Jalen Brunson scored 30 points, Mikal Bridges added 22 and the New York Knicks cruised to a 121-108 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night, moving within one game of their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.
The Knicks can close out the Eastern Conference finals and sweep their second straight series with a win Monday night. Knicks fans, who were noisy all night long, chanted “Knicks in Four” as the final moment of Game 3 approached.
New York became the seventh team in NBA history to win at least 10 straight postseason games. The last team to do so was the Boston Celtics, who went on a 10-game run en route to the 2024 title. Cleveland, San Antonio and the Los Angeles Lakers have done it twice.
All but one of the Knicks’ wins have come by double digits, with an average margin of victory of 22.5 points.
Cleveland Cavaliers’ guard Donovan Mitchell (45) is shooting against New York Knicks’ center Mitchell Robinson (23).
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Cleveland native Travis Kelce put down his beer coat as he sat next to fiancée Taylor Swift, but even that didn’t help the Cavaliers get past the Knicks!
“We just have to focus on the task at hand,” said Karl-Anthony Towns, who had 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. “The game is over and we found a way to win. We have to execute at a high level in Game 4.”
OG Anunoby scored 21 points and New York led the entire game. Not only did the Knicks make 55.8% of their shots from the field, they also made 11 3-pointers and were 24 of 27 from the foul line.
Evan Mobley had 24 points, Donovan Mitchell had 23 and James Harden added 19 for Cleveland. The Cavaliers were 12 of 41 on 3-pointers and 12 of 19 from the foul line.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kells watch the second half of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Not even the appearance of a superstar couple in Taylor Swift and Cleveland Heights native Travis Kelce could boost the Cavs’ victory.
“I don’t think we got to that level because of their physicality and energy,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “They had a huge run. We couldn’t stop that momentum. We had one opportunity in the first game where we thought we would stop it, but they couldn’t stop their momentum.”
“Our guys were locked in early in the game and showed up a few minutes before the game started, and we had a big contribution,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said.
Cleveland Cavaliers’ guard Donovan Mitchell (45) is shooting against New York Knicks’ center Mitchell Robinson (23).
“I thought we did a good job trying to play fast throughout the game. We have to keep trying to play fast because we don’t always want to play against their set defense. And in the second half, our guys did a better job trying to defend without fouling.”
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