Jalen Brunson scored 18 straight points in the second quarter, and the New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-97 on Saturday night at Rocket Arena. It was the first meeting between the two teams since last season’s Eastern Conference finals, which the Knicks swept, and for one long stretch it looked like a replay of that series.
Brunson finished with 31 points, nine assists and six rebounds. The defending champions are now 5-4, above .500 for the first time this season, and winners of three games in a row.
The setting added some weight. This is the floor where the Knicks finished the sweep last spring and clinched their first NBA Finals berth in 27 years, according to the New York Post. Early on, though, the home team looked sharper. Cleveland led 27-26 after the first quarter, and the game stayed close early in the second, with Mitchell leading the Cavaliers at 11 points by halftime.
18 straight points changed the game
Cleveland led 39-37 midway through the second quarter, and the home crowd was loud. Then Brunson took the game over. He hit a 3-pointer, and then he scored the next 18 New York points in a row, a solo run of 4 minutes and 24 seconds that pushed the Knicks ahead 52-45, according to the Associated Press.
The run had a little of everything. Reuters noted that Brunson mixed three 3-pointers, one of them a four-point play, with three two-point baskets and three free throws. The New York Post reported that he shot 6-of-9 in the quarter and added three assists, setting up teammates even while he carried the scoring. By halftime he had 20 points, the Knicks led 63-53, and Cleveland never really recovered. Karl-Anthony Towns had 18 points and six rebounds of his own by the break, so Cleveland had no safe place to send extra help. James Harden, Cleveland’s other star guard, had just five points at halftime.
Towns gave New York a second star all night
Brunson cooled off after halftime, but Towns did not. He finished with 29 points and 13 rebounds, scoring inside and out while Cleveland’s frontcourt, missing center Jarrett Allen, struggled to match his size. OG Anunoby added 15 points for the Knicks, who did all of this without Josh Hart. The AP reported that Hart missed his second straight game with an ankle injury.
New York outscored Cleveland 25-17 in the third quarter. A Landry Shamet 3-pointer late in the period stretched the lead to 88-69, the largest of the night, and the Knicks carried an 18-point edge into the fourth.
Mitchell’s late surge came too late
Donovan Mitchell did everything he could to drag Cleveland back. He scored 21 of his season-high 37 points in the fourth quarter, but the Cavaliers never got closer than eight points, and Brunson answered with a key jumper in the final three minutes to close the door, the AP reported.
Fatigue was part of the story. Cleveland was playing its second game in two nights, one night after routing the 76ers 119-95 in the same building, and the loss dropped the Cavaliers to 5-5. The Knicks, meanwhile, have steadied themselves after a rough start. They were the first defending champion in 15 years to lose their first three games of a season, according to the New York Post, and they have now won five of their last six.
The two teams will not wait long to see each other again in the standings race. Cleveland visits the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, and New York hosts the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday. Follow every big night in our Sports coverage.
Sources: Associated Press game recap; Reuters game recap; sportradar box score; New York Post; AFP via The Straits Times.