remaining, and essentially sealed the win for New York. That play embodied Brown's mindset, and when the first-year Knicks coach was asked why he went with Shamet in the fourth, he said he wanted a shooter on the perimeter against the Cavs defense, who play big. And if Cleveland decided to put a bigger defender on Shamet, he would exploit it.
He also needed to space the floor while Brunson continued to dissect the defense in the paint.
"Defensively, Landry’s a big guard, he’s physical, and he can defend without foul," Brown said. "To play him, knowing they will pack the paint when Jalen comes and the sprays are going to be there. And that’s what we decided to do."
There was a point in the fourth when the team was still down 17 in the fourth and Shamet was visibly trying to fire up his teammates. Shamet said he knew it was a turning point in the game and that they had to go for it.
"If you’re going to make it run, that’s when you have to do it," Shamet said. "Might as well throw your best punch at that point, do what you can. You have to leave it all out there, especially this time of the year. That’s what we did. We have a group that didn’t flinch at the deficit. We made something happen."
The Knicks look to take a commanding 2-0 series lead when they host the Cavs against on Thursday night.
But in their exultation outside Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, the Knicks faithful might’ve gotten a little too ahead of themselves.
The area outside the Garden is always a party after a Knicks playoff win, and Tuesday night was no different after a 115-104 overtime victory over the Cavaliers. But some Knicks fans were already thinking about an NBA Finals opponent.
Some exuberant fans in another chant yelled out, “Knicks in four.”
If the Knicks do end up playing the Spurs in the 2026 NBA Finals, New York does bring in a championship edge over San Antonio from this season. The Knicks beat the Spurs, who were limiting Wembanyama’s minutes, in the NBA Cup final in mid-December.
Knicks fans celebrate their team’s 115-104 overtime win outside Madison Square Garden on May 19, 2026. James Keivom for NY PostThe Knicks fans were all smiles after the win. James Keivom for NY PostKnicks fans watched the game from outside MSG. James Keivom for NY Post
The two teams split the other two games in the regular season, with each squad winning at home.
But the Knicks will still have to get past a Cavaliers team, which did luck vulnerable after blowing a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell led the way with 29 points, but it wasn’t enough. He didn’t pull back any punches after the loss.
San Antonio would have to get past the defending champion Thunder to make a Knicks-Spurs 1999 NBA Finals rematch happen, too. That series resumes on Wednesday.
May 19, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Fans in the upper right field seats wave their shirts and cheer following a strikeout by the Chicago White Sox against the Seattle Mariners during the sixth inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
White Sox 2, Mariners 1
My mood when I volunteered to do the chart in the eighth inning: Bryce Miller, +0.30 WPA My mood now: Andres Muñoz, -0.56 WPA
And so Stanton remains in a holding pattern after repeat imaging last week revealed that there is still a low-grade strain lingering in his right calf, keeping him from getting the clearance to ramp up a running program that he needs to do before he returns.
“Calves are very interesting and history [factors in],” Stanton said Tuesday before the Yanks’ 5-4 win over the Jays. “Just got to be careful of not making it much longer than it needs to be.”
Stanton, who has missed time with calf strains before, has been hitting every day in the cage and off the Trajekt machine, which should keep him close to game ready once he starts running.
He has also been doing plyometric exercises, which he said are “explosive enough to be running, just not the continuous [motion].”
Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton (27) looks on against the Tampa Bay Rays in the fifth inning at Tropicana Field. Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
But the Yankees are being cautious and will likely get another MRI to make sure he is fully healed before he advances to running.
“I don’t want to be out,” said Stanton, who has been on the IL since April 28. “I want to be back as soon as possible.”
Austin Wells returned to the lineup Tuesday after J.C. Escarra had started back-to-back games behind the plate and went 0-for2.
Wells has struggled at the plate at the plate all season, but especially of late, entering the day 3-for-32.
