Hart-led Knicks beat Cavs, seize 2-0 series lead

NEW YORK — Josh Hart scored a playoff-career-high 26 points, Jalen Brunson had 19 points and 14 assists and the New York Knicks moved halfway to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999 by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-93 on Thursday night.

Mikal Bridges also scored 19 points, and Karl-Anthony Towns had 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Knicks, who won their ninth straight game. That’s the NBA’s longest postseason winning streak since the Boston Celtics won 10 straight on their way to the 2024 championship.

Two nights after rallying from a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter, the Knicks made sure they would be in control late with an 18-0 run in the third quarter that gave them a 71-53 lead. Fans chanted “Knicks in four! Knicks in four!” in the final minute, long after the starters had gone to the benches.

Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points, and James Harden had 18 for the Cavaliers, who will have to climb out of a 2-0 deficit for the second straight round. Only two teams in NBA history have overcome multiple 2-0 deficits in a single postseason — the 2020-21 Milwaukee Bucks (won title) and the 2020-21 LA Clippers (lost in West finals).

The Cavs host Game 3 on Saturday.

The Knicks are in the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight year but haven’t played for the championship since losing to the San Antonio Spurs in 1999. New York became the 13th team in NBA history to win nine straight games in a playoff run; of the previous 12, only the 2011-12 San Antonio Spurs failed to make the Finals.

Brunson scored 38 points and led the Game 1 comeback. He had only two points in the first half Thursday before making the first basket of the run that broke open the game.

Hart burned a Cavaliers defensive strategy that seemed built around leaving him open from long range after he was benched for the rally in Game 1, playing just three minutes combined in the fourth quarter and overtime.

The forward had been shooting just 26.7% from 3-point range, and after a third straight miss from long range early Thursday, he put his jersey in his mouth and bit it, bouncing the ball down hard in frustration three times. But he kept firing and finished 5-for-11 on 3s.

Mitchell got off to a slow start with just seven points in the first half, triggering more of the questions that followed Game 1 about whether he was injured. His 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left gave Cleveland a 27-24 lead after one.

The Knicks led 53-49 at halftime. The Cavs got the first two baskets of the third to tie it, but Brunson answered with a 3-pointer to start the 18-0 run. He had two more buckets in the burst, and Hart hit a pair of 3-pointers, the latter capping it to make it 71-53 with 5:36 remaining in the third. After the Cavs scored five straight, Hart made another 3, and Towns scored to restore the 18-point advantage.

Cleveland cut it to single digits with just under eight minutes left but ruined any chance of getting closer with poor free-throw shooting, missing 10 in the game and finishing at 68.8%. The Knicks eventually pushed their lead to 19.

Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.