Brunson’s 14 – Jalen Brunson went score-still for stretches and finished with 19 points, but his playoff-high 14 assists helped the Knicks beat the Cavaliers 109-93 in Game 3 of the 2026 Eastern Conference Finals—putting New York two wins from its first NBA Finals trip since
NEW YORK — Jalen Brunson didn’t start the way most nights end for him.
On the first possession of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. he jogged to the right corner. waited for Josh Hart to screen his man. Cleveland’s Dean Wade. and then took a handoff from OG Anunoby before squaring up with the switching James Harden. At Madison Square Garden, the crowd made a noise that sounded like the city was leaning into celebration. Brunson dribbled left. beat the man he destroyed in his 38-point performance in Game 1. lofted a floater over Jarrett Allen. and the Knicks grabbed a 2-0 lead.
Even during the afternoon, the NBA’s own reminder had been floating around: Brunson had scored more fourth-quarter postseason points (416) over the last four years than any other player. But Thursday night’s early rhythm felt like it might not wait until the final 12 minutes to show itself.
Then, over the balance of the first half, the game changed.
Brunson missed his next five field-goal attempts and didn’t score another point. He would finish the Knicks’ 109-93 victory with 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting, including 1 of 7 from 3-point range. For him, it was a modest stat line—fine only because the number that mattered sat elsewhere.
It was 14.
Brunson’s assist total was a personal playoff high.
By the time the Knicks were rolling, the feel of the game had moved under his feet. Brunson “felt the game,” realized Hart was having his own night—Hart scored 26 points—and let it unfold in New York’s favor for their ninth consecutive playoff victory.
“That’s what great players do. right?” said Kenny Atkinson. the losing coach. after watching Game 1’s strategy get shredded by the same opponent again on Thursday night. Atkinson said the matchup read like this: the opponent loaded up more on Brunson. took away some scoring options. blitzed him. and presented different looks—yet Brunson made the right calls.
“They read the game, and the game dictated that,” Atkinson said. “Obviously, we were loaded up more to him, and he found other guys. … Took away some of his scoring options, blitzed him, gave him different looks. He made the right reads, the right plays.”
In New York, the storyline is often about how many points a star can drop. Brunson’s night insisted on something else.
Miles McBride put it plainly: “He’s about winning.” McBride said the Knicks knew that from the jump. Brunson was one of the best scorers in the league, but what stood out was how he handled double-teams—still choosing to give up the ball when it was coming.
“He’s willing to just be selfless and give up the ball when guys are double-teaming him,” McBride said. “We knew that from the jump. … proves that he just wants to win.”
Mikal Bridges offered the same idea from a different angle—how Brunson punishes how defenses decide to play him.
“A great message. ” Bridges said of what the captain’s 14-assist night meant after a Game 1 performance that capped at 38 points. Bridges added that if Cleveland didn’t send a double-team, it became an advantage for Brunson. If Cleveland did send a double-team, Bridges said, Brunson read it, reacted, and found the open man.
“Ever since I’ve known him, he’s played the right way,” Bridges said. “If you’re not going to send a double-team, I think it’s an advantage for him. If you send a double-team. he’s going to read and react and find the open guy and play the right way. … If you’re going to keep helping off. he’s going to make you pay. and that’s what makes him great.”.
That shift—from scoring to sharing—landed right when the stakes were highest. Brunson had arrived in New York in the summer of 2022 after being a former second-round pick. and a lot of smart basketball people weren’t sure he could be the second-best player on a championship team. Now, the sense around the Knicks is that he can be more than that.
It’s why the season’s math feels different: Brunson’s team is now two victories away from its first trip to the NBA Finals since 1999.
The way it’s forming in the playoffs also changes how his place in Knicks history is being measured. It only took him four seasons to earn a spot among the Knicks’ “forever titans.” The piece of this story that can’t be ignored is the leap itself—Brunson, at age 29, has time to climb even higher.
If the Knicks win their first championship since 1973, Brunson will be right there with Mark Messier, the lion who ended a 54-year New York Rangers drought by winning the 1994 Stanley Cup. And his coach, Mike Brown, doesn’t frame the progress like a surprise.
“I’m Linus and Jalen’s my blanket,” Brown said earlier in the playoffs.
He described Brunson as something that steadies the entire operation—helping Brown relax at different moments and keeping games poised.
“That’s what great players do. They keep you poised and make the game easier for everybody else,” Brown said.
Brown’s take on Thursday night was direct: Brunson was doing the job of an MVP-level player, not by forcing the issue, but by making the game easier for teammates and for the coach.
“He was making the game easier for his teammates (and coach) by not forcing the issue and by getting the ball to the people who saw the rim better than Brunson did,” Brown’s view continued.
Brunson explained Cleveland’s strategy in his own terms—two bodies to the ball.
“I mean, they’re presenting two to the ball,” Brunson said. “I was able to find my teammates. They were knocking shots down. Just trying to create an advantage by putting two on the ball, trusting them to have to make the play.”
The sequence of the night adds up like something more than just numbers. Brunson scored half the points in Game 2 that he scored in Game 1, and still came away as the night’s big winner. Now he’s closing hard on a special place in New York sports history. Good luck stopping him.
Jalen Brunson Knicks Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals Game 3 109-93 14 assists 416 fourth-quarter points James Harden OG Anunoby Dean Wade
14 assists is basically cheating.
I didn’t even know the Knicks were in the Eastern Conference Finals like that. 109-93 though, that’s a whoopin’. Brunson had 14 assists?? Makes me think Cleveland got tired or something.
So was this game actually Game 3 or like… the one where he jogged to the right corner? The article jumps around a lot. But if he had 416 fourth quarter points then how is nobody else smoking him in the 4th? Also “James Harden” on the Cavs?? I thought Harden was still in Houston or whatever lol.
Knicks fans are gonna act like it’s the first time ever they’ve made a Finals. “Two wins from its first NBA Finals trip since NEW YORK” what does that even mean? Like since the city? Either way, 19 points and 14 assists sounds like they weren’t even letting Cleveland play defense, just passing all day.