Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I was honestly this close to turning the game off when the Cavs stretched their lead to 22.
In today’s SI:AM:
🗽 Knicks roar back
🇨🇦 Vlad Jr.’s struggles
🐅 LSU coach pushes boundaries again
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Another NBA thriller
For 40 minutes on Tuesday night, the Knicks’ offense was spinning its wheels. After torching opponents in the first two rounds of the playoffs, New York was worryingly out of sorts, and the Cavaliers had built a healthy 93–71 lead.
But then the Knicks pulled off a comeback for the ages.
They closed the fourth quarter on a 30–8 run to tie the game at 101 and force overtime. Then they outscored the Cavs 14–3 in the extra period. That’s a 44–11 run over the final 12:39.
It was the second-largest fourth-quarter comeback in a playoff game since the NBA began tracking play-by-play data 30 years ago. Only the Clippers’ 24-point comeback against the Grizzlies in Game 1 of their 2012 first-round series was larger. It was also the biggest comeback in Knicks playoff history and the fourth time in the past two postseasons that New York overcame a 20-point deficit (at any point in the game).
So how’d they do it? Well, Jalen Brunson and James Harden deserve equal parts credit and blame.
Brunson was otherworldly during that fourth-quarter run, scoring 15 of New York’s 30 points. He went 7-for-8 from the floor over that span, including a game-tying bucket with 19 seconds left that he banked high off the backboard.
And Harden made it all possible. Go back and watch the comeback again and you’ll see that Brunson did most of his damage against Harden—and the Cavs didn’t make any adjustments to stop it from happening.
The majority of the Knicks’ offensive possessions during the comeback went like this: Brunson brings the ball up the floor guarded by the much larger Dean Wade (6'9"). Mikal Bridges, guarded by Harden, sets a screen for Brunson. Harden switches onto Brunson. Brunson breezes past Harden for two points.
Harden is an all-time great. He’s among the best scorers in the history of the game and will surely be in the Hall of Fame someday. He’s also always been a god-awful defender, and even more so now at 36. Teams have been willing to live with the lousy defense because Harden has more than made up for it on the other end of the floor, but that wasn’t the case last night. Harden was also dreadful on offense in Game 1, scoring 15 points on 5-for-16 shooting. He scored four points in the final 16 minutes of the game.
Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson deserves a hefty share of the blame as well, though. He waited way too long to call a timeout as his team’s lead was evaporating, waiting until the Knicks’ run had reached 18–1. He also failed to stop the Knicks from targeting Harden on defense. One way to do that would be to simply take Harden out of the game and let the offense run through Donovan Mitchell. (Mitchell was brilliant in the first three quarters, but disappeared in the fourth.) The other would be to instruct his players to stop switching on screens involving Harden and Brunson. Atkinson did neither, and his team paid the price.
“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 tried to hold them.”
Atkinson also said he never considered benching Harden in the fourth, saying, “He’s been one of our best defenders in these playoffs.”
Atkinson now faces the unenviable task of trying to get his team to put this crushing loss behind them. The Cavs have had a grueling postseason. Both of their first two playoff series went the full seven games. They haven’t had more than one day off in a row since waiting two days between Games 4 and 5 of their first-round series in late April. Now they have to rebound from the most demoralizing loss imaginable against a well-rested Knicks team that had nine days off between sweeping the Sixers and the opening game of the conference finals.
The series isn’t over after one game. The Cavs showed through the first three quarters that they can be the better team. The challenge for Cleveland will be to rebound mentally and shake off the memory of a historic collapse.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- With the draft and free agency settled, Gilberto Manzano takes a look at the biggest roster decisions for each AFC team heading into OTAs and minicamps.
- New Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon is facing scrutiny for how he is changing the franchise, but Chris Mannix says the new leader should get some leeway in a new league following his success in turning around the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes.
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. proved himself as a big-game performer last postseason. Stephanie Apstein writes that the Blue Jays, who are currently out of a playoff spot, need his October magic in May .
- Kevin Sweeney dives into how LSU basketball coach Will Wade is pushing the envelope in terms of who he recruits.
- Zach Koons projects the starting quarterbacks in the Big 12 , which features high-end returners and one of the most fascinating quarterback-coach pairings in the country.
The top five…
… moments from the Knicks’ stunning comeback:
5. Mikal Bridges’s step-back three over the much taller Evan Mobley with the shot clock winding down.
4. OG Anunoby’s strong drive to the rim in OT.
3. Mike Breen’s aborted “BANG!” call on Sam Merrill’s attempted game-winner.
2. Landry Shamet’s dagger three to stretch the lead to nine in overtime.
1. Jalen Brunson’s tough shot to tie the game.
