Heroes and zeros from the Knicks’ 121-108 Game 3 win over the Cavaliers on Saturday night in Cleveland:
Hero
It was classic Jalen Brunson.
He might not have started all that well, missing four of his first five shots, but he took control when the game was on the line.
Brunson scored 18 of his game-high 28 points in the second half, and shot 10-for-19 from the field.
His best play was an assist, an alley-oop feed to Mitchell Robinson when the entire arena thought he was going to shoot.
The play beat the third-quarter buzzer and pushed the Knicks lead to nine.
The Cavaliers never threatened again.
Zero
James Harden was yet again severely outplayed by Brunson.
He had six more turnovers and went scoreless in the fourth quarter.
On a night the Cavaliers needed The Beard’s best, he didn’t show up for most of the second half.
Unsung hero
It feels like months ago that coach Mike Brown was considering benching Mikal Bridges.
The two-way wing is in the midst of his best stretch as a Knick.
He continued to shine Saturday night, scoring 22 points on 11-for-15 shooting.
Bridges is shooting an absurd 68.2 percent from the field over the past 10 games.
Key stat
29.3: The Cavaliers’ 3-point shooting percentage in this series.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
