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About last night
Knicks can’t be stopped
The New York Knicks are on fire. They’ve won nine playoff games in a row after last night’s 109-93 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.
After torching the Cavs in the fourth quarter and overtime of Game 1, Jalen Brunson turned into much more of a facilitator. He only had nine points through the first three quarters on 4-of-12 shooting and 1-of-7 from deep. But he also had 11 assists and just one turnover in the first three quarters.
Six of those assists went to Josh Hart, who went from struggling to hit shots in the first half (12 points on 5-of-12 from the field and 2-of-7 from deep) to being the hero in the third quarter (12 points on 4-of-6 from the field and 3-of-3 from deep). The Cavs were determined to make Hart beat them, and he eventually was up for the challenge. He finished with a playoff career high of 26 points on 10-of-21 from the field and 5-of-11 from 3-point range.
Brunson would eventually get going in the fourth quarter with 10 points and three more assists to finish with 19 and 14. But it was the third quarter for the Knicks that broke this game open. They outscored the Cavs 32-21 in the quarter.
Cleveland is in familiar territory. Down 0-2 in a series and hoping things will get better at home. So far, they have. The Cavs have won four of the last five games in each of their two previous playoff series. They haven’t gone against this Knicks team, though.
Following the game, the Cavs were adamant that they just missed shots. There might be something to that. They made 38.8 percent and were 9-of-35 from downtown (25.9 percent). A lot of these were pretty good looks, and the Cavs were 13th in the NBA in 3-point percentage and fifth in effective field-goal percentage. However, the playoffs have not been kind to them, with their 3-point accuracy falling from 36.0 to 33.4 percent and their eFG from 56.1 to 53.3 percent.
You’d expect those shots to fall when they’re at home. However, this team has played 16 games in the last month and doesn’t look like it has its legs. The Cavs have been playing every other day, while the Knicks had nine days off before this series began. Cleveland also saw Evan Mobley have a good first half (14 points on 5-of-8 shooting) and then play nearly 18 minutes in the second half without attempting a single shot. And Donovan Mitchell looks hobbled on the court.
But hey, they’re headed home!
What do the Cavs need in Game 3? Take the easy points. Yes, the Cavs missed a bunch of open shots in this game. They also missed 10 free throws. I’d say they shot themselves in the foot, but they’d probably miss that shot too.
What can the Knicks improve upon? Rebounding. You rarely can say that about the Knicks, but they gave up 13 offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points. They can’t lose that battle.
What’s a big stat from the game? Sixteen. That was the total number of turnovers, with both teams giving it away eight times. This was a relatively clean game.
Playoff Panic Meter: 🚨🚨🚨 for Cleveland.
When is Game 3? Tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
More on the red-hot Knicks after a few links
The last 24
⛈️ Everything OK? How severe is Jalen Williams’ hamstring injury? He’s listed as day to day.
🏀 Just hooping. Marcus Thompson II is right about the Western Conference finals. Market doesn’t matter; merit does.
💰 Increased value. Why in the world did a random Yasiel Puig card sell for $6,000? Kobe Bryant is on it.
🚫 Not welcome. NBA teams don’t want opposing fans in their arenas during the playoffs. Our Shakeia Taylor looks at how they try to pull that off.
🔊 “NBA Daily.” Watch and listen to a full breakdown of last night’s game.
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
We’re going streaking!
What Knicks’ run means for title hopes
The Knicks’ nine wins in a row put them in historic territory. They’ve become the 13th team in playoff history to win at least nine straight games in a single postseason. And those teams usually have a high hit rate on hoisting the championship trophy.
Seven of the previous 12 teams did just that. They were:
1982 Lakers, nine straight: Swept first two rounds and then won Game 1 of the finals.
1996 Bulls, nine straight: Won last two games of second round, swept the conference finals and won the first three of the finals against Seattle.
2016 Cavs, 10 straight: Swept the first two rounds and won the first two games of the ECF. Also, we know they won three straight to end the season.
2024 Celtics, 10 straight: Won last three of the second round, swept the ECF and then won the first three of the finals against Dallas.
2001 Lakers, 11 straight: Swept the first three rounds. Lost Game 1 of the finals and then won four straight against the 76ers.
1999 Spurs, 12 straight: Won the last two games of the first round, then swept round two and the ECF before winning the first two of the finals.
