Knicks, Cavaliers open East finals at Madison Square Garden, where they began with high expectations

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers were sent to face Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks in a nationally televised season opener and again to kick off Christmas, NBA schedule makers clearly viewing that as the Eastern Conference's marquee matchup.

Good guess, it turns out.

The Cavaliers and Knicks will be back under the same bright lights of Madison Square Garden where they began the season Tuesday, this time for Game 1 of the conference finals.

“It's go-time now,” Brunson said Monday.

The Knicks have been on a record-setting playoff rampage. The Cavaliers, bolstered by the acquisition of James Harden, surged late in the season and powerfully ousted Detroit, the East's No. 1 seed, in the second round.

That sent Mitchell into the conference finals for the first time and also sent him home. He's a native of Elmsford, New York, just down the road from where the Knicks practice.

“Yeah it’s great I get to play at home, woo, but it doesn’t matter,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got to be locked in and ready to go, and I know we will be.”

The Knicks finished third in the East and the Cavs fourth, well behind not only Detroit but also Boston. But seven months after the Knicks beat the Cavaliers in Mike Brown's first game as their coach, the teams have become who people thought they would be.

Cleveland began the season as the East's betting favorite, a spot it later reclaimed after acquiring Harden from the Los Angeles Clippers. The Knicks were the second choice entering the season but ascended to the top earlier in the postseason and the way they're playing it's clear why.

New York has won seven straight games and outscored Atlanta and Philadelphia by a combined 194 points, the largest margin ever through a team’s first 10 postseason games. The Knicks reached 140 points in both series clinchers.

“They’re rested and they’re a juggernaut right now," Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. “I mean, it’s just what it is. It’s hard to blow out teams in the playoffs like they’ve been blowing out. Point differential means something in this league.”

The Cavs were just good enough rather than great for most of this postseason, needing seven games to get by both Toronto and Detroit. But they won their final two road games against the 60-win Pistons, including a 125-94 rout in Game 7.

Jarrett Allen scored 23 points and Evan Mobley had 21 points and 12 rebounds, a reminder that the Cavs are way more than just their high-scoring backcourt.

“I remember back in the day when I was with Pop, Pop said you need three All-Stars to win a championship. Well, they've got four,” Brown said, referring to his time as an assistant to Gregg Popovich in San Antonio.

The Knicks beat the Cavs in five games in the 2023 first round, Brunson's first season in New York, improving to 4-0 in series between the teams. New York is 12-2 against Cleveland in playoff games, also winning series in 1978, 1995 and 1996.

Besides Mitchell, both coaches are going back to former homes. Brown had two stints coaching the Cavaliers, leading them to their first NBA Finals appearance in 2007. Atkinson is from Long Island and was an assistant to Mike D'Antoni with the Knicks who later got his first head coaching job with Brooklyn.

The Knicks haven't played since May 10. The Cavs have one full day off between rounds.

The time off helps the Knicks get healthy, with OG Anunoby fully practicing again after missing the final two games against Philadelphia with a strained right hamstring. But it might hurt a team that has been in such a good rhythm.

“I’ve been in both situations. I’ve been playing while the team is waiting and I’ve been waiting while a team is playing, and you can say a lot theoretically,” Brown said. “You could say that they’re going to be tired, but you can also say they have a competitive edge because they’ve been going at it for seven games and we’ve been off."

The Cavaliers have been getting of contributions well beyond Mitchell and Harden.

Mobley has been a force at both ends. He is averaging 17 points but leads the team in rebounding (8.0) and is tied in blocks (1.9). Allen has had two strong Game 7s but has also benefited from Harden wanting to force things closer to the basket.

Max Strus, Dennis Schroder and Sam Merrill have also provided valuable minutes off the bench. Strus had key steals in the Game 3 and 5 wins over the Pistons. Schroeder is providing another veteran ballhandler when Harden and Mitchell are on the bench, while Merrill has a 40.4% accuracy rate on 3-pointers.

AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy in Cleveland contributed to this report.

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New York Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns, left, tries to dunk against Philadelphia 76ers' Andre Drummond during the second half of Game 4 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden (1) drives to the basket against Detroit Pistons forward Duncan Robinson (55) during the second half of Game 7 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen (31) goes to the basket against Detroit Pistons during the second half of Game 7 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, May 17, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

New York Knicks' Miles McBride, left, and Jalen Brunson celebrate during the first half of Game 4 against the Philadelphia 76ers in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) celebrates as he walks off the court during the fourth quarter of Game 7 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series against the Detroit Pistons, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court acted in a Voting Rights Act case brought by Native American tribes on Monday, saying a closely watched ruling needs to be reconsidered after the high court weakened the Civil Rights-era law.

The justices ordered lower courts to take another look at the decision that went against the tribes and undercut a key enforcement mechanism: lawsuits from voters and advocacy groups.

They've been key to enforcement, bringing most of the lawsuits filed under the provision of the Voting Rights Act known as Section 2.

But in a North Dakota case brought by two Native American tribes, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that only the federal government can sue to enforce the law.

The decision conflicted with decades of case law. The Supreme Court blocked it in July, allowing the tribes’ preferred maps to temporarily stay in place.

An attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, Lenny Powell, said sending the case back was the right call, and vowed to “keep fighting to ensure that Native voters have the ability to vote and effect change in their communities."

The appeals court’s finding has nevertheless been cited elsewhere, with Mississippi making a similar argument in another appeal over its state legislative map. The court also sent that case back for reconsideration on Monday. The decision jeopardizes three new majority-Black state legislative districts, though the effects likely won't be felt until 2027, said Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the decisions, writing that both rulings should have been reversed.

The conservative majority, meanwhile, has already diluted enforcement power with their April decision that struck down a majority Black congressional district in Louisiana and made future cases much harder to win.

In that case, the high court’s conservative majority ruled that map relied too heavily on race with a district aimed at giving Black voters a chance to elect a candidate of their choice. The decision effectively limited Voting Rights claims to maps that are intentionally designed to discriminate, a very high standard.

Associated Press writers Gary Fields and Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed to this report.

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen Friday, May 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)