Ten in a row – the Knicks are one win away from the NBA Finals

Let’s just take a second to appreciate what’s happening here. The New York Knicks just beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 121-108 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and in doing so, they’ve now won 10 consecutive playoff games. Ten. In. A. Row.

Here’s the wild part about that number – the Knicks’ biggest winning streak during the entire regular season was nine games. They’ve now surpassed their own regular season best, and they’ve done it on the biggest stage of the year. One more win on Monday and this team is going to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999. Let that sink in.

The performance from the Knicks’ top three tonight was something else. Jalen Brunson led everyone with a game-high 30 points. Mikal Bridges was absolutely unconscious, finishing with 22 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field – that’s just filthy efficiency. And OG Anunoby chipped in 21 points, going 3-of-4 from three. When those three are humming like that, this team is genuinely difficult to stop.

As for the Cavaliers, they never led. Not once. They did manage to tie the game twice in the second quarter after digging out of a 10-point hole, but that was as close as it ever got. The lead never changed hands the entire night, and while the Knicks kept it in a sort of controlled single to double-digit range that had you slightly on edge at times, it never truly felt like the game was slipping away from them.

The Knicks took a six-point lead into halftime, then started pulling away in the third. It was 85-72 heading into the fourth, a nine-point lead for New York. Then they came out and scored the first five points of the final quarter, and honestly, whatever hope Cleveland had left seemed to quietly pack its bags and leave. A 14-point lead to start the fourth? It was basically over.

The Cavs did have a couple of moments midway through the fourth where they cut it to within seven, and you could feel them trying to manufacture something. But then they started missing free throws they absolutely needed to make – they went just 12-of-19 from the line for the game – and couldn’t capitalize on the possessions that mattered. Every time Cleveland needed a stop or a make, they came up short.

Anunoby’s three-pointer with 5:30 left basically put the dagger in. It made it 110-93 and that was that. But the moment of the night – maybe the image that will stick with you longest – came with under two minutes left. Brunson advanced the ball up the floor, attacked the perimeter, glanced over his left shoulder, and then just went straight to the basket. Four Cavaliers players stood there and watched him score. Didn’t move. Didn’t contest. Just stood there, like the game had been paused. That’s how demoralized this Cleveland team looks right now. They never really recovered from the Game 1 stunner, and it’s been written all over their faces ever since.

The numbers from deep tell the full story of the gap between these two teams tonight. The Cavaliers shot under 30% from behind the arc, going a rough 12-of-41. The Knicks, meanwhile, shot close to 40% from three. Landry Shamet was a big part of that, going 4-of-5 from deep off the bench. That kind of disparity in three-point shooting is just impossible to overcome.

And look, you also have to account for the context here. Cleveland just came through two consecutive seven-game series – first against the Raptors, then against the Pistons. They barely had time to breathe before this series started. The legs are tired, the minds are tired, and it shows. Playing the Knicks while running on fumes was never going to end well.

Game 4 is Monday. The Knicks have a chance to sweep. And if this is what a demoralized Cavaliers team looks like after just three games, it’s hard to imagine where they find the energy to turn things around. The NBA Finals are right there for New York. One more win.