2017 Warriors, 15 straight: Had a chance to sweep the entire playoffs. They lost Game 4 to Cleveland before closing out Game 5.
The 2021 Suns (nine), 2003 Nets (10), 2012 Spurs (10), 2017 Cavs (10) and 1989 Lakers (11) all won nine straight only to come up short of the championship. All but the 2012 Spurs made the finals, though. That 1989 Lakers team swept the first three rounds before getting swept in the finals.
The Knicks seem destined to make the finals and need just two wins to pull it off. But they’ll have either the Thunder or Spurs waiting on the other end for them.
Anything is pasta-ble
Just call it Madison Square Olive Garden
I rarely enjoy seeing people behind the television announcing crew during a national broadcast. They’ll make a dumb face or just be super awkward in a way that isn’t endearing in the few moments the camera is pointed at the broadcasters. But every once in a while, the camera catches some gold. That happened during last night’s Knicks win. When there was a shot of Hall of Fame announcer Mike Breen during the game, someone in the background was eating pasta.
This is via Knicks Reddit:
Someone in the comments on r/NYKnicks proclaimed this was eggplant parm and “it was banging.” I’m not sure that’s true. I zoomed in a lot and there are definite noodles there. Maybe it’s on top of a cutlet of chicken parm or eggplant parm? Maybe that’s a heavy layer of cheese? I tried to research the food options for the rich seats at Madison Square Garden, and there are assortments of hot bar items. I may have watched a few TikTok videos of people exploring some options in the courtside seats and paused on a shot of the menu. No sign of spaghetti available, but the video was from a couple months ago. Maybe they pulled out all the stops for the conference finals. It’s not our first courtside spaghetti, though! Remember the Play-In Tournament between the Grizzlies and Warriors in San Francisco last year?
At least this wasn’t a flat plate, and clearly the Knicks fans are being given much better utensils.
Top tier
These are the best of the best in the NBA
We’re at the conclusion of the latest Player Tiers project from The Athletic’s Law Murray. All week, he’s unveiled the hierarchies of NBA players.
Before we get to what he did with this season’s Tier 1, which came out today, I thought it would be a good idea to recap some of the most interesting placements in the other tiers:
Tier 5 (players in the 101-125 range in the NBA)
Draymond Green (5A), Keldon Johnson (5B and reigning Sixth Man) and Cason Wallace (also 5B) landing in this tier definitely caught my attention. I figured they’d all be within the top 100. Wallace and Green are so good defensively that I think that puts them in the top 100 alone. Not to mention, Green runs so much of Golden State’s offense, and Wallace is a very good offensive player too.
Tier 4 (players 61-100)
If you’re questioning whether Nickeil Alexander-Walker should have won Most Improved Player, he went from not being in a tier last year to 4A this year. I’m a little surprised Trey Murphy III fell from 3D to 4A, but I also think there’s so much more to his game. I could see him jumping up to Tier 3 next year. Ausar Thompson jumped from un-tiered to 4C too.
Tier 3 (players 31-60)
This group was highlighted by rookies Cooper Flagg (3C) and Kon Knueppel (3D). But the run Stephon Castle is on (no tier to 3A) feels like just the beginning for him. He’s only in his second season and is already one of the top difference-makers in the league.
Tier 2 (players 11-30)
Yesterday, we talked about LeBron James (1C down to 2B), Steph Curry (1C down to 2A) and Kevin Durant (1C down to 2A). But the other part of Tier 2 is Jalen Brunson (2A) being on the cusp of jumping into Tier 1 (especially if he leads the Knicks to the finals) and guys like Tyrese Maxey (previously 3A), Scottie Barnes (previously 3B) and Jalen Johnson (previously 3D) jumping into 2B.
Tier 1 (players 1-10)
Tier 1 is capped at 10 players, but only eight made it. Groups 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D all have two players in them. I won’t spoil the order for you (you should click and read the great analysis from Law!), but putting Cade Cunningham, Victor Wembanyama, Anthony Edwards, Sha Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum, Nikola Jokić, Luka Dončić and Giannis Antetokounmpo as the top eight in the league feels dead-on.
That’s a deadly MySpace Top Eight (is that a reference anybody cares about in 2026?). My only question is how long until 1A is just Wemby by himself?
