Tortured Knicks fans must've been thinking, "Here we go again."
A comfortable favorite in the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight year, New York appeared headed toward a Game 1 loss to Cleveland, just as the Knicks had fallen at home to Indiana last spring. But on Tuesday night, they rallied from 22 points down in the final eight minutes and eventually prevailed in overtime. How?
Jalen Brunson is Captain Clutch
Jalen Brunson's game-high 38 points and six assists don't do his heroic performance justice. The former Clutch Player of the Year single-handedly outscored the Cavs 15-8 over the final 7:39 of regulation, converting the game-tying bucket on a driving bank shot with 19 seconds left. Between his scoring and assists, Brunson accounted for 27 of New York's last 44 points over the final 12:39 of play. The Knicks outscored the Cavs 44-11 during that time.
Atkinson, Cavs let it happen
Brunson's onslaught began when the Knicks made a point of attacking James Harden. Brunson mercilessly targeted the future Hall of Famer, who can hold his own at defending post-ups but is a liability on the perimeter and when guarding in space. Although the Knicks used fairly simple screening actions to get Harden switched onto Brunson, head coach Kenny Atkinson and his staff never came up with a counter to prevent New York's desired result. By the time overtime tipped off, the even more defensively challenged Sam Merrill had the Brunson assignment - a strange coaching decision, to say the least.
Atkinson also waited too long to call a timeout during the Knicks' initial flurry. By the time he did, it was already bedlam inside Madison Square Garden.
Cavs (and Mitchell) froze Mitchell out
Donovan Mitchell's had an up-and-down postseason, but he was Cleveland's best player by a wide margin in Game 1 and has been one of the best scorers of the last decade. The seven-time All-Star had 29 points on a night no other Cavalier topped 15. So why did he barely touch the ball as Cleveland collapsed down the stretch?
Just as the Cavs let Brunson abuse Harden on one end, Cleveland let Landry Shamet take Mitchell out of the game on the other. Shamet is a solid pro whose effort is commendable, but he's not exactly an impact defender. His off-ball work on Mitchell shouldn't have prevented the star guard from getting involved, yet the Cavs didn't seem to run anything to get Mitchell the ball or allow him to build up a head of steam. In fairness to his teammates and coaches, Mitchell also didn't look eager to get involved while Harden and others ran Cleveland's offense into the ground.
Shamet the unsung hero
Shamet played the last 14 minutes of Game 1 after being on the court for only three of the contest's first 39 minutes. It's no mystery why. The eight-year veteran scored all nine of his points in the fourth quarter and overtime. He spaced the floor for Brunson, made big shots, and did commendable work sticking to Mitchell on the defensive end. Shamet finished a game-high plus-25 in only 17 minutes.
Another bearded collapse
It's not just that Harden was a big, bearded target defensively. The legendary guard also had a rough night on the offensive end: He scored 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting while recording twice as many turnovers (six) as assists (three). It's the sixth time in 15 playoff games that Harden's had more turnovers than assists (and he matched his total in two others).
Over the final 16 minutes of action, Harden scored four points on 1-of-7 shooting to go with two turnovers and two fouls. No one had their fingerprints on Cleveland's collapse like he did.
NBA observers have been conditioned to never trust the Knicks, even if the Eastern Conference seemed to open up and the bracket broke right for them. But a shaky, Harden-led team is even less trustworthy this time of year. A fragile Cavs squad might be just the opponent New York needs to help deliver its first conference crown of the 21st century.
Joseph Casciaro is theScore's lead NBA reporter.
