Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks made sure to end this one quickly.
Now, they’re headed to the franchise’s first NBA Finals in decades with some extra days off.
Brunson and the Knicks cruised to a blowout 130-93 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night at Rocket Arena. That completed the 4-0 series sweep and sent them into the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999. Brunson was named the Eastern Conference finals MVP via a unanimous vote, too.
Now, the Knicks will await the winner of the Western Conference finals. The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder are tied up 2-2 entering Tuesday night’s Game 5. The NBA Finals will start on June 3, which gives the Knicks more than a week to prepare.
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The Knicks took a 12-point lead after the first quarter, and looked extremely comfortable doing so. They shot 56% from the field in the first 12 minutes with six 3-pointers, and easily beat the Cavaliers in transition repeatedly for easy buckets at the rim.
By halftime, the game was just about over. The Knicks used a 20-0 burst into the second quarter to break the game wide open, and opened the second period on a 23-6 run to snag a 25-point lead. Brunson had 10 points at halftime, and even received “MVP” chants from Knicks fans that packed into Rocket Arena before they carried a 19-point advantage into the locker room.
The Cavaliers’ comeback hopes just never came together. The Knicks pushed their lead to 30 briefly in the third quarter and cruised the rest of the way to pick up the 37-point win.
Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland with 31 points in the loss, which ended the Cavaliers’ deepest postseason run since the LeBron James era. Evan Mobley added 15 points and seven rebounds, and James Harden had 12 points after going 0-of-6 from behind the arc.
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Brunson had 15 points and five assists, and didn’t play a second in the fourth quarter. Karl-Anthony Towns had 19 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Knicks, and OG Anunoby finished with 17 points.
Knicks cap a dominant playoff run
Monday night was just the latest time that the Knicks have looked just about unstoppable in recent weeks.
The Knicks have now won 11 straight games — their last loss was back on April 23 in the first round — and are entering the Finals off back-to-back sweeps after they swept the Philadelphia 76ers in the conference semifinals. All but one of those games was decided by double digits, too, though the Knicks did have to rally from a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter of Game 1 against the Cavaliers.
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And, all three of their closeout games have been complete blowouts. The Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks 140-89 in Game 6 in the first round, and then rolled over the 76ers by 30 in Game 4. The 11-game win streak is something just four other teams have pulled off in a single postseason in history.
The Knicks are now in the Finals for the first time since 1999, when they fell to the Spurs under head coach Jeff Van Gundy. The team hasn’t won a title since 1973.
In order to end that drought, they’ll have to get past either reigning champion Thunder led by MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or the Spurs and star Victor Wembanyama. But thankfully for the Knicks, they’ll be able to sit back, watch and recover while the two sides duke it out. That is undoubtedly a big advantage with the Larry O’Brien Trophy on the line. Based on how the last 31 days have gone, the Knicks have earned that break.
Live coverage is over19 updatesMon, May 25, 2026 at 5:15 PM PDT
Ryan Young
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 7:33 PM PDT
Kari Anderson
The Knicks are heading back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, thanks to an absolute smack down against the Cavaliers. New York picks up its second straight series sweep behind a well-rounded 37-point win, with six players ending in double digits on points and the starting lineup sitting for most of the fourth quarter.
This was a dominant showing from start to finish. The Knicks pull ahead from the very start, and simply never let up on the fading Cavs. Now, New York will face the winner of the much more competitive Spurs-Thunder series, with the hope of snapping a lengthy championship drought.
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 7:20 PM PDT
Kari Anderson
Knicks starters are out as Mike Brown brings on New York’s bench to close this out. The Knicks are a little over six minutes away from their second straight sweep.
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 7:16 PM PDT
Kari Anderson
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 7:11 PM PDT
Kari Anderson
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 7:01 PM PDT
Ryan Young
We’re just about done here. The Knicks are 12 minutes away from reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.
Landry Shamet is up to a team-high 16 points off the bench, too, and is a perfect 4-of-4 from behind the arc.
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 6:54 PM PDT
Ryan Young
The Knicks are piling it on, and pushed their lead to 30 briefly before Mike Brown called a timeout late in the third. The Cleveland comeback just isn’t materalizing.
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 6:42 PM PDT
Ryan Young
Welp, that’s back-to-back 3s from Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges now to force a Cleveland timeout. The Knicks are back up by 22
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 6:39 PM PDT
Ryan Young
The Cavs are hanging in there to start the second half, but they’ll need to make a real move here to climb back into the game. The 7-4 start they’ve opened the third with
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 6:16 PM PDT
Ryan Young
Donovan Mitchell is up to 20 for Cleveland, and doing his best to keep them in it. He’s shot 6-of-13 from the field, too, and has four of the team’s seven 3-pointers.
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 6:15 PM PDT
Ryan Young
Cleveland pulled out a 15-3 run of its own there late, but the Knicks’ lead is still 19 at halftime.
The Cavaliers will have to come of halftime hot to even stand a chance here, at the rate this is going.
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 5:58 PM PDT
Ryan Young
Make that a 23-6 run to start the second quarter for the Knicks. The lead is up to 25, and Jalen Brunson is getting MVP chants at Rocket Arena.
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 5:48 PM PDT
Ryan Young
Well, the Knicks aren’t slowing down. That’s an 8-0 run that Landry Shamet just capped with a huge 3, and the Knicks fans in Cleveland are erupting.
The lead is suddenly 20.
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 5:40 PM PDT
Ryan Young
The Knicks took off in the final few minutes, and now hold a 12-point lead after one. They’ve shot 56% from the field and 6-of-12 from behind the arc, and look more than ready to end this series tonight.
Donovan Mitchell did everything he could to keep Cleveland in it with 12 points in the period. But it’s looked very easy for the Knicks so far…
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 5:30 PM PDT
Ryan Young
The Knicks just came out of that timeout on a 9-0 run, and beat the Cavs easily down the court in transition several times in a row there.
OG Anunoby and Max Strus got into it a bit at midcourt, too, but the two were separated without much issue.
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 5:23 PM PDT
Ryan Young
Donovan Mitchell has 10 of the Cavaliers’ first 15 points of the night, and he’s keeping them in it. The Knicks have a ton of fans at Rocket Arena, too, which could be a problem later on…
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 5:15 PM PDT
Ryan Young
The Cavaliers have won the tip, and Game 4 is officially underway in Cleveland. We’ll see if the Knicks can pull off the sweep and earn a spot in the Finals.
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 4:39 PM PDT
Jason Owens
With their season on the line, the Cavaliers are making a change to their starting lineup.
Out is Dean Wade. In is Max Strus, who’s been a spark plug off the bench for most of the postseason while shooting 36.3% from 3. The Cavs are in a 3-0 hole and hoping the lineup change can spark them to their first win of the series in an elimination game.
Mon, May 25, 2026 at 3:00 PM PDT
Teddy Ricketson
Game 4 will be played at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday night.
The Knicks hold a 3-0 lead. New York has been riding the momentum it sustained in a comeback win in Game 1. The Knicks were down 22 points in the fourth quarter, battled back to force OT, and then secured the 115-104 win.
The Cavaliers must win Game 4 in order to keep the series alive. Cleveland is trying to become the first team in NBA history to ever come back from being down 3-0 in a seven-game series.