Cavaliers dare Josh Hart to shoot, and he makes them pay as Knicks take 2-0 lead 49%
By C.J. Holmes0%
5/22/2026, 2:46:52 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 28 faulty reasoning types, including Hindsight Bias, Representativeness Heuristic, and Biased Writer Voice, with Post Hoc (False Cause) as the most egregious example at 17.2% saturation with 199 hits. Analysis detected 1,568 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,157 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 49.6% and a BS Rank of 49% (8,635 of 16,813 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 51.40% of the article peer group.
They dared Josh Hart to shoot.
Then they dared him again.
Then they dared him five too many times.
The Cleveland Cavaliers spent Thursday night treating Hart as the acceptable risk in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, ducking under screens, helping elsewhere and living with open looks from a player who’d gone 1-for-5 from deep in Game 1.
For a while, the plan worked.
Hart missed his first three 3-pointers.
He put his jersey in his mouth after one of them.
OG Anunoby walked over and offered encouragement.
Then Hart stopped hesitating.
The Cavaliers kept leaving him.
The Knicks kept feeding him.
And Hart made them pay.
The Knicks defeated Cleveland, 109-93, Thursday night at Madison Square Garden to claim a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference finals, and Hart was the reason the series will travel with the Knicks in control.
He broke out for a playoff career-high 26 points, four rebounds and seven assists while shooting 5-for-11 from 3-point range, turning Cleveland’s defensive bet into the story of the night.
“He’s a gamer,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said.
“When you have guys that are gamers, they do stuff that people don’t think that they could do at any time.
He knows the work that he puts in.
We know the work that he puts in and his confidence is not going to waver.”
Karl-Anthony Towns added 18 points and 13 rebounds, Mikal Bridges scored 19, and the Knicks won on a night when Jalen Brunson didn’t have to repeat his Game 1 masterpiece.
His 19 points on 7-for-16 shooting mattered less than his playoff career-high 14 assists.
Cleveland sent two defenders at him.
Brunson dished it.
The Knicks carved them up.
The series now shifts to Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, where the Cavaliers are 6-1 this postseason.
“As an MVP candidate, Jalen Brunson’s job is to make the game easier for his teammates, and that’s what he did,” Brown said.
“If you don’t send a second guy at him, he’s got a pretty good chance of scoring.
If you send the second guy at him, he’s going to make the game easier for his teammates.”
This time, the Knicks didn’t need Brunson to save them, because Hart stepped up.
He finally cashed in from the right corner in the second quarter while the Knicks played him and Mitchell Robinson together, a pairing the Cavaliers were willing to test.
Brunson drew a charge soon after, and the Knicks built a 45-40 lead with 3:14 left in the half.
Hart made another 3 before halftime, giving him two makes on seven attempts from deep and enough belief to keep firing.
Hart said the first three misses felt good, which made the early frustration easier to work through.
“I was frustrated at first,” Hart said.
“I knew how to just keep shooting and if I did that, I’ll be good.”
The Knicks led 53-49 at halftime despite Brunson having only two points and five assists.
Towns, Hart and Bridges were all in double figures.
James Harden had 12 points for Cleveland.
Evan Mobley had 14 after making his first two pop 3-pointers, early shots that gave the Cavaliers confidence after they sputtered down the stretch in Game 1.
But Cleveland cooled from deep.
Sam Merrill missed his first six shots.
Robinson remained a problem at the foul line, missing his first four free throws after going 2-for-8 in Game 1.
He entered Thursday shooting 35.7% from the line in the playoffs after a career-low 40% during the regular season.
The Knicks still haven’t solved that issue.
They just found enough offense elsewhere to keep it from defining the night.
The game turned after Cleveland tied it at 53 early in the third quarter.
The Knicks forced four straight stops, cashed in on Cavaliers turnovers and pushed head coach Kenny Atkinson into a timeout with 8:28 left after the lead reached nine.
Brunson, who had only two points at halftime, started finding his rhythm.
Hart kept punishing the open space.
Another 3 from Hart put the Knicks ahead 67-53.
Soon, he was 4-for-9 from deep, then 5-for-10 by the end of the quarter.
What began as Cleveland’s preferred defensive outcome became a problem the Cavaliers could no longer ignore.
The Knicks ripped off an 18-0 run after the game had been tied at 53.
They took an 85-70 lead into the fourth behind Hart’s 24 points, five assists and two steals on 9-for-18 shooting.
Towns had 18 points and 11 rebounds through three quarters, and Brunson had nine points and 11 assists.
The Knicks were 11-for-29 from deep.
Cleveland, after its early burst, had fallen to 8-for-29.
Bridges said Hart’s night came down to staying with the work after Cleveland kept inviting him to shoot.
“Just staying mentally tough,” Bridges said.
“That’s the biggest thing and just keep trusting his game, trusting his work.
We’re super confident in him and we’re going to keep finding him.”
Donovan Mitchell paced the Cavaliers with 26 points, but he looked like a shell of his usual self.
After appearing to tweak something in his lower leg late in Game 1, Mitchell looked hesitant attacking downhill Thursday.
He went 1-for-4 in the first quarter, picked up his third foul with 9:09 left in the third and had only nine points and three rebounds at that point.
Even his most forceful second-half burst ended with friendly fire.
Mitchell chased a loose pass early in the third quarter and barreled into Brown near the sideline, sending himself and the Knicks coach toward Fat Joe’s empty courtside seat.
Brown, who twisted his leg while calling a timeout in Game 1, appeared to be fine.
Cleveland made one final push.
The Knicks’ lead dipped to single digits with 9:19 remaining, and the Knicks were over the limit early in the fourth.
The teams combined for eight fouls in less than four minutes, five of them on the Knicks.
The Cavaliers had a lane back into the game.
The Knicks closed it.
They held firm, protected the lead and avoided the chaos that turned Game 1 into an instant Garden classic.
Brown said before tipoff that the Knicks understood they “got away with one” in the opener and couldn’t count on Cleveland letting another chance slip away.
This time, the Knicks didn’t need a miracle.
They built the lead, absorbed the stress and finished the job.
They’re healthy.
They’re defending.
They’re getting winning contributions beyond Brunson.
They’re two wins from the NBA Finals.
Towns said they’re not allowing themselves to think that way yet.
“We don’t feel any closer than we did last game or any game,” Towns said.
“It’s back to in our minds a 0-0 We got to win the next game.
It’s the most important game of the year and that’s how we treat it.”
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