Jalen Brunson Drops 38 Points and Leads Knicks Out of 22-Point Hole in Historic Game 1 Comeback Win
Jalen Brunson just delivered the most important game of his career, and the New York Knicks are now one win away from controlling the entire Eastern Conference Finals. Brunson scored 38 points, dished six assists, and led the Knicks back from a 22-point fourth quarter deficit Tuesday night for a 115-104 overtime win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1.
This is the second-largest fourth-quarter playoff comeback in the play-by-play era of the NBA. It is also the largest playoff comeback in Knicks franchise history. New York scored 44 points to Cleveland’s 11 over the final 7:52 of regulation and the entire overtime period. That kind of run does not happen by accident.
The blueprint was simple and ruthless. Brunson identified that the Cavaliers had James Harden defending him on switches, and he kept demanding the matchup over and over. Once he got Harden isolated, he attacked. He scored 17 of his 38 points from the start of the fourth quarter onward. Every single time the Cavs tried to send help, Brunson found the open man.
The play that broke the game was a Brunson drive to the rim with 19 seconds left in regulation that tied the score at 101. Cleveland had a chance to win it in regulation. Sam Merrill got a wide-open look at the top of the key. The ball rolled out. The game went to overtime, and the Knicks never trailed again.
Brunson has now established himself as one of the best closers in the entire NBA. He has carried this Knicks franchise for three straight playoff runs, and Tuesday night was the kind of performance that puts him in the All-NBA conversation. He shot 15 of 29 from the field, refused to come out of the game in the second half, and looked like the calmest player in the entire building during the comeback.
Tom Thibodeau gets credit for letting it happen. He could have called more sets, run more high pick and rolls, tried to find creative offense. Instead, he let Brunson go to work. The result was a fourth quarter that Knicks fans will be talking about for the rest of their lives.
The Cavaliers will spend the next 48 hours trying to figure out how they let this game slip away. Their head coach, Kenny Atkinson, only called one timeout during the 30-8 Knicks run that turned the game. The defense never adjusted. Harden never came off the floor despite getting hunted on every single possession. The Cavs are now down 1-0 and have major questions to answer before Game 2.
Donovan Mitchell deserves better than what he got from his supporting cast. Mitchell scored 33 points and shot the ball well, but he could not save the entire roster by himself. The Cavaliers need Evan Mobley, Darius Garland, and Jarrett Allen to do more in this series. Game 1 was supposed to be the easy win at home, the chance to set the tone. It became the kind of loss that sometimes sinks a team for the entire postseason.
Madison Square Garden was unreal in the fourth quarter. The energy shift from the 22-point deficit to the comeback was as loud as that arena has been since the 1990s. Knicks fans understood exactly what they were watching. Brunson understood it too. He played the entire fourth quarter and overtime like a man who knew his team was going to win the moment he started getting Harden on switches.
Game 2 is Thursday. The Knicks now have all the leverage. They stole a game on the road that they had no business winning, and they will return to MSG knowing exactly how to attack the Cavaliers’ weak link in the half-court. Cleveland has to make changes. Whether they have the personnel to actually make them is a separate question.
Brunson is the story of the 2026 NBA Playoffs. The Knicks are one win away from being the favorite to come out of the East. And the historic comeback Tuesday night is going to live in playoff highlight reels forever.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