“It does feel like his work’s been really good behind the scenes,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He has the equipment to get out of it. But in these times, you got to just be process-driven and think small. It’s about really just, as much as you can, focus on the quality of the at-bat and trust that your ability over time will net you results. He’s very capable of that. The good thing is he’s been tremendous behind the plate”
José Caballero took batting practice on the field Tuesday, continuing to do ramp up baseball activities in hopes of missing just the minimum 10 days on the injured list with a fracture in his right middle finger.
He is first eligible to return on Friday.
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The Yankees promoted righty reliever Eric Reyzelman to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday after a strong start to the season at Double-A.
After struggling at SWB last year and then undergoing a microdiscectomy late in the season, the 24-year-old struck out 32 and walked only four across 17 ¹/₃ innings with Double-A Somerset, even touching 100 mph at times.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 19: Josh Hart #3 and Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the New York Knicks react to a call as Evan Mobley #4 of the Cleveland Cavaliers looks on during the first quarter in Game One of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden on May 19, 2026 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) | Getty Images
I’m speechless. Wordless.
The Knicks closed Game 1 of the conference finals against Cleveland on a 44-11 run, turning a 21-point deficit with less than eight minutes left in the fourth quarter into a 115-104 overtime win, the biggest postseason comeback in franchise history. I’ve seen more than 200 Knick playoff games. I’ve never seen one more dramatic. The game chart literally looks like the map for a three-act drama.
Image credit: nba.com
About ten minutes in, we left the old world (the Cavs getting ahead early) for the new (the Knicks leading most of the rest of the first half. That’s not really “new” in that the Knicks have been leading for weeks, but they haven’t played in over a week, so it’s their newest lead in a while).
Then the long, dark turn from the end of the second act through the third, as multiple forces conspire to pit our hero against impossible odds. The climax: the end of regulation/first few minutes of overtime, as it became clear the Cavs were toast. The lights weren’t too bright this time. They just got punched in the face. Over and over. They couldn’t stop the bleeding.
Very much relatedly, they couldn’t stop Jalen Brunson; even among the sparkling lights of his legendary playoff performances, tonight may go down as the crown jewel. When the Knicks were at their low point, he locked in on attacking James Harden, the Hasabeard and the Cavaliers had no answer for him, and by the time they knew what hit them the Knicks were dribbling out the last seconds of their overtime win.
This wasn’t the scoreboard porn we were spoiled by against Atlanta and Philadelphia, but as dominance goes, 44-11 over a de facto quarter takes a backseat to nobody. Early on Cleveland showed a lot of the good energy they showed winning Sunday in Detroit, but double-digit turnovers by intermission kept them from sustaining anything good.
The Knicks were ahead most of the first half, but for much of the game while players for both teams looked fatigued or rusty, Donovan Mitchell looked shot out of a cannon. Drilling from deep, deflections, dashing out in transition, diming: Spida was weaving his web everywhere.
There’s a bit of a Sinister Six energy to these Cavs. Mitchell, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley are the three villains who come together to plot their revenge against a shared enemy. Max Strus (2023 Heat) and Thomas Bryant (last year’s Pacers) are former villains just down to help bring the pain. Harden looks like a comic book villain; there’s a cartoonish quality to his tattletale ref-baiting brand of ball.
The Cavs began to pull away after halftime, when the Knicks found themselves piling up the giveaways. The hope is make a run late in the third to set up some momentum for the fourth. Reader, they did not.
Could they come out for the final frame all fired up and foaming at the mouths, and run down the non-fake comeback? Thankfully there was no foaming. There was Brunson, lofting his artworks high off glass, draining floaters, finding others. There was Anunoby, in his first action in two weeks, grabbing every defensive rebound in sight. Mikal Bridges and Landry Shamet hitting 3 after game-tying 3 after game-clinching 3.
As the game ticked under the eight-minute mark and the Knicks trailed by 22, I did the math in my head: get it down to 12 with four minutes left. That gives you a realistic shot. By the four-minute mark, the Knicks had cut it to eight. And there was no reason to think they were close to finished. The Knicks looked like a bolt of lightning was coursing through all five of them.
