In a rare and gripping twist, the East’s top two seeds have been knocked out before the conference finals. Enter the New York Knicks, who are blurring past their recent opponents with ruthless cool. And enter the Cleveland Cavaliers, who keep valiantly warding off elimination from the cliff’s edge.
This seminal matchup pairs Jalen Brunson and Donovan Mitchell, two of basketball’s best bucket-getters. It links Karl-Anthony Towns and James Harden, perennial All-Stars with holes in their playoff legacies. It tethers intense and devoted fanbases, lest we forget.
Whether you’re here for “Go NY Go” or “Cleveland Rocks,” consider this your series landing spot for all seven potential broadcasts.
How to watch No. 3 New York Knicks vs. No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers
GameDateTime (ET)TVStream
1: @ NY
Tue., May 19
8 p.m.
ESPN
2: @ NY
Thu., May 21
8 p.m.
ESPN
3: @ CLE
Sat., May 23
8 p.m.
ESPN
4: @ CLE
Mon., May 25
8 p.m.
ESPN
5*: @ NY
Wed., May 27
8 p.m.
ESPN
6*: @ CLE
Fri., May 29
8 p.m.
ESPN
7*: @ NY
Sun., May 31
8 p.m.
ESPN
* if necessary
All ESPN programs are also available with an ESPN Unlimited subscription.
How the Knicks got here
Since enduring back-to-back 1-point losses against the Atlanta Hawks, Mike Brown’s Knicks have surged to seven uninterrupted playoff Ws — by an absurd average margin of more than 26 points. This fever dream is turning Manhattan into an extended, ongoing “Sidetalk” video:
The New York offense has been pure silk. Through 10 playoff games, it’s shooting better than 51 percent from the field and better than 40 percent on 3s. In the second-round sweep of the rival Philadelphia 76ers, the mettlesome Brunson averaged 29 points on 51.3/44.8/92 percent splits. He was efficient with the ball in his hands and posted six assists to just 1.8 turnovers per outing.
Towns looked brilliant and blistering as well, with 61.8/54.5/82.4 percent splits against the Sixers. He was also a dimer, dishing out at least six assists in all four games and an even 10 in the series closeout. The center’s expanded playmaking left Brunson fresh down the stretch.
After he was stuck under the microscope in the Knicks’ opening round, Mikal Bridges stabilized throughout the conference semifinals. He finished at 17.5 points per game and shot above 63 percent. Fellow wing Josh Hart was the oil that kept the engine running off the glass and in transition. Elsewhere, New York got white-hot spells from Landry Shamet (5-of-6 shooting in Game 3) and Miles McBride (7-for-10 shooting in Game 4).
The lone blemish was OG Anunoby’s right hamstring injury — he pulled up in pain during Game 2, and sat out the subsequent two wins. The Knicks listed him as probable ahead of Game 1 against the Cavs. At full strength, Anunoby is one of the league’s top two-way talents. He’s scored 21.4 points per playoff game, and he has the best true shooting mark of all players averaging more than 30 minutes this postseason.
This is the franchise’s second consecutive conference finals appearance. Before that, it had been 25 years since the Knicks’ previous berth. New York’s last trip to the NBA Finals was in 1999 as a defiant No. 8 seed. Its last title came in 1973, on the shoulders of greats like Walt Frazier and Willis Reed.
How the Cavaliers got here
Bend it might, but Cleveland refuses to break. Kenny Atkinson’s crew arrives off two seven-game series breakthroughs, each with its own tension and redemptive arc.
The Cavs survived a loopy bounce-in buzzer-beater up in Toronto, as they went on to best the Raptors with their Game 7 door slam. Jarrett Allen had a 22-point, 19-rebound gem to seal it. Cleveland shined in its own building but dropped all three road tests.
As they did in the first round, the Cavaliers grabbed a 3-2 series lead, this time on the top-seeded Detroit Pistons. And like last time, they squandered a Game 6 closeout chance. But the second winner-take-all triumph happened within (mostly) hostile territory. It wasn’t even close — the 125-94 final was reached before empty seats. The brick-wall Allen excelled yet again and set a playoff career high with 23 points.
Mitchell is averaging 25.6 points on 44.5 percent shooting through two full-length rounds. He tied a postseason record with 39 second-half points in last round’s Game 4 win. Harden is the team’s second-leading scorer at 20.1 points, but on just 41.5 percent efficiency and 4.8 turnovers per game. Inside-out Evan Mobley looks more effective, averaging 17 points and converting on better than 55 percent of his tries. Mobley has hauled in 2.2 offensive rebounds per game; Allen has added three on average.
As those four players take on extra playoff strain, Atkinson will need to summon something from his supporting cast. Max Strus ratchets up the energy via loose-ball dives and second-chance hustle. Dennis Schröder spells the Mitchell-Harden possessions with verve. Plug-and-play Sam Merrill is sinking more than 40 percent of his 3s, while Dean Wade has Cleveland’s top net rating in these playoffs.
Ultimately, this Cavs core has a unique opportunity to reclaim disparate narratives. Mitchell is in the first conference finals of his nine-year career. It wasn’t for a lack of trying. Harden can compress his long list of playoff stumbles with one Hall of Fame showing. Allen, who once said “the lights were brighter than expected,” takes Madison Square Garden as the man in the middle.
Together, Cleveland can vindicate its ambitious Harden trade. Better still, it can conquer its conference without the NBA’s all-time leading scorer as a default. The franchise’s last run this deep without LeBron James was in 1992, when it challenged Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in a six-game battle.
Head-to-head matchups this season
New York won 2-1.
These sides started their seasons together on Oct. 22. The Cavs hit an impressive 19 treys in that game, but their hosts dominated on the offensive glass and at the foul line. The Knicks also handled home business in a 126-124 Christmas Day banger — they erased a 17-point fourth-quarter Cavs lead thanks to an inspired bench run.
The Cavaliers prevailed in Cleveland on Feb. 24. It was their only matchup after the Harden trade. The newly acquired guard dropped 20 points on 8-of-18 from the floor (zero free throws!), with four assists to three turnovers. Cleveland’s defense had 16 takeaways and held New York to 27 percent from long distance.
Brunson was an overall minus-10.3 against this opponent, and shot at warped 33.9/35.7 percent splits. But Bridges averaged a thorough four stocks (2.7 steals + 1.3 blocks) across those three matchups. On the other end, Mitchell scored more than 29 points per game on 42.6/30.8 percent marks.
Knicks vs. Cavaliers playoff history
New York leads 4-0.
All four meetings were first-round affairs. The Knicks notched a two-win sweep in 1978, lifted by Bob McAdoo’s monster 34 points per game. The 1990s Knicks took a pair of series in consecutive years — Patrick Ewing led the scoring for a 3-1 knockout in 1995, while John Starks paced a 3-0 sweep in 1996.
Most recently, New York pulled off a slight 5-over-4 upset in five games to open the 2023 playoffs. Brunson, Hart, McBride and Mitchell Robinson were all on that team. Brunson and Hart came up clutch in Game 1, the series’ closest contest.
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