Game two of the Eastern Conference Finals saw star players from both teams come out ice cold in the first half, then pick up the pace in the second half. Many anticipated players to be hungover as a result of a wild game one and they were right. Two New York Knick players set new playoff career highs. One in points scored, the other in assists. Let's dive into game two of the Eastern Conference Finals!
New York Knicks DEF Cleveland Cavaliers 109-93 (NYK Leads Series 2-0)
With the way that game one went I expected the first quarter to be slow and sloppy. For the Cavaliers that was the case for not only the first quarter but the rest of the game. For the Knicks they played a slow first half but sped up exponentially in the second half and completely took over the game. After the first four minutes the Cavaliers led the Knicks by a score of 13-11. The Knicks were five for ten from the field, the Cavaliers were five for six. After the first four minutes the hangover for Cleveland set in. The Knicks shot the ball better over the next eight minutes than they did in the first four. They improved from shooting at fifty percent to sixty percent. The same could not be said for Cleveland. They shot an abysmal five for seventeen to close out the first quarter. The Knicks ended the first quarter shooting the ball at fifty-five percent while Cleveland shot it at forty-four percent. The first quarter shooting percentages would be an omen for the next three quarters. Surprisingly even after missing twelve of their last seventeen shots, Cleveland still maintained a lead heading into the second quarter, 27-24.
Over the next three quarters the Knicks would pick the Cavaliers apart, steal the lead from the Cavs, and slowly build up to blowing the game wide open. As hinted at in the opening, the stars were cold in the first half. That showed greatly during the second quarter. Now you could argue that James Harden has been the best player over the last few games for the Cavaliers, but the widely regarded star on the team is Donovan Mitchell. He did not play up to the superstar level in the second quarter. He made just one shot and scored four total points in the quarter. Surprisingly, he wasn't even the worst performing star in the second quarter. Jalen Brunson was held to zero, yes zero, points in the second quarter. Brunson would go into half with two total points. When your star players don't play up to the standard they are held to, role players need to step up. Josh Hart and OG Anunoby stepped up for the Knicks in the second quarter. They combined for fifteen of the teams twenty-nine points and were a big reason the team would go into halftime with the lead. The Knicks won the second quarter by seven points and claimed a halftime lead of four points, 53-49.
To open the third quarter Cleveland showed some life. They scored the first four points of the second quarter to tie the game at fifty-three. The signs of life displayed at the start of the second half quickly died. The Knicks went on to score the next nineteen points in five minutes. Josh Hart would score nine of the team's nineteen points. Hart scored twelve total points in the third quarter going a perfect three for three from three. Donovan Mitchel tried to keep pace during the last five minutes to pull the Cavs back into the game. He scored nine of the Cavs seventeen points over the last five minutes of the third quarter. His efforts were noticed but not nearly enough. The third quarter would come to a close with the Knicks leading by fifteen points, 85-70.
Josh Hart led the Knicks to a productive third quarter. He passed the torch to Jalen Brunson to close out the game. After scoring just two points in the first half Brunson would go on to score seventeen points in the second half, ten of the seventeen points coming in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers again showed signs of life to open the quarter. Trailing by fifteen points entering the quarter, Cleveland opened the fourth on an eight to nothing run cutting the lead to seven. This was the closest the game would get before the final horn. The Knicks would never let the Cavaliers score more than four points in a row over the final nine minutes. Shutting down the Cleveland threat and staying productive on offense led the Knicks to growing their lead back up to nineteen points. After exchanging baskets late the game ended with the Knicks winning by sixteen points, 109-93. New York leads the series 2-0 as the series head to Cleveland for game three on Saturday night.
Career High Performers
Josh Hart was mentioned multiple times throughout the recap of game two. He set a new post season career high in points scored. He scored a total of twenty-six points outscoring his previous high of twenty-four. He scored twenty-four postseason points twice in his career. Most recently in game five against the Celtics during the 2025 playoffs. The other time was against the Pacers in game one of the 2024 playoffs. To compliment Hart's high scoring performance, Brunson totaled his highest postseason assist count in his career. He had fourteen assists in the game with six of them coming in the third quarter, Hart's highest scoring quarter. Brunson assisted on eleven of Hart's twelve third quarter points. If Hart and Brunson can stay in sync over the next two games this series might not make it back to New York.
Game Three tips off Saturday night at 8:00pm on ABC. The Cavaliers will need to right the ship Saturday night if they want any chance to make the NBA Finals.
As always Who Dey & Go Redlegs!
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