The wildest numbers of the Knicks' 22-point comeback vs. the Cavaliers in Game 1

The Cleveland Cavaliers would probably like that one back.

With fewer than eight minutes left in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, Cleveland led the New York Knicks by the score of 93-71. Victory is supposed to be assured in that case, especially when you are the underdog in hostile territory.

And yet… here we are. A furious comeback in the fourth quarter led to an emphatic beatdown in overtime, with the Knicks notching a 115-104 win to take a 1-0 lead. Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).

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There’s no telling how the Cavaliers come back from this. Donovan Mitchell looked hurt. James Harden looked like a caricature of playoff James Harden. Jalen Brunson scored at will. So much happened in Game 1, so let’s go through the numbers.

Here are the wildest numbers out there from one of the loudest nights in Madison Square Garden history.

44-11

Remember when the Cavaliers took that 22-point lead? The Knicks proceeded to outscore them 44-11 for the rest of the game.

4

The Knicks’ 22-point comeback is their largest comeback playoff win in franchise history. It’s also the fourth time they’ve come back from down 20-plus in the past two postseasons.

1

It was a 30-8 fourth-quarter run that saw the Knicks force OT. Let’s just say Kenny Atkinson didn’t seem interested in talking things out as that was happening.

1-for-10

Mitchell and Harden are the two players who are supposed to make everything happen on offense for the Cavaliers. During the Knicks’ 44-11 run, they combined for three points (via Harden) on 1-for-10 shooting with 0 assists and 2 turnovers.

And that’s without getting into what was happening on defense.

17

Brunson finished with 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting and 4 assists during that same span.

1.9

In the world of advanced metrics, one point per possession is often treated as the line between good and bad. So nearly doubling it is quite good, if you’re on offense. Anyway, here’s footage of the Knicks hunting Harden like a wounded pheasant.

+6.5

The Cavaliers entered this game as 6.5-point underdogs. Even when the Knicks forced OT, Cleveland’s backers still had reason for confidence. And then the team came out for the extra five minutes just as lifeless as they were in the fourth quarter.

2

Both Game 1s of the NBA conference finals went to OT, between this and the San Antonio Spurs’ double-overtime win on Monday. That is not something that happened before.

25.5%

There’s no hard definition of a rough game by NBA standards, but we can at least posit that no teams wants a player to have as many turnovers as made field goals. For the 48th playoff games of his career, Harden did it Tuesday with 6 turnovers and 5 makes on Tuesday.

With 188 career appearance, that’s a rate of more than a quarter of his games.

4-747

122.6

A 122.6-point difference in offensive rating is… not what you want.

24

The only bigger fourth-quarter comeback than Tuesday in NBA playoff history: the Los Angeles Clippers coming back from 24 down to beat the Memphis Grizzlies in 2012, in Game 1 of a first-round series. The Clippers won that series in seven games.