NBA Finals Game 1: The Team That Ended Us Won’t Stop Winning
Look, I told myself I wasn’t going to watch. I lied. Of course I watched. Cleveland sports fans are emotional masochists — it’s practically in our city charter. And there they were, the New York Knicks, using a late surge to beat the San Antonio Spurs 105-95 for their 12th consecutive win in these playoffs. Twelve straight. You know when that streak started, right? When they started beating us.
Here’s what happened in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, because I apparently hate myself:
- Jalen Brunson: Trailed by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, but Brunson scored 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, including a dagger corner three. The man is a problem.
- Karl-Anthony Towns: Had 18 points and 14 rebounds, including 10 points in the third quarter, helping New York tie the game after trailing by double-digits.
- Josh Hart: Finished with three points, 15 rebounds, six assists, and four steals in 27 minutes — the first player in NBA history to record that stat line in a playoff game in under 30 minutes. Three points! Fifteen boards! This man is chaos incarnate.
- Victor Wembanyama: Had 26 points and 12 rebounds in his NBA Finals debut, but was just 6 for 21 from the floor.
- Series status: Knicks lead 1-0. Game 2 Friday in San Antonio.
New York’s 12th straight postseason win ties the 1998-99 Spurs for the second-longest playoff winning streak in a single postseason in NBA history. The franchise is battling for its first NBA championship in 53 years. Must be nice to only wait 53 years. Some of us have been waiting since 2016 and still see Jose Mesa in our nightmares.
Meanwhile, Back in Cleveland…
Here’s the thing about the 2025-26 Cavaliers: this team had no business being boring, and it wasn’t. They finished fourth in the East with a 52-30 record — not the 64-18 juggernaut from last season, but this was always going to be a recalibration year. On February 4, they traded Darius Garland and a second-round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers for James Harden, a swing-for-the-fences move that said: we’re going for it.
And go for it they did. Donovan Mitchell averaged 27.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game in 70 regular-season appearances — a monster year from Spida. Harden added 20.5 PPG, Evan Mobley continued his ascent with 18.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.7 blocks, and Jarrett Allen anchored the interior with 8.5 rebounds per game.
The playoff run? Pure Cleveland. They defeated the Toronto Raptors in the first round and overcame a 2-0 series deficit against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons in the semifinals, each in seven games. Mitchell dropped 43 points in a pivotal Game 4 win over Detroit. They advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2018 and the first time without LeBron James on their roster since 1992. I’m not going to pretend I didn’t cry during that Game 7.
Then came New York. The season ended with a whimper as the Cavaliers were swept by the Knicks in four games. The Knicks’ defensive switching suffocated Mitchell and Harden, and their depth overwhelmed our bench. That Game 4 — a 130-93 loss — wasn’t just a defeat. It was a funeral.
So where do we go? The core of Mitchell, Mobley, and Allen is young enough. Merrill is under contract for three more years. The Harden experiment showed flashes but needs a full offseason. This team’s ceiling is a championship. Its floor is another Cleveland heartbreak. You know which one I’m bracing for.
But here’s my cautiously optimistic Cleveland take: this team made the Conference Finals without its original point guard, integrated a Hall of Famer midseason, and clawed back from 2-0 against Detroit. They’re close. They’re really close. And if you’re from Cleveland, you know “really close” is either a promise or a curse. We’ll be back. We always come back. It’s the getting over the top that haunts us.
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