Jalen Brunson vs Donovan Mitchell: How the Knicks-Cavaliers Saga Shapes the East Finals
The Eastern Conference Finals start Tuesday night in New York. The matchup is the storyline that has been brewing since 2022. Jalen Brunson and Donovan Mitchell, the two guards whose careers got swapped during one wild summer, finally meet in a conference final with a Finals trip on the line.
The history is short and sharp. In the summer of 2022, the Knicks tried to trade for Mitchell. The Cavaliers beat them to it, sending three players and three first-round picks to Utah to land him. New York, suddenly without their target, pivoted hard and signed Brunson to a four-year deal as a free agent. Brunson was viewed as a consolation prize at the time. He has since become an MVP candidate. Mitchell has been a perennial All-Star. Both moves worked.
Now they face each other for the most important series of their careers.
The Knicks are the No. 3 seed and the favorite. New York spent its second round bulldozing the Philadelphia 76ers, ending the series with a 144-114 win that effectively closed the door on Joel Embiid’s championship aspirations. Brunson averaged 32 points per game through two rounds. Karl-Anthony Towns has shooters around him. OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges give the Knicks two of the best wing defenders in the league.
The Cavaliers are the No. 4 seed and the team nobody saw coming. Cleveland fell behind the No. 1 seed Pistons 2-0 and won four straight, including a 125-94 Game 7 rout in Detroit. Mitchell has been the engine. He is averaging 30.5 points per game in the playoffs and has shouldered the load every time the supporting cast has gone cold.
The matchup itself is going to be a guard war. Brunson against Mitchell. Mitchell against Brunson. Both guys can score 40. Both guys can make game-winning shots. Both guys play the kind of bully ball that wins playoff games. Mitchell is two inches taller and a step faster. Brunson is craftier in the half court and harder to keep off the line.
The supporting casts are where the series gets decided. New York has more depth. Towns has been a matchup nightmare against teams that do not have a true rim protector. Mitchell Robinson has been a force on the offensive glass. Josh Hart plays heavy minutes and grabs every loose ball that hits the floor. Bridges has been the silent killer with 18 points per game in the playoffs.
Cleveland’s depth is thinner but real. Evan Mobley has been a top-three defensive player in the league this year. Darius Garland is a third creator who can punish defenses that load up on Mitchell. Jarrett Allen anchors the paint. The Cavs do not have New York’s wing depth, but they have a frontcourt that can win a series.
The injuries matter. Mitchell Robinson is healthy after missing chunks of last year. OG Anunoby has been managing a foot issue, though he has played in every playoff game. The Cavaliers got Mobley back to full strength after the second-round adjustment period. Both teams enter healthier than they were two months ago.
Madison Square Garden is going to be loud. The Knicks crowd has waited 26 years for an Eastern Conference Finals home game. They have not been to the NBA Finals since 1999. They have a chance to make this the most special run in modern franchise history.
Mitchell has won at MSG before. He has dropped 40 in the building. He has shut down arguments about whether he can handle big road moments. The Cavaliers know they can win there. The question is whether they have enough to win three games there over a seven-game series.
The pick here is Knicks in six. New York is healthier, deeper, and has the home-court edge. But Mitchell is the kind of guard who can turn a series with two huge games. If he steals one in New York and the Cavaliers protect home, this thing goes seven and gets ugly.
Either way, the basketball is going to be excellent. The summer of 2022 set this up. The Eastern Conference Finals are finally going to settle it.
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.
