Knicks beat Cavaliers 121-108

Jalen Brunson put the Knicks one win from the NBA Finals on Saturday, scoring 30 points in a 121-108 Game 3 victory over the Cavaliers in Cleveland. Mikal Bridges added 22 points, OG Anunoby had 21, and New York led from the opening minutes to take a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. The win was the Knicks’ 10th straight of the postseason and moved the franchise within one victory of its first Finals appearance since 1999. Cleveland now faces elimination in Game 4 on Monday night. ### How did New York take control so early? New York never trailed at Rocket Arena, a detail that says a lot about how this game unfolded. The Knicks got into their offense quickly, avoided the stagnant stretches that can let a home crowd swing momentum, and kept multiple scoring options involved instead of leaning on Brunson alone. The box score shows the efficiency gap. The Knicks shot 43-for-77 from the field, or 55.8%, made 11 three-pointers and went 24-for-27 at the foul line. Cleveland shot 12-for-41 from three and 12-for-19 on free throws, a combination that made it difficult to erase the deficit. ### Which Knicks set the tone beyond Brunson? Mikal Bridges gave New York the kind of two-way game that has defined much of its playoff run. Bridges shot 11-for-15 and finished with 22 points, while Anunoby went 6-for-10 from the field and 3-for-4 from three-point range for 21 points. Karl-Anthony Towns filled in the rest of the line. Towns had 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Josh Hart added 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Landry Shamet chipped in 14 points off the bench on 4-for-5 shooting from three. ### What went wrong for Cleveland at home? Evan Mobley led Cleveland with 24 points, Donovan Mitchell scored 23 and James Harden added 19, but the Cavaliers never got the sustained defensive stops they needed. Mitchell also struggled at the line, going 2-for-6, and Cleveland as a team finished well behind New York in free-throw accuracy. The Cavaliers had stretches of individual shot-making, but their margin for error was thin once New York kept converting in the half court. Cleveland finished with 14 turnovers by the Knicks forcing pressure and active hands, while New York also posted 27 assists on 43 made field goals. ### How unusual is a 10-game playoff winning streak? The Knicks became the seventh team in NBA history to win at least 10 straight games in a single postseason run, according to the AP report carried on NBA.com. The same report said the last team to do it was the 2024 Boston Celtics. Karl-Anthony Towns kept the focus on the next game rather than the streak. “We’ve just have to keep our mind on the task at hand,” Towns said after the game, according to the AP report on NBA.com. “We have to execute at a high level in Game 4.” ### What does 3-0 mean for the series now? A 3-0 lead leaves New York in position to finish a second straight series sweep with one more win. The Knicks’ path through the East has been defined less by close escapes than by repeated double-digit victories, and Game 3 fit that pattern again. Cleveland, by contrast, now has to find a way to extend the series after losing the first home game of the matchup. The Cavaliers still got 17 points from Jarrett Allen and 13 from Max Strus, but the overall scoring balance was not enough to match New York’s efficiency. ### When is the next game? Game 4 is scheduled for Monday, May 25, at 8 p.m. ET in Cleveland, according to NBA.com. If the Cavaliers win, Game 5 would shift back to New York on Wednesday, May 27; if the Knicks win, they advance to the NBA Finals.