The New York Knicks are now firmly in control of the Eastern Conference Finals after defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 121-108 in Game 3 Friday night in Cleveland.
Jalen Brunson scored 30, Mikal Bridges continued his strong play with 22 points, while OG Anunoby added 21 as the Knicks, who never trailed in the contest, are just one win away from their first NBA Finals since 1999.
In a losing effort, Evan Mobley scored 24 points, Donovan Mitchell added 23 points and James Harden put in 19 points.
Although New York is but a single win away from the championship round, they cannot look past the Cavaliers.
”We’ve just have to keep our mind on the task at hand. The game is over and we found a way to win. We have to execute at a high level in Game 4,” said Karl Anthony-Towns, who had 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
New York got off to a strong start, taking a 9-1 lead barely two minutes into the contest as they shot 12/17 from the field in the opening frame and took a 37-27 lead as the game headed into the second quarter.
“Our guys were locked in from the beginning of the game and it showed from the first few minutes of the game. We got a lot of great contributions,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “I thought throughout the whole game we did a good job trying to play fast. We don’t want to go against their set defense all the time, so we’ve got to keep trying to play fast. And then our guys did a better job in the second half trying to defend without fouling.”
The Cavaliers, playing uphill, managed to square the game at 50 on James Harden’s floater at the 4:54 mark. The Knicks responded with a 10-1 burst and took a 60-54 lead into intermission.
Cleveland trimmed the lead to as little as three points at 67-64 but the Knicks pushed the lead to as much as thirteen points before ultimately taking a 91-82 into the gane’s final frame.
The Cavs stayed within relative striking distance until Landry Shamet, one of the heroes of Game 1, connected on three shots from downtown that pushed the Knicks’ lead to 105-91. New York’s lead never dipped below double digits for the remainder of the contest.
The win extended the Knicks’ postseason win streak to 10, making them the seventh team to achieve such a feat, with the last being the 2024 Boston Celtics who went on to win the NBA championship. The Knicks’ margin of victory during this run has been a staggering 22.5 points.
“I think their physicality and energy, we couldn’t get to that level to combat it,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “They’re on a hell of a run. We haven’t been able to stop the momentum. We had one chance in that first game I thought to stop it, but they haven’t been able to halt their momentum.”
Game 4 is set for Monday night in Cleveland, where the Cavaliers will attempt to avoid the sweep while the Knicks look to close out the series and advance to the NBA Finals.
