The Knicks move two wins away from the NBA Finals with a 109-93 win over the Cavs Basketball news

The New York Knicks use an explosive third quarter to take a 2-0 lead over Cleveland in the NBA Eastern Conference finals.

Josh Hart scored a playoff-high 26 points, Jalen Brunson had 19 points and 14 assists, and the New York Knicks went halfway to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999 by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-93.

Mikal Bridges scored 19 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 18 points and 13 rebounds to help the Knicks win their ninth straight game on Thursday night.

This is the longest winning streak in the NBA since the Boston Celtics won 10 straight heading into the 2024 championship.

Hart went 5 of 11 from 3-point range, burning a defense that seemed built around leaving him open from long range, and had seven assists.

“Just a whale of a game from Josh,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said.

Two nights after facing a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter, the Knicks made sure to take control late with an 18-0 run in the third quarter that gave them a 71-53 lead. Fans chanted “Knicks in four! Knicks in four!” in the last minute, after a long time the starters went to the benches.

“In our mind it’s 0-0. We have to win the next game. It’s the most important game of the year and that’s how we do it,” Towns said.

Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points and James Harden had 18 for the Cavaliers, who will have to rally from a 2-0 deficit for the second straight game. They will have Game 3 on Saturday.

“There’s nothing that can get in our way,” Mitchell said. “They defended home court, and we’ve seen that before so we’re going to go to Game 3.”

The Knicks are in the Eastern Conference finals for the second consecutive year but have not played in the championship since losing to the San Antonio Spurs in 1999.

Brunson scored 38 points and led the way Game 1 is back. He had just two points in the first half Thursday before making the first basket that opened the game and finishing with the highest assist of his playoff career.

Hart was benched for Game 1, playing just three minutes including the fourth quarter and overtime. The shooting guard shot just 26.7 percent from 3-point range and after missing his third straight from long range early Thursday, he put his jersey over his mouth and bit it, knocking the ball down hard in frustration three times. But he continued to shoot.

“I knew I had to keep shooting and if I did I would do well,” Hart said.

Mitchell got off to a slow start with just seven points in the first half, leading to many questions following Game 1 as to whether he was injured. His 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left gave Cleveland a 27-24 lead after one.

The Knicks led 53-49 at halftime. The Cavs scored the first two baskets of the third to tie it, but Brunson answered with a 3-pointer to start an 18-0 run. He had two more buckets in the burst and Hart hit a pair of 3-pointers, the latter of which made it 71-53 with 5:36 left in the third. After the Cavs scored five straight, Hart made another 3 and Towns scored to restore the lead to 18.

Cleveland cut it to single digits with less than eight minutes remaining but squandered any chances to get close with free throws, missing 10 in the game and finishing at 68.8 percent. The Knicks eventually pushed their lead to 19 points.

“It’s hard when you don’t shoot,” Harden said. “It forces you twice as much to stop.”