The Cleveland Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell, bottom, steals the ball from the New York Knicks’ RJ Barrett during the first half of Game 1 in a first-round NBA playoffs series Saturday in Cleveland.
AP photo
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CLEVELAND — Jalen Brunson shook off foul trouble and scored 21 of his 27 in the second half, Julius Randle returned from an ankle injury to add 19 and the New York Knicks welcomed Cleveland back to the NBA playoffs by holding off the Cavaliers 101-97 on Saturday night in Game 1.
Brunson was limited to nine minutes in the first half, but hit several big shots down the stretch as the Knicks turned back Cleveland’s late rally led by Donovan Mitchell.
Randle was questionable up until pregame warmups, when he tested the left ankle he sprained two weeks ago. The All-Star forward looked like himself while pacing the No. 5-seeded Knicks, who fell behind 93-92 with 2:12 left.
With Mitchell making plays all over the floor, the Cavs were within 99-97 in the final seconds when Brunson missed a pull-up, but Randle grabbed his 10th rebound and passed to Quentin Grimes, who was fouled with four seconds left.
Grimes made both free throws as the Knicks finished off the Cavs and disappointed a raucous, towel-waving Cleveland crowd that came alive in the fourth quarter when Mitchell scored 14 to bring the Cavs back.
Mitchell finished with 38 for the Cavs, who returned to the playoff stage for the first time since the 2018 NBA Finals. It’s been a long road back for Cleveland, which wasn’t as hurt by its inexperience as lack of bench production from the bench.
Josh Hart added 17 points — and hit a big 3-pointer down the stretch — for New York, whose reserves outscored the Cavs 37-14.
Jarrett Allen had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Cleveland.
Game 2 is Tuesday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
Randle missed New York’s final five games after rolling his ankle on March 29, and the injury threatened to derail New York’s playoff hopes. However, he improved this week despite not taking much contact in practice and looked like himself from the outset.
Brunson picked up his second foul with 7:52 left in the first quarter, and coach Tom Thibodeau had no choice but to replace the guard, who scored a career-high 48 points against the Cavs on March 31 — the first game Randle missed.
The Cavs didn’t take advantage with Brunson out as New York reeled off 10 straight points and led 30-24 after one.
Brunson was back on the bench with his third foul midway through the second. Again, Cleveland failed to capitalize and the Knicks led 50-45 at half.
CELTICS 112, HAWKS 99
BOSTON — Jaylen Brown had 29 points and 12 rebounds, and the Boston Celtics capitalized on a woeful shooting performance by the Atlanta Hawks to hold on for ictory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round matchup.
Jayson Tatum scored 25 points, 21 in the first half. Derrick White finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds for Boston, which hosts Game 2 on Tuesday.
The No. 2-seeded Celtics led by as many as 32 points, pouncing on an Atlanta team that missed its first 10 3-point attempts and shot 5 of 29 from beyond the arc for the game.
Atlanta used a 32-12 run to cut the deficit to 96-84 on a three-point play by Bogdan Bogdanovic early in the fourth.
The Celtics got the lead back up to 107-87. It was 110-97 with less than two minutes to play when Atlanta’s De’Andre Hunter got free on fast break. But his layup attempt was blocked from behind by Marcus Smart.
Dejounte Murray led the Hawks with 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Trae Young added 16 points.
Despite Atlanta’s late push, the Celtics sizzled from all points on the floor, connecting on 13 3 pointers.
After dropping in his third 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the first half, Tatum spread his arms out wide as he backed down the court to a huge ovation from the TD Garden crowd.
A big part of Boston’s game plan coming in was neutralizing Young and Murray, Atlanta’s top two scorers. The Celtics did that and a lot more in the first three quarters.
Young, who was 10th in the NBA in scoring, missed his first six shots beyond the arc and was 5 of 18 from the field. Murray was 10 of 25 from the floor.
In a move to match Atlanta’s speed, Boston went small at the outset, White instead of big man Robert Williams in a lineup alongside Al Horford, Tatum, Brown and Smart.
It seemed to neutralize the Hawks’ attack.
Young had an especially rough start. He had a pass the first possession of the game stolen by Brown and had his first field goal attempt blocked by White on the way to missing his first six shots.
Atlanta coach Quin Snyder said before the game a point of emphasis would be not to turn down open 3s or be deterred by misses.
That wish was tested as Hawks shot 9 of 25 from the field in the opening period and 0 for 9 from beyond the arc as the Celtics took to a 29-19 lead.
With Young struggling, Boston found a rhythm early in the second, starting the quarter on a 25-10 run to increase their lead to 25.