If this were a boxing match, the Cavs would have spent the rest of the fight tying the Knicks up and falling into the ropes, begging the ref to help them run out the clock. Mitchell became, if not a pacifist, passive. There was never an inkling of a response from the visitors. Once the Knicks started swinging, the Cavs were a punching bag.
The Knicks did what they had to do, in a manner that will only deepen their self-confidence while challenging the Cavs to re-examine theirs. And since we want our main character to show some kind of growth along the way, here’s a welcome reversal from 2025 (and 2024, for different reasons): the Cavs, 48 hours after a Game 7 in Detroit that capped an every-other-day two week series, used an eight-man rotation for a 53-minute conference final game.
Fresh off eight days off, the Knicks rolled nine-deep, nine-plus counting Jose Alvarado’s short stint out of the bullpen. Something to keep an eye on going forward?
Keep your eye on P&T Wednesday for Russell Richardson’s recap. Till then, I’m gonna sit in my recliner (the one I did not flinch in once Brunson started scoring — I know my role and my superstitious ass plays it well), rewind to the start of the fourth quarter, click “play” and let the magic linger. Long as it likes.
This will be remembered as one of the epic comebacks in the storied history of the New York Knicks.
This will also be remembered as one of the epic collapses in a too-long history of collapses by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Cleveland took command of Game 1 in the second and third quarters, stretching their lead out to 22 on a James Harden free throw with 7:52 left in the fourth quarter.
From that point on (and including overtime), the Knicks outscored the Cavaliers 44-11, shooting 75% from the floor, including 6-of-8 from 3-point range, and Jalen Brunson scored 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting — primarily attacking James Harden in isolation — plus had four assists. Meanwhile, Cleveland shot 22.2%, was 2-of-11 from 3, and turned the ball over six times.
BRUNSON SHINED IN NEW YORK'S 22-POINT COMEBACK WIN!
"I think the common denominator was us still believing in each other, us still playing, still fighting, just chipping away," Brunson said in his postgame TNT interview, after admitting he didn't know what happened in those final seven minutes. "Kept getting stops, kept running, got a couple lucky shots to go in, but we just kept fighting."
The result was a 115-104 overtime win that changed the entire tenor of this series and put New York up 1-0 at home, with Game 2 on Thursday in Madison Square Garden — which was rockin' during the comeback.
There were a few things that fueled the turnaround.
• Brunson started getting isolated on Harden and attacking. Cleveland gave up incredibly soft switches to allow Brunson to get the defender he wanted, then didn't send help during the entire 18-1 run at the start of the comeback that changed the game. Eventually, the Cavs started to blitz and double-team Brunson off that pick, but he made the pass to the open man, the ball found shooters and New York finally started knocking down its 3-pointers. • Knicks coach Mike Brown realized Josh Hart was having a rough night and was not a good matchup against the Cavaliers starters (he was -23 for the game), so Brown did what a good coach does in the playoffs: He benched Hart for much of the fourth quarter run. In the playoffs, coaches have to be ruthless, even if it's a guy like Hart who is the heart and soul of this team. It's about winning.
• Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson left Harden in for the entire end of the game. Not only was he getting torched on defense, but Harden also shot 1-of-5 in that final stretch of the game, including missing all three attempts from beyond the arc.
• Cleveland went away from the passing and ball movement that got them a 22-point lead in the first place, trying to play slow and eat clock, falling back on Harden and Mitchell isolation.
For the game, Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with 29 points, and his playmaking and scoring helped the Cavaliers look dominant for the middle stretch of this game. Evan Mobley added 15 points and 14 rebounds, plus had three blocks, but shot 6-of-16 from the floor against the tall Knicks front line of Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson.
Mikal Bridges had a strong game for the Knicks with 18 points, while OG Anunoby, Hart and Towns each had 13 (and Towns also had 13 rebounds).
There are things Cleveland can take away from this game. In the second and third quarters, they outscored the Knicks 67-46, shooting 53.3% overall and hitting 10-of-23 (43.5%) from 3. Mitchell led the way with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting in that stretch.
