BBNBA Playoffs: KAT's double-double powers Knicks to blowout Game 2 win

Karl-Anthony Towns is only two wins away from making his first-ever NBA Finals appearance.

Behind 18 points and 13 rebounds from Towns on Thursday night in Madison Square Garden, the (3) New York Knicks took a commanding 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals, cruising past the (4) Cleveland Cavaliers by a final score of 109-93. KAT shot 7-12 from the field and 3-5 from deep to reach his 18 points, 13 of those coming in the first half. It was a far more effective offensive performance from the former Kentucky big man, who could only muster up 13 points on 6-14 shooting in a historic comeback victory for the Knicks in Game 1.

After Jalen Brunson torched Cleveland in the fourth quarter and overtime of Game 1, erasing a 22-point deficit in the process, the Cavaliers loaded up on the All-Star point guard in Game 2. It didn’t matter. Brunson put on his facilitator hat, dishing out a playoff career-high 14 assists to go along with his 19 points. Josh Hart was shooting uncontested threes all night long, finishing with a playoff career-high of 26 points on 5-11 outside shooting.

But the best part came after the final buzzer went off, when KAT mentioned former Kentucky head coach John Calipari, who was sitting courtside with the likes of Patrick Ewing and John Starks, during his postgame interview after Hart tossed out a hilarious Jay Wright quote.

Josh Hart: "I'm not gonna lie that was Jay Wright's quote."

Karl-Anthony Towns: "Wait, hold up no we not moving on from that."

JH: "That's a great quote."

KAT: "I was with Cal, so I ain't hear that."

JH: "You ain't even go to college." 🤣

(via @NBA)pic.twitter.com/ZgohsqNMBN https://t.co/VB9mfDP933

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 22, 2026

The Cavs were in control for most of the first half and only trailed by four at halftime, but New York blew the game open in the middle of the third quarter. A tie ball-game quickly turned into an 18-0 run for the Knicks, which went on to lead by as many as 19 points before polishing off the victory by 16. New York, which has now won nine straight playoff games, is just two wins away from its first Finals berth since 1999.

“In our mind it’s 0-0. We’ve got to win the next game. It’s the most important game of the year and that’s how we treat it,” Towns said postgame.

Cleveland received 26 points from Donovan Mitchell and 18 more from James Harden. But role players such as Dean Wade, Max Strus, and Sam Merrill combined to shoot 2-14 from deep. The Cavs were in a 2-0 hole last series as well before fighting back to beat the Detroit Pistons in seven games, but New York is playing its best basketball of the season right now. The historic collapse in Game 1 isn’t going to inspire much optimism that Cleveland can make this a series, but the next two games do shift to Ohio.

We’ll see if that changes things for my favorite team. Getting swept in the playoffs is never fun.

Tonight in the NBA Playoffs

TIME/TV	MATCHUP	SERIES
8:30 p.m. ET | Peacock/NBC	(1) Thunder (Gilgeous-Alexander, Wallace) @ (2) Spurs (Fox: questionable, Johnson)	Tied 1-1