The Knicks did not flip Game 1 on the back of one miracle shot. They did it by turning the closing stretch into a repeatable Jalen Brunson vs. James Harden matchup, and getting exactly what they wanted, time after time.
New York’s 115-104 overtime win will be remembered for the 22-point comeback. But the bigger story is how focused that comeback became. The Knicks found the matchup they wanted, kept going back to it, and Cleveland ran out of answers.
The game turned on one matchup
With just under eight minutes to play, New York trailed 93-71 and looked finished. Then they started using the player Harden was guarding as Brunson’s screener, and the game changed completely.
According to NBA.com, the Knicks scored on eight straight possessions once they began forcing Harden into those switches. Brunson either scored or created the shot, and Cleveland never adjusted before the lead vanished.
Mike Brown was open about it afterward. He said there was “no secret” to what the Knicks were doing, and noted that Cleveland had been trying to attack Brunson in a similar way at the other end.
Why Cleveland could not live with the switch
This was not just Brunson making tough shots. It was Cleveland failing to disrupt the action early enough to make a difference.
Once Harden switched on, Brunson got downhill and the Knicks suddenly had a clarity in their offense that had not been there all night.
Brunson finished with 38 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter. During the key stretch, he hit five straight field goals and scored 11 consecutive points, all by attacking the same matchup.
When the Cavaliers finally started sending extra help, the floor opened up for everyone else. Landry Shamet, Mikal Bridges, and OG Anunoby all took advantage, exactly what happens when a defense waits too long to adjust.
The real story was the sequence, not the comeback headline
The 44-11 run will be remembered as a historic comeback, and rightly so. But the bigger takeaway is that New York found a late-game formula they can use again.
Brunson does not need a complicated scheme when the other team keeps giving him a switch he can attack.
Once that became the plan, the Knicks stopped looking rusty and started looking like a team with a closer and a clear target.
Harden acknowledged the issue afterward, saying Brunson is tough for anyone to guard one-on-one and that Cleveland needs to do a better job of showing him help.
Cleveland also stopped creating easy offense
That is what allowed the comeback to happen. Over the final 12:45, the Cavaliers managed just 11 points on 24 possessions, with more turnovers than field goals.
New York did not just score. They got enough stops to keep feeding the same matchup.
That was a big shift from earlier in the night, when Cleveland had been playing with much better rhythm. But once the ball stopped moving, the Knicks had enough defenders to contain Mitchell and Harden isolations.
During the closing run, Mitchell and Harden combined to shoot just 1-for-10 with zero assists and two turnovers, according to AI Mode research. That gave the Knicks the repeated chances they needed.
What Game 2 now hinges on
Cleveland still has enough talent to respond, but the adjustment is clear. Game 2 is on May 21, and the Cavaliers cannot let Brunson dictate the closing stretch by getting his preferred matchup every time down the floor.
That could mean pre-switching before Harden gets pulled into the action, sending help earlier, trapping Brunson before he turns the corner, or changing Harden’s matchup entirely.
None of those options come without a cost. Trapping opens up the weak side. Pre-switching takes communication. Changing personnel could hurt Cleveland’s spacing.
But standing still is no longer an option.
If the Cavaliers let this happen again, the series could shift from a story about New York’s comeback to a much sharper question: whether Cleveland has a reliable plan for stopping Brunson when he starts hunting matchups late in games.
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