The NBA playoffs are underway in the East—and the higher seeds wasted no time making their intentions clear on Saturday.
The New York Knicks handled the Atlanta Hawks 113-102, and the Cleveland Cavaliers dispatched the Toronto Raptors 126-113 in two Eastern Conference first-round openers that both followed a similar script: early back-and-forth play, a decisive mid-game push from the favorite, and a late rally from the underdog that came too little, too late.
Brunson and Towns Put the Knicks in Control
Jalen Brunson picked up where his postseason résumé left off. The Knicks guard—who already owns the franchise record with eight 40-point playoff games—was nearly halfway to another by the end of the first quarter alone, making his first six shots and pouring in 19 points as New York opened a 30-24 lead. He finished with 28.
The Hawks kept it competitive into the second half, but that is when Karl-Anthony Towns took over. After shooting just 1-of-6 for six points before the break, Towns scored 19 of his 25 in the second half—including a three-point play and two three-pointers as part of a 10-0 burst that stretched the Knicks’ lead to 106-87 with about four and a half minutes remaining.
“We did a great job as a team just fighting and continuing to find ways to score and also impact winning,” Towns said.
OG Anunoby added 18 points and Josh Hart contributed 11 points and 14 rebounds for a Knicks side making their first postseason appearance under coach Mike Brown. For the Hawks, CJ McCollum led with 26 points and Jalen Johnson added 23—but a technical foul on McCollum for a hostile act and a stretch of poor foul shooting from Mitchell Robinson helped New York pull away when the game was still in the balance.
Atlanta cut the deficit to 106-98 late, but Towns scored again to restore the lead and put the game beyond reach.
“I like the way we came back at the end of the game,” said Hawks coach Quin Snyder. “They were resilient in that situation—it was just too little, too late.”
Brunson was not taking anything for granted heading into Monday’s Game 2. “We know that they’re going to be ready,” he said. “So quick turnaround and extreme focus.”
Mitchell and Strus Power Cleveland Past Toronto
In Cleveland, Donovan Mitchell did what Donovan Mitchell does in playoff openers. The Cavaliers guard scored 32 points—extending his own NBA record to nine straight series-opening games with at least 30 points—as Cleveland took Game 1 from the Toronto Raptors 126-113.
James Harden added 22 points and 10 assists, Evan Mobley finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, and Max Strus came off the bench to deliver 24 points—a playoff career high—in what was a remarkable performance given that Strus missed the first 67 games of the season with a broken left foot suffered in off-season training.
“When you see the work he’s put in all season, it’s for this moment,” Mitchell said of Strus. “You give him credit for his journey—it can be a lot on the mental for him to continue to stick with it.”
The game turned in a decisive 27–9 run spanning the final minute of the second quarter and the first seven minutes of the third. Strus scored 11 of those points, making all three of his three-pointers during the stretch as Cleveland went from a slim lead to a commanding one.
The Cavaliers’ largest advantage reached 24 points early in the fourth quarter—100-76—and never truly came under threat after that. Toronto, missing point guard Immanuel Quickley due to a hamstring strain, were held to a season-low three points off turnovers despite averaging a league-leading 18.9 per game entering the series.
“If we allow our opponent to score 126 points, it’s going to be tough to beat them,” said Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic. “We had a very bad start to the third quarter with lack of execution.”
Both Game 2s tip off Tuesday.
