Knicks go up 2-0 in conference finals after Game 2 win over Cavaliers

The New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-93 on Thursday, May 21, at Madison Square Garden to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. Josh Hart scored a playoff career-high 26 points, Jalen Brunson added 19 points and a playoff career-high 14 assists, and Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. (nba.com) The result followed New York’s overtime win in Game 1 two nights earlier and sent the series to Cleveland with the Knicks two wins from the NBA Finals. (nba.com) New York won its ninth straight playoff game, which the Associated Press said is the NBA’s longest postseason winning streak since the Boston Celtics won 10 straight during their 2024 title run. (nba.com) Cleveland, which had to recover from a 2-0 deficit in the previous round, now faces the same position again. Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with 26 points and James Harden scored 18. ### How did New York take control after Game 1 was so tight? The Knicks used an 18-0 run in the third quarter to turn a competitive game into a double-digit lead. (nba.com) NBA.com’s game summary said that surge pushed New York ahead 71-53, and Fox Sports’ play-by-play snapshot placed the run over 4:44 of game time. Cleveland never recovered from that stretch. Game 1 had required overtime after New York erased a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit, but Thursday’s game was different. The Knicks led by 16 entering the fourth quarter and had emptied the benches by the final minute as fans chanted “Knicks in four,” according to the AP recap on NBA.com. (nba.com) ### Which Knicks set the tone in Game 2? Josh Hart gave New York its biggest scoring lift with 26 points and five 3-pointers. Mike Brown called it “just a whale of a game from Josh,” according to the AP report carried on NBA.com. (nba.com) Hart also added seven assists, giving the Knicks another playmaking outlet beyond Brunson. Jalen Brunson finished with 19 points and 14 assists, which NBA.com listed as a playoff career high. Mikal Bridges scored 19 points on 9-for-12 shooting, and Towns posted 18 points and 13 rebounds. Taken together, New York had four starters score at least 18 points. (nytimes.com) ### What went wrong for Cleveland? Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points, but Cleveland shot 38.8% from the field and 25.7% from 3-point range. Max Strus went 1-for-7, Sam Merrill went 1-for-8 and 0-for-7 from deep, and the Cavaliers committed eight turnovers. The offensive drop-off during New York’s third-quarter run proved decisive. (nba.com) Mitchell did not frame the situation as panic. “Nothing to hang our head about,” he said after the game, according to the AP report. “They protected home court, and we’ve seen this before so we’re going to go to Game 3.” (nba.com) ### Why is the venue change the next key detail? Cleveland had been 6-1 at home earlier in these playoffs, according to reporting cited in the source briefings, and the series now shifts there for the next two games. That gives the Cavaliers a chance to reset on their own floor after dropping both games in New York. (nba.com) Karl-Anthony Towns said the Knicks are not treating the 2-0 lead as a cushion. “In our mind it’s 0-0. We’ve got to win the next game. It’s the most important game of the year and that’s how we treat it,” he said, according to the AP recap. (nba.com) ### When is the series back on the floor? Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday, May 23, at 8 p.m. ET in Cleveland, and Game 4 is set for Monday, May 25, also at 8 p.m. ET. If the series continues, Game 5 would be Wednesday, May 27, back in New York, followed by Game 6 on May 29 and Game 7 on May 31, according to NBA.com. (nytimes.com) The 2026 NBA Finals are scheduled to begin June 3 on ABC, ESPN said. (nba.com)