{"id":244963,"date":"2026-05-24T03:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T03:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/24\/disgraceful-cavs-torched-for-quitting-as-sizzling-knicks-close-in-on-27-year-nba-finals-first\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T03:59:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T03:59:00","slug":"disgraceful-cavs-torched-for-quitting-as-sizzling-knicks-close-in-on-27-year-nba-finals-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/24\/disgraceful-cavs-torched-for-quitting-as-sizzling-knicks-close-in-on-27-year-nba-finals-first\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Disgraceful\u2019: Cavs torched for \u2018quitting\u2019 as sizzling Knicks close in on 27-year NBA Finals first"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The New York Knicks are on the brink of their first NBA Finals since 1999 after a 121-108 victory at Cleveland stretched their playoff win streak to 10 games.<\/p>\n

Jalen Brunson scored a game-high 30 points, O.G. Anunoby added 21 and Mikal Bridges contributed 22 on 11-of-15 shooting as New York pushed the Cavaliers to the edge of elimination.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m at a loss for words,\u201d Brunson said. <\/p>\n

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\u201cI thought we fought, most importantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch every game of the 2026 NBA Conference Finals LIVE with ESPN on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1 ><\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

The Knicks seized a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals and could complete a sweep in game four on Monday in Cleveland.<\/p>\n

No team in NBA history has recovered from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe series isn\u2019t over,\u201d Anunoby said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust keep our foot on their necks and just try to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brunson said the Knicks must continue to concentrate.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust focus on one possession at a time,\u201d Brunson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we\u2019ve been having that mindset these past couple weeks, we have to continue it, if not actually better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cavs attracted criticism one social media for their negative body language late in the defeat as some accused them of giving up too easily.<\/p>\n

The Knicks last reached the NBA Finals 27 years ago when they lost to San Antonio. They have not won the NBA championship since 1973.<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s Karl-Anthony Towns had 13 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals while Josh Hart added 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals for a Knicks team that has not been beaten in a month.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mindset hasn\u2019t changed,\u201d Brunson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get better every single day. We\u2019re trying to learn from winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things we can get better at. There\u2019s a lot of things we can control, a lot of mental errors that we need to clean up, but we\u2019re always just looking for ways to try and get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evan Mobley led Cleveland with 24 points while Donovan Mitchell added 23 and James Harden scored 19 points.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers, who squandered a 22-point lead to lose the series opener, never led as New York seized command early and dominated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess you could say momentum carried over (from game one),\u201d Anunoby said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to play the right way every game but maybe that momentum carried over a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks.<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New York started the game 10-of-13 from the floor to seize a 29-19 lead only 8:29 into the contest, Towns delivering 11 points in the run on the way to a 37-27 lead after the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Cleveland trimmed New York\u2019s half-time edge to 60-54 but the Cavs committed six turnovers in the first six minutes of the third quarter.<\/p>\n

The Knicks were a 91-82 ahead entering the fourth quarter and stretched it 110-93 in the closing minutes before completing their fifth road triumph in a row.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just executing the game plan on both sides of the floor, playing the right way, moving the ball then getting stops on defence,\u201d Anunoby said of New York\u2019s secret to success.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks are on the brink of their first NBA Finals since 1999 after a 121-108 victory at Cleveland stretched their playoff win streak to 10 games. Jalen Brunson scored a game-high 30 points, O.G. Anunoby added 21 and Mikal Bridges contributed 22 on 11-of-15 shooting as New York pushed the Cavaliers to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":244964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-244963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}