KAT & Brunson Lead Knicks to Easy Road Win. NY 109 Cleveland 97

November 8, 2026 LouV 2026-27 0

Karl-Anthony Towns dominated in the 1st quarter, Jalen Brunson dominated in the 2nd quarter, and both took turns dominating throughout the 2nd half as the Knicks withstood a 21-pt Donovan Mitchell 4th quarter outburst to easily beat the Cavaliers 109-97 on a Saturday night in Cleveland.

NY took a 19-pt lead late in the 3rd, had an 18-pt lead entering the 4th, and a 15-pt lead with 4:30 left; the closest Mitchell’s scoring spree was able to get Cleveland was 8 pts down with under 2 minutes left.

KAT finished with 29 pts (11-21 shooting, 2-4 from 3, 5-5 in free throws) with 13 rebounds, and Brunson had 31 pts (12-25 shooting, 3-7 from 3, 4-5 in free throws) with 9 assists while Mitchell had 37 pts (13-22 shooting, 5-13 from 3, but 6-11 in free throws).

OG Anunoby had 15 pts, and Jordan Clarkson, Mikal Bridges, and Landry Shamet had 9 pts each — all coming up with big buckets to help NY build and maintain its big lead. Andre Drummond had 8 rebounds, a block and 2 steals in 14 minutes off the bench, and Miles McBride, Tyler Kolek, and Mohamed Diawara all played well to help gain the win.

Evan Mobley was limited to 12 pts on 5-11 shooting (1-5 from 3). Jarrett Allen was out. James Harden scored only 7 pts on 2-9 shooting with low energy on offense and was a sieve on defense. Cleveland was playing the 2nd of back-to-back games.

“Ugly game but a good win by our guys,” said coach Mike Brown afterwards. “We did a nice job taking care of the ball in the 1st half. We got great production from our bench — Miles was good for us; Mo was good for us; Landry was good; and Jordan (Clarkson) was good — and our defensive player of the game was Andre Drummond; just a heck of a performance from him. Our guys are buying into our ability to crash and make good offense come off of missed shots. We had 26 2nd-chance points off of 16 offensive rebounds.”

“They have solutions,” said Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson. “Their continuity — they have those 3 guys who played in college together — they just have great, great chemistry; they’re on a string on both ends. The rebounding thing really gives them an advantage. Seems like the last 3 or 4 games against them we go toe-to-toe with them but they beat us on the boards. We got to find a way to rebound better. Sure they got size; sure they got talented guys — but they got Kolek and Brunson and McBride going in there and getting rebounds.”

NY improves to 5-4; Cleveland falls to 5-5.

1. KAT Carries Knicks in 1st But Cavs Lead by 1

The game went back and forth in the 1st quarter, with Cleveland getting its early scoring from guards Peyton Watson and Meleek Thomas, who were hitting deuces and 3’s — to go along with Donovan Mitchell buckets and a 3 by Tyrese Proctor that tied the game at 19-19.

But Karl-Anthony Towns was going nuts inside and out for the Knicks. His powering dunk-and-1 with 1:21 left in the 1st tied the game at 24 and was the dynamic play of the game.

“Karl-Anthony Towns keeping his defender on their heels and at his mercy here,” noted NBA Analyst Ross Kreines. “After catching, turns and faces, zero thought of settling, shot fake, no wasted dribbles, then punishes the rim along with his defender and help while finishing through contact. Keep your man on their heels.”

KAT scored 14 points in the 1st quarter, but a late bucket by Thomas Bryant put Cleveland up 27-26 after 1.

2. Cavs Up 5 in 2nd Before Brunson Outburst Puts NY Up 13

And KAT continued to score at will inside to start the 2nd — getting 2 buckets early in the period.

But Cleveland kept pace with NY and in fact took a 6-pt lead at 36-30.

Andre Drummond came in 3 minutes into the 2nd quarter and played some great defense — rebounding, picking up 2 steals (both off James Harden), and blocking a Harden shot.

Meanwhile Jalen Brunson started to GO OFF. NY was down by 5 pts at 39-34 with 6:50 left in the 2nd when Brunson came in and hit a 3, made a couple of free throws off a drive, hit a couple of deuces, hit another 3, and then a hit 3-and-1 for a 4-pt play that gave NY a 50-45 lead.

Brunson — who was 1-6 in the 1st period — would score 18 pts in the 2nd. Clarkson and OG hit 3’s late in the period as NY went up by 13 before a James Harden 3 with 1.8 seconds left pulled Cleveland to 10 pts down at the half.

3. KAT & Brunson & Knicks Go Up 19 in 3rd

Evan Mobley and Peyton Watson got buckets to start the 3rd, pulling the Cavs to 6 pts down — but NY started to dominate with KAT and then Brunson getting bucket after bucket as NY pushed its lead back to 13.

A Landry Shamet 3 put NY up by 16 with 3:23 left in the 3rd.

A Mo Diawara drive, followed by a KAT drive, followed by a Landry Shamet 3 off a KAT steal and pass put NY up by 19 pts. The Knicks led by 18 as the 3rd quarter ended.

4. Mitchell Scores 21 in 4th But Knick Lead Only Dented to 8 Pts

NY held a 16-pt lead with 10 minutes left in the 4th when Donovan Mitchell started to GO OFF — hitting back-to-back 3’s and a deuce — with Jordan Clarkson countering with consecutive deuces for the Knicks.

A KAT 3 and a Clarkson 3 kept NY’s lead at 16 — 100-84 — with 5:29 left.

But Mitchell kept coming no matter who NY put on him — McBride, Shamet, Mikel Bridges, OG, double teams, pack the paint, blitzes — didn’t matter. Mitchell hit a 3 and a deuce and another 3 and Cleveland was within 102-92 with 3:17 left.

But Brunson took charge for NY down the stretch, scoring consecutive buckets on drives — including a floater on a drive to keep NY’s lead at 102-87, and a pullup to give NY a 104-92 lead with 2:52 left.

Drummond Defense

Andre Drummond’s defense was key again in the 4th quarter. He came in with 6:11 left and played great D against inside — causing an Evan Mobley miss with pulled down 3 key defensive rebounds and grabbed an offensive rebound with 5:33 left that led to a Landry Shamet 3 that put NY up 100-84. Drummond was replaced by OG with 2:15 left.

Mitchell came back with another bucket, and when Peyton Watson hit a deuce Cleveland was 8 pts down with 1:53 left.

That’s when Mikal Bridges made a CLUTCH jumper in the lane off a Brunson assist to quell the rally

Mitchell was fouled on a drive, but missed the 1st of 2 free throws with 1:27 left — keeping NY up by 9 at 106-97, then Brunson did the same thing — missing the 1st but making the 2nd of 2 free throws with 52 seconds left to put NY up by 10 — for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

The Cavs also rolled out former Knick Mario Hezonja as first man off the bench. NY announcers announced he had filled out — putting on 20 to 30 pounds playing in Europe since NY last saw him. Hezonja was 0-6 (0-5 from 3) for 0 pts.

It was an interesting side note as Kristaps Porzingis — whom the Knicks drafted #4 over Hezonja who went #5 by Orlando in the 2015 draft — retired the prior day.

KAT was the #1 pick in that draft — the player NY thought it would draft all year as the Knicks had the worst record in the NBA all season until Minnesota tanked the last 3o games while Jeff Hornacek‘s Knicks got religion and was 3-3 in their last 6 games. Minnesota ended up with the worst record and thus had a 52% chance at the #1 pick in the lottery, while NY finished 2nd worst with only a 17% chance at the top pick but highest chance (26%) at the #4 pick which is the one they got.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401909940

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