The New York Knicks looked finished midway through the fourth quarter Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. Then Jalen Brunson caught fire, Landry Shamet changed the pace of the game, and Mike Brown watched his team complete one of the biggest playoff comebacks in recent NBA history.
After the Knicks erased a 22-point deficit and beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-104 in overtime in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, Brown pointed directly to his team’s resilience.
“Give my group credit. They’ve been resilient all year,” Brown said. “To be down 18, 19, 20, whatever we were down and to find a way to come back and win, I mean, I take my hat off to my group.”
New York trailed 93-71 with 7:52 remaining before closing regulation on a 30-8 run. The Knicks then opened overtime with nine straight points to take control.
Brown said the comeback started with defensive stops and improved spacing around Brunson, who finished with 38 points and six assists.
“We found a group of five guys that went out there, ended up getting stops and scoring the basketball,” Brown said. “Obviously we don’t get it done if Jalen Brunson doesn’t play like one of the MVP guys in the league. He was phenomenal.”
Brown also praised Shamet, who scored nine points in 17 minutes and knocked down all three of his 3-point attempts. The veteran guard finished with a game-best plus-25 rating.
“Landry Shamet was great,” Brown said. “He was fantastic. He was a difference in the ball game tonight performance in the last quarter and overtime.”
The Knicks had struggled offensively for most of the game after nearly nine days off following their second-round sweep of the Philadelphia 76ers. They opened 4-for-23 from 3-point range through three quarters and committed 17 turnovers overall.
Brown admitted the Knicks did not look sharp early.
“Especially early on, we didn’t look like ourselves,” Brown said. “We turned the ball over too much. It’s hard to have 19 turnovers and win a basketball game.”
Still, Brown believed there was enough time to make a push once the Knicks opened the floor and started getting stops.
“It was still a lot of time,” Brown said. “If we opened the floor up a little bit and we hit a couple threes while getting some stops, our crowd is fantastic. It’s the best in the league.”
The coach said Brunson’s leadership helped stabilize the group during the rally.
“He’s our leader. He’s our guy,” Brown said. “He felt we need to play faster. He felt we needed to be better defensively. He made sure that we knew and our guys responded to him.”
Brown also revealed that New York intentionally attacked James Harden defensively late in the game after Cleveland targeted Brunson earlier.
“There is no secret we were attacking Harden,” Brown said. “Sometimes you got to do what the game dictates.”
The Knicks outscored Cleveland 44-11 after trailing by 22 points. Donovan Mitchell scored 29 points for the Cavaliers, while Evan Mobley added 15 points and 14 rebounds in the loss.
Brown cautioned that the Knicks still have major adjustments to make before Game 2 on Thursday night.
“We know we could be better than what we were tonight,” Brown said. “I’m sure Cleveland feels like they can be better, too.”
