Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks are back on the NBA’s biggest stage. New York swept the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0 to win the Eastern Conference championship and reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, closing the series with a 130-93 rout in Game 4.
The result gives the Knicks something they had not had in a quarter-century, and it arrives with Brunson at the center of it. He was named Eastern Conference finals MVP after steering a run that opened with a 115-104 overtime win in Game 1, followed by 109-93 in Game 2, 121-108 in Game 3 and the decisive blowout in Game 4. For readers checking nba scores today, the series was not close after the opener: New York controlled every game and left Cleveland with no win in the conference finals.
The timing matters because the Finals begin June 3 on ABC, and the East is now settled while the other side of the bracket is not. The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs were still fighting for the Western Conference berth, with Game 7 scheduled for May 30 in Oklahoma City at 8:00 p.m. ET on NBC/Peacock. That means New York can start preparing for an opponent it does not yet know, a rare pause in a postseason that usually moves one round into the next without much room to breathe.
There is also a clean contrast in how the two conference races ended. The Knicks finished their work in four games, while the West needed one last night to decide who would meet them. The playoff format leaves no reseeding, and the next opponent will arrive through the same best-of-seven grind the Knicks just finished. For New York, the hard part is already done. For Brunson, the history is written, and the only question left is which team gets the first chance to answer it.
