Knicks pull away in third, get 26 points from Josh Hart, comfortably win 109-93, take 2-0 series lead
New York went on an 18-0 run in the third quarter and that was the ballgame.
New York didn't save its heroics for the final minutes of the game on Thursday ā it got its work out of the way in the third. The Knicks took charge of the game ā and the Eastern Conference Finals ā with an 18-0 run in the third quarter, where Cleveland went scoreless for 5:30 of game time. Meanwhile, Josh Hart turned around his struggles in Game 1 to knock down five 3-pointers and score a playoff career-high 26 on Thursday night.
Josh Hart's up to 26 PTS in Game 2 A new postseason career-high! Knicks lead by 15 in Q4 pic. twitter.
com/maMMhx5D0F ā NBA (@NBA) May 22, 2026 New York led 85-70 after three quarters, and the only question left was whether the Cavaliers had a Knicks-like comeback in them. They didn't. Cleveland did make a little run, but Mike Brown called a timeout to reset his team ā something Kenny Atkinson did not do in Game 1 ā and New York took control again.
In the end it was a 109-93 New York win that puts it up 2-0 in the series and puts pressure on Cleveland to hold serve on their home court. Game 3 is in Cleveland on Saturday. With Hart hitting everything, the much-maligned Knicks starting five ā Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Hart, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns ā played heavy minutes and had a +27.