Knicks Notch First Playoff Road Victory In 24 Years With Game 1 Win Over Cavaliers

The New York Knicks notched their first playoff road win in 24 years after they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 101-97, to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round series.

Jalen Brunson shined in his Knicks playoff debut and scored 27 points on 11-of-24 shooting as New York just managed to stave off a late-game rally from Cleveland to take the Game 1 win.

The lefty point guard 21 of his 27 points in the second half as he displayed the entire repertoire, from his nasty float game, to his mid-range mastery, to his reliable three-ball. He also nailed a clutch bucket to put the Knicks up four with 35.4 ticks remaining.

JALEN BRUNSON.
CLUTCH.

He puts the Knicks up 4 with 35.4 left in Game 1 on ESPN!#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel pic.twitter.com/4yUGJ2yCnn
— NBA (@NBA) April 16, 2023

Brunson also got some help with Julius Randle and Josh Hart both notching double-doubles. Randle went for 19 points and 10 rebounds and Hart had 17 points and 10 boards on 8-of-11 shooting in his postseason debut.

The Cavs trailed for much of the afternoon and went down by as many as 12 points. But Cleveland made a surge in the fourth quarter led by Donovan Mitchell, who scored or assisted on 14 straight Cavalier points.

A tip shot by Jarrett Allen finally gave Cleveland the lead. But the Knicks countered with a 9-4 run to end the game, with Brunson draining two clutch buckets within the last 1:15 of the game.

Mitchell was pretty much a one-man show for the Cavs as he led them with 38 points, eight assists, three steals, and six 3-pointers. Darius Garland had a rough afternoon as he finished with 17 points but turned the ball over five times.

The Cavaliers will look to bounce back in Game 2 and tie even up the series 1-1 before it shifts to New York for Game 3 on Friday.