Brunson leads Knicks back from 22 down to stun Cavs

NEW YORK — The New York Knicks, fueled by 38 points from Jalen Brunson, erased a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit to stun the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-104 in overtime Monday in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals.

The Knicks looked done for when they trailed 93-71 with 7:52 left in regulation.

But Brunson spearheaded an 18-1 New York run and banked in a floater to tie it at 101-101 with 19.3 seconds left.

When Cleveland's Sam Merrill missed a three-pointer they went to the extra session — in which the Knicks scored the first nine points.

Brunson admitted he did not know how the Knicks had pulled off the sensational comeback.

"I don't have an answer for you," he told broadcaster ESPN.

"We got some stops. We kept fighting, kept believing, just kept chipping away.

"They were playing great basketball and we just found a way."

Mikal Bridges added 18 points, and OG Anunoby, back from a two-game injury absence, was one of three Knicks players with 13.

Donovan Mitchell scored 29 points to lead the Cavaliers, and James Harden added 15.

The Knicks will have a chance to double their lead in the best-of-seven series when they host Game 2 on Thursday.

The winner of the series will face either the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs in the championship series.

The Spurs, fueled by a 41-point performance by Victor Wembanyama, beat the Thunder in double-overtime in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

It is the first time in NBA history that the first games in both conference finals have been decided in overtime.

Rust may have played a role in the Knicks' sluggish start. New York had been off for nine days after sweeping the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round.

The Cavaliers, meanwhile, were battle tested, if not rested, having polished off a second straight seven-game series with a triumph at top-seeded Detroit on Sunday.

A three-pointer by Mitchell saw Cleveland emerge from a back-and-forth first half with a 48-46 lead, and the Cavaliers pulled away relentlessly in the second half, as the Madison Square Garden crowd looked on in stunned, silent disbelief.

But they were the ones celebrating wildly by the end, as the Knicks moved one step closer to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.

They reached the conference finals last year, but were beaten by the Indiana Pacers.

The Cavaliers are in the conference finals for the first time since 2018, when they were led by LeBron James.

Harden, 36, is back in the penultimate round for the first time since his 2018 Most Valuable Player season with Houston, when the Rockets fell in seven games to the Golden State Warriors.

It was a crushing welcome to the conference finals for seven-time All-Star Mitchell, who never made it past the second round in five post-season appearances with the Utah Jazz.

"We should have won the game," Mitchell said.

"We're up 22 with God knows how much time? Eight minutes? Gotta win the game. We didn't."

But, he added, there's still plenty of time to regroup.

"It's one game," Mitchell said."We could have lost by 40, still would have been 1-0. We played pretty solid for three quarters or so. We'll make adjustments and go from there."

Beyond belief

If the NBA had screenwriters, not even they could come up with a start this good to the conference finals.

Wembanyama has 41 points and 24 rebounds. San Antonio goes into Oklahoma City and beats the defending champion Thunder. New York trails by 22 points with about eight minutes left in regulation, then beats Cleveland. Both games go to overtime, a conference finals first. And the score at the end of regulation in both games — 101-101.

Well done, Spurs and Knicks.

If there was a common trend in both games, it was that the best player on the winning teams decided to become the best player on the floor at crunch time.

On Monday night, it was Wembanyama for the Spurs. On Tuesday night, it was Brunson for the Knicks — who led a 44-11 run over the last 13 minutes.

That's right, 44-11.

"I don't know if I've seen that in a playoff game," Knicks coach Mike Brown said.

"I take my hat off to my group."

The numbers — from both opening games — are of the video game variety.

Start with what happened at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. A 44-11 run doesn't happen in the NBA, certainly not in the conference finals.

Teams that led by 22 points or more in the fourth quarter were 452-1 this season, including playoffs. They're 452-2 now.

In the playoffs, teams had won 330 consecutive games when leading by 22 or more points in the fourth quarter since 2013. They're 330-1 now.

Make it make sense.

"I don't have an answer," Brunson said.

Neither did the Cavaliers, either while it was happening, nor in the immediate aftermath.

"We got a little unlucky," Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said.

"Brunson obviously took over at the end. We played great basketball tonight for three quarters. Unfortunately, the fourth quarter, they dominated us."

A 41-point, 24-rebound game doesn't happen that often, either. Wembanyama was brilliant in his conference finals debut, as was Spurs rookie guard Dylan Harper. The Spurs, like the Cavs, wasted a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter of Game 1 and settled for overtime; San Antonio's lead was 10, not 22, but still double digits.

Unlike the Cavs, they found a way to settle down — repeatedly, really — in the two extra periods Monday night.

"That game was in the balance multiple times for both teams,"Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Tuesday. "You can't get preoccupied with the outcome because there was so much in the balance that could have gone either way."

In short, stealing home-court advantage by winning Game 1 doesn't mean the Spurs think the series is over. And the Thunder knows that Game 1 is meaningful — but not a deciding game by any stretch.

The defending champion is feeling some pressure. New York is rocking. Wembanyama's star keeps rising.

The Cavaliers — winners of two Game 7s in these playoffs — need to dig their way out of trouble, again.

The start to these conference-final stories was stellar. Chapter two awaits.

Game 2 of Spurs-Thunder is Wednesday, Game 2 of Knicks-Cavaliers is Thursday and the drama is only going to keep building.