Lessons from Knicks-Cavaliers Game 1: Jalen Brunson leads historic comeback

The Cleveland Cavaliers were just outscored 44-11 to end Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, losing to a Knicks team that they led by 22 with less than eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. I am not a Cavaliers fan, nor do I especially hate the Knicks. But I am somehow convulsing with rage at how mythically incompetent Cleveland was closing out that game, having my faith in the fabric of the universe once again shaken by a basketball outcome that should not be possible.

Here's what we learned from this historic meltdown.

1. The Cavaliers pulled off a nearly impossible feat by blowing that game

Do you understand how bad you have to be to blow a 22 point lead in 7:52 seconds? If the trailing team takes, say, twelve seconds per possession and the team with the lead simply dribbles out the shot clock on every possession, there would only be 13 total possessions in that span. The trailing team thus must score 22 points on 13 shots, an implied shooting percentage between 80 and 90 percent, also known as “impossible.” That’s what we call napkin analytics. 

But the Knicks played with pace and the Cavs presented zero resistance. They could not score, they turned the ball over with consummate professionalism; one could argue they presented the game to the Knicks and their Madison Square Garden adorers on a platter bejeweled with emeralds. Head Coach Kenny Atkinson waited for the Knicks to cut the lead to five via an 18-1 run before he called a timeout.

But it gets worse: Donovan Mitchell scored his 29th point with 8:51 remaining in the fourth quarter. Who wants to guess how many points he finished with? That’s right: 29, meaning he did not score for the final 13:51 of the fourth quarter and overtime. He shot one free throw. He allowed the Knicks to execute a comeback by benching Josh Hart for Landry Shamet, and allowed Jalen Brunson to harbor four fouls with impunity without seriously attacking him in the pick-and-roll. The Cavaliers scored three points in overtime, and managed to lose a game they led by 22, again, with fewer than eight minutes to go, by 11 entire points. 

That sequence of events is not possible with normal human conditions; rather, it took place in the realm of mythical, choketastic incompetence. It was a science fiction loss, one that felt planned and manufactured by Hollywood screenwriters. History may forget what happened here, but we cannot.

2. Jalen Brunson is just better than Donovan Mitchell

A crude, hyperbolic and flippant headline, to be sure, but one befitting of the moment. After spending his entire career trying to make it out of the second round, Mitchell could not have choked any harder after playing a great first 40 minutes of his first Conference Finals. His principal opponent this go round, Jalen Brunson, basically did the opposite of that.

In the very same 7:52 in which the Cavaliers managed the impossible, Jalen Brunson scored 15 points. Notching another two in overtime, Brunson comfortably outscored the Cavaliers in the last 13 minutes 17-11 by himself. He was 1-6 from 3, yet still managed to post 38 essential points because he got to the free throw line 10 times, something that Mitchell simply was not able to do. There are too many floaters, too much skirting around contact. Yet Brunson, often the smallest guy out there, goes into people and finds ways to generate points in big moments. People whine about “foul baiting,” but knowing how to put defenders in impossible positions is often what separates good players from great ones. Right now, Brunson is great, Mitchell just good.

3. What if the Knicks actually win the NBA Finals?

These Conference Finals are off to such a rip-roaring start it’s silly to worry about that right now, but the Knicks winning a championship would be an explosive cultural moment. We have a rabid Madison Square Garden ready to shoot off into space on nothing but Christmas Spirit like Santa’s Sleigh from Elf, we have a seemingly immortal Jalen Brunson, Timothée Chalamet and Ben Stiller hugging deliriously, Patrick Ewing clapping like he’s back coaching Georgetown, it’s borderline hazardous how electric MSG is right now. 

After the religious experience that was Game 1 of Thunder-Spurs, it is hard to think that the Knicks will actually take this thing even if the Cavs hand them three more games for no reason. But there is no power quite like will power, and the biggest Big Apple around have all decided that this is their year. Maybe Cleveland should try doing that?

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