In that stretch, the Cavaliers got whatever they wanted on offense. Because the Knicks would double Mitchell or Harden, the Cavs' stars would pass to the screener on the short roll, and then the ball would fly around and find open shooters or cutters. This was one key reason why the Cavaliers traded for Harden at the February deadline: his passing.
But Harden is a double-edged sword, and the Cavaliers trail 1-0 in this series because of it.
And the Knicks are full of confidence that they can repeat what worked so well at the end of the game.
WASHINGTON (AP) — James Wood hit the majors’ first inside-the-park grand slam since 2022, and the Washington Nationals rallied from an early five-run deficit Tuesday night to defeat the New York Mets 9-6.
José Tena also homered for Washington, which avoided its first three-game skid since April 22-24.
Bo Bichette homered twice and drove in four runs and Juan Soto also went deep for New York, which had won six of seven.
Down 5-0, the Nationals loaded the bases with two outs in the second inning. Mets starter Nolan McLean (2-3) threw a first-pitch sweeper to Wood, who lofted it to deep left.
It was the Nationals’ second inside-the-park grand slam since the franchise moved to Washington in 2005. Michael A. Taylor hit one on Sept. 8, 2017, at home against Philadelphia. It was the ninth inside-the-park grand slam since 1994 and the first since Toronto’s Raimel Tapia did it on July 22, 2022.
Tena led off the third with a homer to the Mets’ bullpen in left. CJ Abrams scored the go-ahead run on catcher Luis Torrens’ passed ball later in the inning, and Jorbit Vivas’ sacrifice fly made it 7-5.
Washington tacked on two unearned runs in the fourth thanks to errors by second baseman Marcus Semien and Torrens.
Bichette hit two-run homers off Washington starter Foster Griffin (5-2) in the first and second innings. It was Bichette’s 10th career multi-homer game and first since signing with New York in January.
Griffin allowed five runs in five innings and struck out five.
Richard Lovelady pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save.
McLean surrendered nine runs — six earned — in 5 2/3 innings.
Jacob Gonzalez launches his 15th home run of the season during Charlotte’s 5-4 win over Gwinnett. | (David Durochik/Getty Images)
Charlotte Knights 5, Gwinnett Stripers 4 The Knights (23-23) blasted their way to an early five-run cushion, then survived a late Gwinnett rally for a close win thanks to another shutdown appearance from Ben Peoples. Jonathan Cannon turned in a solid start despite some wild command, allowing just one run over five innings while working around four walks and punching out four.
Offensively, the Knights brought the thunder early, with Jacob Gonzalez launching his 15th homer in the second before Oliver Dunn, Korey Lee, and Austin Hays all went deep in a span of two innings to bury Gwinnett under a pile of baseballs leaving the yard. Braden Montgomery kept his heater alive as well, ripping an RBI double in the third after Rikuu Nishida swiped second following a bunt single. Montgomery’s bat keeps looking more and more ready for the next challenge.
Things got unnecessarily sweaty late when Gwinnett came back within one against Tyler Schweitzer, but Peoples once again looked like the steadiest arm in the building, escaping ninth-inning trouble with the help of a gorgeous game-ending relay from Gonzalez and Lee to cut down the tying run at the plate.
Biloxi Shuckers 4, Birmingham Barons 3 The Barons (16-24) let a winnable game slip away, falling in walk-off fashion after Biloxi pieced together a messy ninth inning against Jairo Iriarte. Birmingham struck out 12 times and managed just five knocks, with Alec Makarewicz responsible for two of the Barons’ five hits. The DH crushed his eighth homer of the season in the fourth while Calvin Harris chipped in with a game-tying RBI single in the fifth. Their final tally came in the sixth on an RBI single by Anthony DePino.
Lucas Gordon battled through five innings, surrendering three runs on five hits. The bullpen nearly bailed everybody out, as Phil Fox and Jackson Kelley combined for three scoreless innings to keep the game tied entering the ninth. Then came the unraveling: a hit batter, a walk, a bunt single, and finally a soft liner that dropped into left to end it. Birmingham had chances late, including runners at second and third in the seventh and the tying run in scoring position again in the ninth, but the bats couldn’t deliver the one clean swing they needed.
