Jalen Brunson scored 30 points, Mikal Bridges added 22, and the New York Knicks moved within one game of their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999 with a 121-108 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.
The Knicks can wrap up the Eastern Conference Finals and sweep their second straight series with a win on Monday night. Knicks fans, who were boisterous throughout the night, chanted "Knicks in four" as the final seconds of Game 3 ticked away.
New York is the seventh team in NBA history to win at least 10 straight during a postseason run. The last team to do it was the Boston Celtics, who also went on a 10-game run on their way to the 2024 title. Cleveland, San Antonio, and the Los Angeles Lakers have achieved the feat twice.
All but one of the Knicks' wins have been by double digits, with an average margin of victory of 22.5 points.
"We've just got to keep our mind on the task at hand. The game is over and we found a way to win. We have to execute at a high level in Game 4," said Karl-Anthony Towns, who contributed 13 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists.
OG Anunoby added 21 points to help New York, who led the entire game. The Knicks shot 55.8% from the field, made 11 three-pointers, and converted 24 of 27 free throws.
Evan Mobley scored 24 points, Donovan Mitchell had 23, and James Harden added 19 for Cleveland. The Cavaliers were 12 of 41 on three-pointers and 12 of 19 from the free-throw line.
Not even an appearance by superstar couple Taylor Swift and Cleveland Heights native Travis Kelce could spur the Cavaliers to a win.
"I think their physicality and energy, we couldn't get to that level to combat it," Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. "They're on a hell of a run. We haven't been able to stop the momentum. We had one chance in that first game I thought to stop it, but they haven't been able to halt their momentum."
New York led 91-82 at the end of the third quarter and put the game out of reach in the fourth when Landry Shamet made three three-pointers in a 99-second span to make it 105-94.
"Our guys were locked in from the beginning of the game and it showed from the first few minutes. We got a lot of great contributions," Knicks coach Mike Brown said. "I thought throughout the whole game we did a good job trying to play fast. We don't want to go against their set defense all the time, so we've got to keep trying to play fast. And then our guys did a better job in the second half trying to defend without fouling."
The Knicks made their first four shots en route to a 9-1 lead less than two minutes into the game. New York shot 12 of 17 from the field in the first quarter and led 37-27 after 12 minutes.
Cleveland rallied to tie the game at 50-50 on a jumper by Harden before the Knicks countered with a 10-1 run. They went into halftime with a 60-54 advantage.
Brunson scored six of his 12 points during an 8-1 run midway through the third quarter as the Knicks extended their lead to 83-70 with 3:41 remaining.
"It's the next-man-up mentality and the guys found me a few times. We knew we were going to get a real good punch from that team, and we weathered their best punches tonight," Shamet said.
