Knicks rally from 22-point deficit to beat Cavaliers in Game 1

The New York Knicks defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-104 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, erasing a 93-71 deficit with 7:52 left to play in regulation.

The Cavaliers blew a 22-point fourth-quarter lead. Donovan Mitchell did not mince words about the collapse.

"I said it in the locker room, just that we lost, we f–king blew it," Mitchell said in his postgame news conference.

Mitchell scored 29 points and had six steals in the loss. The Cavaliers were in control through 40 minutes as their defense stifled the Knicks offense.

"We could’ve lost by 40. It still would’ve been 1-0," Mitchell said. "Watch the film. We played pretty solid for three quarters or so. We’ll make adjustments and go from there."

The 29-year-old said he does not want one quarter to affect the rest of the series.

"It’s one loss. It’s a bad loss, but all we can do is go back and watch the film and fix it," Mitchell said. "That can’t happen. But it did. We play in two days. We can’t sit here and let it kill our momentum, kill what we’ve been doing. It’s not a good loss, but we got to go out there and respond for Game 2."

Jalen Brunson sparked the Knicks comeback, scoring 16 of his game-high 38 points in the fourth quarter. The Knicks went on a 44-11 run in the fourth quarter and overtime to complete the stunning comeback.

The only bigger fourth-quarter playoff comeback in the last 30 years was the Los Angeles Clippers rally from 24 down to beat the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 1 of the first round in 2012.

The Knicks came from 20 points behind three times last year in the postseason. Those were their largest comebacks on record since 1969-70, when they won their first of two NBA titles.

The Cavaliers will try to bounce back in Game 2 against the Knicks on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET.