Knicks take 2-0 Eastern Conference finals lead with Game 2 win over Cavaliers

The New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-93 on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, taking a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals before the series shifts to Ohio. NBA.com’s box score listed Josh Hart with 26 points, Jalen Brunson with 19 points and 14 assists, and Karl-Anthony Towns with 18 points and 13 rebounds. (nba.com) The result gave New York its ninth straight playoff win, according to the AP recap carried by CBS Sports. Cleveland got 26 points from Donovan Mitchell and 18 from James Harden in the loss. (nba.com) ### If Brunson did not score 34, what drove the Knicks’ Game 2 win? Josh Hart’s 26 points were the Knicks’ top scoring line, and he went 5-for-11 from 3-point range, according to the AP recap. Brunson added 19 points and 14 assists, while Mikal Bridges scored 19 and Towns finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. The box score also showed OG Anunoby scoring 14 points as New York placed five starters in double figures. Mike Brown credited Hart after the game. “Just a whale of a game from Josh,” the Knicks coach said, according to the AP recap. (nba.com) CBS Sports’ recap said Cleveland’s defensive approach appeared willing to leave Hart open from long range, and Hart punished it. ### When did New York take control? The Knicks used an 18-0 run in the third quarter to turn the game, according to the AP recap and Fox Sports play-by-play excerpt surfaced in search results. CBS Sports said that burst pushed New York’s lead to 71-53 after Cleveland had remained within reach through the first half. (nba.com) The NBA.com box score showed New York shooting 44-for-85 from the field and 13-for-36 from 3-point range. Cleveland shot 31-for-80 overall and 9-for-35 from beyond the arc. The Cavaliers also got only 15 assists as a team, compared with 32 for New York. (cbssports.com) ### What did Cleveland get from Mitchell and the rest of the lineup? Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points in 38 minutes, the box score showed. James Harden added 18 points, Evan Mobley had 14, and Jarrett Allen finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds. No other Cleveland player scored more than five points. (cbssports.com) Mitchell said the Cavaliers had been in this position before. “Nothing to hang our head about,” he said, according to the AP recap. “They protected home court, and we’ve seen this before so we’re going to go to Game 3.” CBS Sports noted Cleveland also had to recover from a 2-0 deficit in the previous round. (nba.com) ### Was the series detail in the original card correct? NBA.com’s official playoff schedule says the Eastern Conference finals opened with two Knicks home wins: 115-104 in overtime in Game 1 and 109-93 in Game 2. (nba.com) That means New York did not win Game 2 on the road in Cleveland; it won at home in New York. The same schedule page lists New York as the No. 3 seed and Cleveland as the No. 4 seed in this matchup. Under the NBA’s 2-2-1-1-1 format, the team with the better record hosts Games 1, 2, 5 and 7, ESPN’s playoff hub says. (cbssports.com) ### So what happens next in the series? Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday, May 23, in Cleveland at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, according to NBA.com’s official playoff schedule. Game 4 is set for Monday, May 25, also in Cleveland at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. (nba.com) Karl-Anthony Towns said the Knicks were not treating the 2-0 edge 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. (cbssports.com) (nba.com)