Knicks’ Jalen Brunson, Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell square off in Eastern Conference finals
THE fates of the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers — and especially Jalen Brunson and Donovan Mitchell — have been intertwined with one another since the summer of 2022, when the Knicks signed Brunson and tried trading for Mitchell before he landed with the Cavaliers.
Now the careers of Brunson and Mitchell — and these eras for their teams — will be defined by whomever can lift his squad to a franchise-altering trip to the NBA Finals.
The Knicks and Cavaliers will open the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night, when third-seeded New York hosts fourth-seeded Cleveland.
The Knicks have been off since May 10, when they continued their historic surge through the playoffs by beating the Philadelphia 76ers, 144-114, to sweep their best-of-seven second round series.
The Cavaliers will also arrive with plenty of momentum after completing their comeback from a 2-0 series deficit against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons with a 125-94 rout in Sunday night’s Game 7.
The resounding second-round wins place each team at the doorstep of a historic accomplishment.
The Knicks haven’t advanced to the NBA Finals since 1999 and haven’t won it all since 1973. The Cavaliers are in the Eastern Conference finals for the first time without LeBron James since 1992 and have never made the Finals without James on their roster.
Had the summer of 2022 gone a little differently, Brunson and Mitchell might be teaming up to try and get the Knicks to the promised land, But New York, which signed Brunson to a four-year deal as a free agent in July 2022, lost out to the Cavaliers in trade talks for Mitchell, who was shipped to Cleveland by the Utah Jazz in exchange for three players and first-round picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029.
The moves paid immediate dividends for the Knicks and Cavaliers, who, led by Brunson and Mitchell, have advanced to the playoffs in each of the last four seasons.
Brunson ranks 13th in the NBA with 26.3 points per game over the last four seasons, a span in which the Knicks have won six playoff series, including a five-game, first-round triumph over Cleveland in 2023. New York won just one postseason series from 2001 through 2022. — Reuters