Winston-Salem 13, Greensboro Grasshoppers 9 The Dash (24-16) treated Greensboro pitching like a batting-practice machine, piling up 16 hits and three homers. After starter Gabe Davis labored through 3 2/3 innings filled with traffic and wild pitches, the Dash offense simply decided to outscore the problem.
The avalanche started in the third when Alex Ungar launched a two-run shot before Grant Magill punched a two-run single and George Wolkow demolished a three-run homer to cap a seven-run explosion. Wolkow stayed scorching hot all night, finishing a double shy of the cycle, while Boston Smith added a three-run nuke of his own in the sixth after Greensboro gifted the Dash extra baserunners with a pair of hit batters. Winston-Salem went 4-for-12 with RISP, with Caleb Bonemer, Ely Brown, Smith, Wolkow, and Ungar all collecting multi-hit games.
The bullpen wasn’t exactly stress-free, but Seth Keener brought some badly needed order to the madness through the middle frames, firing 2 1/3 hitless, scoreless innings to stabilize the game and earn the win. Even after the Grasshoppers made some noise with a pair of homers and nine runs, the Dash offense had already done enough damage to survive.
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 3, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 1 Riley Eikhoff was the early headline, slicing and dicing the Pelicans for six innings of one-hit, shutout work, earning himself a quality start. He only allowed a double, gave up no walks, and struck out three.
The Ballers’ (19-21) offense broke through in the fourth when Abraham Núñez walked, swiped second and third like he owned the place, and jogged home on a Stiven Flores sac fly. Ballers up 1-0.
In the sixth inning, Kanny tacked together a few insurance runs when Núñez drew another walk, Billy Carlson slapped a single to right, and Javier Mogollón smoked an RBI double. Then Stiven Flores added on another tally with a fielder’s choice. Myrtle Beach finally got on the board in the seventh off Choyce Diffey, but the Ballers’ defense helped him out when Jaden Fauske gunned down Jose Escobar trying to stretch an RBI single. Landen Payne and Jordan Morales handled the rest, locking down the win.
ACL Royals 6, ACL White Sox 4 (7 innings) KC spent the first two innings turning free baserunners into runs thanks to walks, hit batters, and stolen bases, grabbing an early 2-0 lead. Efren Teran got things rolling for the Sox (4-8) with a solo homer in the fourth, then Alejandro Cruz’s bunt single and hustle forced an error that helped tie the game 2-2 in the fifth.
The Sox had a golden opportunity to take control in the sixth after loading the bases with two outs, but everybody was left stranded, and the game was still tied. Naturally, the Royals immediately made them pay. A backbreaking three-run triple was the key to a four-run inning that flipped the game for good. To the Sox’s credit, they didn’t completely fold. Teran crushed his second homer of the night — a two-run shot in the seventh to cut the deficit to two, but the late rally fizzled there. The lineup finished with just five hits, while the pitching staff handed out eight walks and two hit batters.
ACL Athletics 2, ACL White Sox 1 (Monday, May 18 — 7 innings) The ACL Sox managed just five hits and spent most of the night knocking baseballs right into gloves. After the A’s scratched across a first-inning run, José Mendoza answered immediately in the second by launching his second homer of the year to left center, briefly tying things up. That would be the Sox’s lone breakthrough, though, as the offense went ice cold the rest of the way, closing the night with 13 ground-ball outs and only one baserunner after the fourth inning.
The Athletics took the lead in the third on an unearned run after a pair of Sox errors and an RBI single. Despite Orlando Suarez and Reudis Diaz combining for 3 2/3 scoreless relief frames after that, the lineup couldn’t do anything. A few Sox positives are that Jurdrick Profar flashed some leather with several smooth plays at second, while catcher Landon Hodge cut down a runner on the bases in an otherwise frustrating night for the offense.
