By Daniel Feuerstein | Cleveland, OH | May 25, 2026
In Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final, the New York Knicks came to the Rocket Arena to finish their business against the Cleveland Cavaliers. There was some pushback at the start of the game, but once the Knicks saw the new game plan, they took control and outshot their hosts from start to finish. They punished the Cavs by taking advantage of their lack of defensive focus, poor passing, and forcing turnovers. With the bench players finishing the game, the Knicks defeated the Cavaliers and won the 2025-26 Eastern Conference Final with the final score of 130-93
The Cavaliers did start the game on a five-point lead, but once the Knicks got in gear, they couldn’t be stopped. They were dominating on the floor and forcing the Cavs to make poor passes, earning turnovers for fast breaks and setting up big buckets to take the Eastern Conference Title. They are the first team in NBA History with 3 series-clinching 20-point wins in a single postseason. In a losing effort, Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 31 Points. Four of the five starters for the Knicks were in double figures. Karl Anthony Towns finished with a double-double and led the Knicks with 19 points and 14 rebounds. O.G. Anunoby was second with 17 points, Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges had 15 points each.
The Knicks’ best bench players had an amazing game as well. Landry Shamet had 16 points and was a perfect four for four behind the three-point line, and Deuce McBride had 11 points and went three for five behind the three-point line. Mitchell Robinson was also active with eight points, with two alley oop jams and another slam that was led to him by Bridges in the fourth quarter.
First Half: Cavaliers start on the front foot, but the Knicks heat up and take the lead
The Cavaliers won the opening tip and took a quick five-point lead as they came out on the court and wanted to dominate the game. The Knicks hung around and started to make a slight comeback with several strong shots, but once they took the lead at 14-13 from a three-point shot from Towns, the Knicks started to dominate. Several Alley Ooops to Mitchell Robinson to give him six points, and the Knicks were taking advantage of poor paint defense from the Cavs, as they took advantage of the lack of concentration at both ends of the floor. Especially a wide-open Brunson who got a homerun pass from Towns and an easy layup.
Early second quarter, the Knicks hit two consecutive three-pointers from McBride and Landry Shamet to put them into a 20-point lead. Jose Alvarado comes off the bench, steals, and a full-court layup, then he misses a three, but Towns with a rebound two-hand jam. The Knicks now have a 26-point lead and are taking advantage of poor passes by the Cavs in the backcourt. Brunson had a tough shot driving to the middle of the paint and floats it in. Then Bridges was surrounded by two defenders, forced a shot, and hit it just beating the shot clock. From the 2:05 mark in the 1st quarter till 9:25 of the 2nd quarter, the Knicks went on a 20-0 Run.
“Our guys played great. I’ve said it all along. My staff has been unbelievable. The players, they were unbelievable. You know, you’re in the playoffs, you’re in the conference finals, and, you know, you score 65 points off of… offensive rebounds, and fast break points. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that before at this point in the year. So I give our guys a lot of credit. For sticking to the game plan and really trying to push the pace because that’s what we wanted to do coming into this series. You know, 41%, 42%, 93 points against a team that’s of their offensive caliber. It was just amazing. Again, the coaching staff came up with a fantastic game plan, and our players went out there and executed it. You know, six offensive rebounds, 22 foul shots. That’s phenomenal. Just a phenomenal job by our guys on the defensive end of the floor. I mean, I could say a lot about our team individually, especially 33 assists on 48 baskets. But, you know, our bench was fantastic,” said Head Coach Mike Brown,
“My previous job supposedly took them to a higher point, and, you know, it didn’t work out. So, you know, again, I truly felt that this team was an NBA Finals team. I thought we had a true opportunity because some jobs you take, you’re like, okay, we can get better. We have a chance to make the playoffs. But this one, I felt we legitimately had a chance, if we could help them figure it out, and the players could stay together during the process. Especially when we hit adversity, because we hit adversity at different times during the season, not just us as a whole group, but even some guys individually, including myself. And so, you know, I did have that belief from day one. I didn’t know how it was going to turn out, but we’re here. And, you know, there are a lot of people to thank because of it, but it starts with the players.”
Second Half: Another good start for the Cavs, till the Knicks took control again and
The Cavs had another good start to the second half, but the Knicks once again grabbed hold and locked it in. Towns has three consecutive strong plays to start the third quarter. A block at the hoop started a fast break, then Towns got the ball back and drained a three-pointer. He delivered another block later on, and this time the ball was given to Bridges, who nailed a three. Then it was the O.G. Anunoby show when he took a fabulous air pass from Bridges for the alley oop, then when Brunson missed a three-pointer that hit the front of the rim, Anunoby was at the right place for the rebound jam. Shamet, a man possessed delivered a two-hand jam to give the Knicks a 30-point lead.
The fourth quarter was just a formality. Towns scored the 100th point of the game when he finished a layup at 10:44. The Knicks continued to put pressure on the Cavaliers, and Shamet forced a steal and started to dribble toward the hoop, tossed the ball up, and found Anunoby for the jam. With 7:47 of the fourth, Mike Brown sat all his starters and Landry Shamet to allow his bench players to finish the rest of the game. The Knicks had the advantage from the turnovers, the three-pointers, and the bench points with a 42-7 advantage before the entire bench came on to clean up the mess. Now the Knicks will wait for either Oklahoma City or San Antonio.
KEY STATS:
NEW YORK: 46 FOR 98 FG’S, 19 FOR 43 3PTS, 15 FOR 20 FG’S
CLEVELAND: 32 FOR 77 FG’S, 11 FOR 40 3PTS, 18 FOR 22 FT’S
LARGEST LEAD: KNICKS WITH 40 POINTS IN THE FOURTH QUARTER
MOST POINTS: KNICKS WITH 38 POINTS IN THE FIRST QUARTER
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