The New York Knicks are one win away from their first NBA Finals appearance this century. And they’re a full month away from their last loss.
Facing a Cleveland Cavaliers team backed by an arena of mostly home fans — with Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift playing a featured role — the Knicks posted a 121-108 win to take a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. No NBA team has ever come back from such a deficit in the playoffs.
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New York’s first chance at clinching their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999 will be Game 4 on Monday (8 p.m., ESPN).
The Knicks entered the game on a nine-game win streak in the playoffs, with a +212 point differential that was the largest in NBA history. That differential is now +225 across 10 games. Their last loss was Game 3 against the Atlanta Hawks in the third round on April 23, a full month ago.
No individual heroism was needed for this game, just another strong night from the Knicks starting lineup. Jalen Brunson led all scorers with 30 points on 10-of-19 shooting plus six assists. OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges both topped 20 points, while Karl-Anthony Towns had 13 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals.
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The Cavaliers, meanwhile, got a combined 42 points on 36 shots from Donovan Mitchell and James Harden, who each committed five turnovers. They just haven’t looked composed enough to survive since around the eight-minute mark of the fourth quarter in Game 1, and now they need to do something even more unlikely than what the Knicks did at the end of that game.
The Knicks are already a talented team, and they’re winning on the margins too.
New York never trailed and “Let’s Go Knicks” rang around Rocket Arena at multiple points from the many confident Knicks fans who made the trip. A smothering second-half performance had the Cleveland fans heading for the exits with two minutes left.
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The Cavs can only hope they come back for Game 4.
Here’s how Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals went down at Yahoo Sports:
Live coverage is over38 updatesSat, May 23, 2026 at 5:19 PM PDT
Jack Baer
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 7:46 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports
New York goes up 3-0 in the East finals after another dominant performance, and the Knicks are one game away from their first NBA Finals since 1999.
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 7:43 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 7:38 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports
The Knicks are just running all over the Cavs, with Jalen Brunson picking up his 27th point as the home team appears to have checked out for the evening.
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 7:29 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports
The Knicks have opened up a 17-point lead with about five and a half minutes to go.
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 7:25 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports
Landry Shamet has back-to-back 3s for New York as it maintains a healthy fourth-quarter lead.
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 7:13 PM PDT
Yahoo Sports
So far, not so much. New York has built a 14-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 7:08 PM PDT
Jack Baer
The Cavaliers officially need a big comeback in the fourth quarter to avoid needing an unprecedented comeback in the series. Jalen Brunson appears full online and leads all scorers with 21 points.
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 7:01 PM PDT
Jack Baer
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 6:53 PM PDT
Jack Baer
Jalen Brunson drives through the paint for a contested lay-up and the Knicks have their largest lead of the game at 12 points.
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 6:50 PM PDT
Jack Baer
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 6:44 PM PDT
Jack Baer
The Cavs cut the deficit a little out of the half but the Knicks are responding. OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridgers are both up to 16 points.
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 6:21 PM PDT
Jack Baer
The Cavaliers fought back and tied it, but never actually took a lead. A late Knicks run has New York up by six at the half, with James Harden leading all scorers on 14. Harden is also upset about not getting a foul call on a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
OG Anunoby leads with Knicks with 13 points.
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 6:13 PM PDT
Jack Baer
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 6:12 PM PDT
Jack Baer
Credit to the Cavaliers, this is the form they’ve needed to show ever since that Game 1 horror show. Still plenty of game left, and the Knicks are still up by 2, but they need any momentum they can find.
James Harden leads all scorers with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 6:09 PM PDT
Jack Baer
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 6:07 PM PDT
Jack Baer
Donovan Mitchell went to the locker room, but is back on the bench and doesn’t seem too bothered. Per ESPN, he says he’s OK.
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 6:01 PM PDT
Jack Baer
A 7-0 run has the Cavaliers down by only 2 with 6:42 left until halftime. Jarrett Allen leads them with 10 points, and they’ve finally caused the Knicks to start missing.
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 5:59 PM PDT
Jack Baer
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 5:55 PM PDT
Jack Baer
Towns just picked up two fouls in less than a minute, so in comes Mitchell Robinson.
Sat, May 23, 2026 at 5:48 PM PDT
Jack Baer
Check that, the Knicks are back down to 37 points after a review found Karl-Anthony Towns didn’t get their last basket off in time.