CLEVELAND — A terrifying moment turned into a gutsy victory for the Knicks.
With Jalen Brunson suffering a game-ending knee injury in the first minute — one that was later diagnosed as a left knee contusion following negative X-rays — the Knicks rode a triple-double and master-class effort from Josh Hart, escaping Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse with a 107-98 win Sunday.
Brunson collapsed on the court and was initially called “questionable to return” with a sore knee, an update that changed to “will not return” by the third quarter.
Already down three starters because of injuries, the Knicks took big lead in the that quarter and never gave it up, snapping a two-game slide to hold on to fourth in the East.
“It’s huge. You look at it, we’re down four starters, they’re down one starter,” Donte DiVincenzo said. “You look at the matchups and the thing about us, we’re gritty.”
As DiVincenzo alluded, the surging Cavaliers were playing without Donovan Mitchell, who missed his second straight game with a sore knee.
They were also without injured sixth man Caris LeVert for the nationally televised contest.
So the star power was absent on both sides, and Hart rose to the moment.
He not only stuffed the box score with 19 rebounds, 10 assists and 13 points in 45 minutes, Hart was responsible for the two game-winning plays — a contested 3-pointer over lengthy Evan Mobley with 1:36 remaining to give the Knicks a six-point lead, then a steal on the ensuing Cavaliers possession.
It was Hart’s third triple-double of the season, all coming since Jan. 30.
“Some guys get going by knocking down a shot. Honestly, I really get going by getting a defensive rebound, getting rebounds,” Hart said. “Now I feel like I’m kinda getting myself into the game. So that’s part of it. And I feel pretty confident right now. I’ve been working my butt off the last two, three, four weeks, just getting back to the basics, getting back to rotation. I felt like I shot the ball well today. Had a couple — had the shot clock ones I just had to throw up, but for me, I get going more so by just kinda like toughness plays.”
After his big 3-pointer over Mobley, Hart turned to the Cavaliers’ bench and had a few comments. One was admiration over Mitchell’s gold chain.
“I saw Donovan and obviously that’s my guy and then I saw the chain and I was like, ‘Ooh! That’s nice,’ ” Hart said.
Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff said before tipoff that he was making it a priority to limit Hart.
It didn’t work.
“He’s the heart and spirit to that team, so what our focus is is trying to keep him out of the game and not let him make the hustle plays and outwork us and get the Knicks going,” Bickerstaff said. “You’ve got to keep him off the boards because he does a great job of crashing and his team feeds off of that.”
Miles McBride replaced Brunson and played the final 47-plus minutes, finishing with 16 points — including the dagger trey with 33 seconds remaining.
DiVincenzo led all scorers with 28 points in 39 minutes.
It was the first meeting against the Cavaliers since Nov. 1, and circumstances have changed. Cleveland entered Sunday second in the East, riding a top-level defense to its hot streak.
The Knicks, besieged by injuries, have struggled lately but still got up for Cleveland, the same place where they dominated last year’s playoffs. The Cavaliers were punked in that first-round series and carried a chip on their shoulders heading into the season, specifically against the Knicks.
But they did nothing about it Sunday. The Cavs cut the deficit to three with 4:40 left, but the Knicks gave up just two points for the remainder.
“When you’re shorthanded your margin for error is small. So you have to play with great intensity, great concentration on every play. That’s the one thing I’m proud of,” Thibodeau said. “These guys, we haven’t had our starting front line for a long time, so add in Jalen. But the guys who were in there got the job done.”
