This game felt like divine karma for last year’s ECF G1. Perhaps you remember, the Knicks were up 14 on the Pacers in Madison Square Garden with less than three minutes to play, but then Aaron Nesmith turned into Damian Lillard. Nesmith hit 6 threes in the final five minutes of regulation, including three of those inside the final minute. Of course, you remember what comes next: the crazy Haliburton shot that bounced so high off the back iron it scraped the roof of the Garden before dropping through the nylon, forcing an overtime that the Pacers won. That set the tone for the whole series, and the Knicks became just another team that fell to the Cinderella Pacers.
This year, it was the Knicks staging the dramatic comeback. The game was a rockfight early, with neither team able to make threes or get to the free throw line. The Cavaliers led by 22 with less than eight minutes to play. From that point through the end of OT, the Knicks went on a 44-11 run. Jalen Brunson, who finished with 38 points, had 15 in the 4th quarter. Brunson scored 11 straight for the Knicks down the stretch to put the game back within reach. He did that by isolating against James Harden in the halfcourt. Harden, a notorious playoff dropper and poor defender, was actually having a good postseason defensively (by his low standards), but Brunson hunted and torched him over and over again.
With three minutes left, Evan Mobley (who played well for Cleveland) hit a big three to push the lead back to 8 with 3 minutes left. At this point, the Cavs finally started to double and force the ball out of Brunson’s hands. He found Mikal Bridges, who had such a rocky start to the playoffs that some were calling for him to be benched, in the corner. Bridges put the ball on the floor, dribbled across the court, and then hit an insane stepback three over the outstretched arm of last year’s Defensive Player of the Year Mobley.
Then Brunson, off the double team, found Bridges in the corner for three again. Three point game with just over a minute left.
After Karl-Anthony Towns blocked Donovan Mitchell (who had a great game through three quarters with 26 points and 6 steals but disappeared in the 4th quarter), the Knicks swung the ball to Landry Shamet in the corner. Shamet only played three minutes in the first three quarters, but replaced Hart for the 4th quarter because as much as I loved Blazers Legend Josh Hart, he can be an offensive liability when his shot isn’t falling. The Knicks ended up being +34 with a 154.3 ORTG (offensive rating, points scored per 100 possessions) with Hart off the floor, while they were a dismal -23 with a 72.1 ORTG with him on the court.
Shamet hoisted a three, which bounced off the rim – at which point you could hear an audible groan of disappointment from the rabid Garden crowd – before softly dropping through the net to thunderous cheers.
That to me, was the karmic symbol that cemented the game for the Knicks – again, flashing back to last year – even though they had only tied the game with 45 seconds left.
Sam Merrill, the sharpshooting Cavs guard had a shot to win the game as regulation expired, and it was so close to going down that ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Breen (who calls Knick games during the regular season) said the first syllable of his trademark “bang” call that is reserved for consequential clutch shots.
The Knicks came out and stomped Cleveland in overtime, and that was the game. Much like last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, this feels like such a deflating loss for Cleveland that the series might already be over. They needed to win a game on the road, and they choked in a historic fashion. I’m not sure how you come back from that.
Some stats:
- Playoff record down 20+ in last 2 years
- Knicks: 4-3
- Everyone else: 4-67
- Teams up 20+ with 7 minutes to go in the 4th quarter of playoff games were 643-0… until this game
- The Knicks were 0-277 since at least 1996-96 when trailing by 22+ in the 4th quarter of a regular season or playoff game… until this game
- NBA teams were 3-747 when down by 20+ in the 4th quarter of a playoff game over the last 30 years… now 4-747.
- This was the second-largest 4th quarter comeback playoff win in the play-by-play era (since 1997), behind only the 2012 Clippers, who came back from down 24 against Memphis.
Harden Statistics of Shame:
- Harden: more turnovers (6) than field goals (5) for the 32nd time in his playoff career, 6th time this postseason
- Guarding 8 isolations in a single quarter has only happened 30 times – regular season or playoffs – since 2013-14. Harden was isolated against 8 times in the 4th and once in OT, giving up a whopping 1.9 points per direction, worst among ballhandler defenders isolated against 8+ times in a quarter. Harden was the screener defender on 21 on-ball picks in the 4th quarter/OT – 1.6 points per direction action for the Knicks on those plays.
I couldn’t have asked for a better pair of Conference Finals Game 1s. This is like a rollercoaster I never want to get off. I shudder to imagine my life after the conclusion of the NBA Finals. But if it’s a Spurs-Knicks series, I think I’ll die happy.
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