Jalen Brunson led the New York Knicks back from 22 down in the fourth quarter for a spectacular win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in overtime of the Eastern Conference finals.
The Knicks trailed 93-71 with under eight minutes remaining before Brunson sparked a series of drives to the basket in one of the NBA’s greatest postseason comebacks.
New York closed regulation on an 18-1 run and Brunson tied the game at 101-101 with 19 seconds left.
The Knicks then opened overtime with a 9-0 run to take control as a delirious crowd in Madison Square Garden danced and screamed in the aisles.
“Just keep fighting,” he said. “Keep chipping away. We’re not going to get it back in one possession.”
Brunson finished with 38 points, while Mikal Bridges added 18 points and three Knicks scored 13, including OG Anunoby, who came on late after struggling most of the way in his return after missing two games with a strained right hamstring.
“I was just going to play hard, be aggressive,” said Anunoby, who scored nine of his 13 points in overtime.
“OG gave us a lot of versatility defensively and allowed us to do different things on that end of the floor,” coach Mike Brown said.
Donovan Mitchell scored 29 points for the Cavaliers, who seemed well on their way to a third straight road win before their late collapse.
Evan Mobley had 15 points and 14 rebounds, while James Harden also scored 15 points, but was just one for eight on three-pointers and had more turnovers (six) than field goals (five).
“There is no secret: We were attacking Harden,” Brown said. “Sometimes you’ve got to do what the game dictates, and they were trying to do the same thing with Jalen, 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.”
Mitchell said he and his teammates could have done a lot more collectively to slow down Brunson and did not put the blame for the improbable defeat on Harden’s shoulders.
“Ultimately, this isn’t on him – it’s on all of us,” he said. “It’s not just on one person. He’s been around the league long enough. He understands that.”
“We played great basketball tonight for three quarters. Unfortunately, the fourth quarter – they dominated us,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said.
The Knicks won their eighth straight game and moved within three wins of their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.
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