Cleveland had a 93-71 lead against the New York Knicks with less than eight minutes remaining in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night. In that scenario, especially when you are the underdog in unfriendly terrain, victory should be certain.
And yet, here we are. The Knicks won 115-104 in overtime to take a 1-0 lead after a spirited comeback in the fourth quarter. The second game is set for Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
- The Knicks outscored Cavaliers 44–11 en route to comeback
- The Knicks’ 22-point comeback is the biggest comeback victory in their postseason history.
- The Knicks forced overtime with a 30-8 rally in the fourth quarter. Let’s just say that while that was going on, Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson didn’t seem interested in having a conversation.
- The two players who are expected to drive the Cavaliers’ offense are Mitchell and Harden. They combined for three points (via Harden) on 1-for-10 shooting with zero assists and two turnovers during the Knicks’ 44-11 outburst.
- Brunson ended with four assists and 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting.
- One point per possession is sometimes regarded as the boundary between good and bad in the realm of advanced metrics. Therefore, if you’re on offensive, almost tripling it is really fantastic.
- The Cavaliers were 6.5-point underdogs going into this game. Cleveland supporters had cause for optimism even after the Knicks forced overtime. The team was as lifeless as they had been in the fourth quarter when they came out for the additional five minutes.
- The San Antonio Spurs won both of the NBA Conference Finals’ Game 1s in double overtime on Monday. That has never occurred before.
Simply stunning.
