The NBA Finals won't start until June 3, so the schedule will do something that the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers could not in recent weeks.
It'll prevent the New York Knicks from winning.
Click to Gallery
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) shoots during the second half of Game 4 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
New York Knicks center Ariel Hukporti dunks during the second half of Game 4 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
New York Knicks fans cheer during the second half of Game 4 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Tim Phillis)
Timothée Chalamet celebrates after Game 4 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Tim Phillis)
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, right, hugs New York Knicks guard Jordan Clarkson (00) after Game 4 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series in Cleveland, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Tim Phillis)
For a few days, anyway.
The Knicks are headed to the NBA Finals, and they're headed there on a roll like few others in league history. New York finished off a four-game sweep of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night, beating the Cavaliers 130-93 — and extending its winning streak to 11 games.
Knicks coach Mike Brown deferred all the credit to the players.
“They're just great, great human beings and they're obviously fantastic basketball players,” Brown said.
The Knicks beat the Hawks in six games in Round 1, then swept Philly in Round 2 and Cleveland for the East title.
And now, the Knicks wait for either Oklahoma City or San Antonio. The Western Conference champion won't be crowned until Thursday at the earliest, and the winner of that Thunder-Spurs series will play host to the Knicks in Game 1 of the NBA Finals next week.
The Knicks, who haven't lost since April 23 (they actually trailed the Hawks 2-1 in that first-round series after back-to-back one-point losses), are now in a very small club of teams heading into the title round on this kind of winning streak.
Only three other teams — the Los Angeles Lakers in 1989, the Lakers again in 2001 and Golden State in 2017 — have been on postseason winning streaks of at least 11 games going into the NBA Finals.
The Lakers went 11-0 in the first three rounds of the playoffs (the first round was best-of-five then) in 1989 before getting swept by Detroit in the finals. The 2001 Lakers also were 11-0 in the first three rounds, then lost Game 1 of the finals to Philadelphia, then swept the rest of that series on the way to the title.
And Golden State was 12-0 in Rounds 1-3 in 2017, then won the first three games of the finals against Cleveland — getting to 15-0 for the playoffs — before falling in Game 4 of the finals and finishing it off in Game 5.
New York isn't just winning. It is winning big. Really big.
The Knicks have outscored opponents by 262 points in this 11-game winning streak. It's the most lopsided 11-game span in NBA history — regular season or playoffs.
Boston outscored teams by 243 points in an 11-game stretch in 2024. Milwaukee had 11-game spans where it outscored teams by 230, 231 and 236 points (with some overlap during two of those streaks) in 1970-71.
Those Celtics and those Bucks went on to win NBA titles in those seasons.
The Knicks' average point differential in its pre-Finals playoff rounds this season was 19.4 points per game. The previous best in all rounds combined before the title round was a 16.3-point differential per game by Golden State in 2017.
The Knicks have won six consecutive road playoff games by double digits. No team in NBA history has ever had such a streak in the postseason.
They've won those games by a staggering 161 combined points.
The previous mark for consecutive double-digit road playoff wins was five, done twice — by Miami in 2013 (by a combined 75 points) and Golden State in 2017 (by a combined 88 points). Both of those clubs won NBA titles in those seasons.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) shoots during the second half of Game 4 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
New York Knicks center Ariel Hukporti dunks during the second half of Game 4 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
New York Knicks fans cheer during the second half of Game 4 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Tim Phillis)
Timothée Chalamet celebrates after Game 4 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Tim Phillis)
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, right, hugs New York Knicks guard Jordan Clarkson (00) after Game 4 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series in Cleveland, Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Tim Phillis)
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Houston Astros right-hander Tatsuya Imai and relievers Steven Okert and Alimber Santa combined to throw a no-hitter in a 9-0 win over the Texas Rangers on Monday night.
It was the first no-hitter in the major leagues since Shota Imanaga and two Chicago Cubs relievers combined for a 12-0 win over Pittsburgh on Sept. 4, 2024. No pitcher has tossed a complete-game no-hitter since Blake Snell for the San Francisco Giants against Cincinnati on Aug. 2, 2024.
The 23-year-old Santa fired two perfect innings and became the first pitcher to finish a no-hitter in his big league debut.
Imai went six innings in the 17th regular-season no-hitter in Astros history and fourth that was a combined effort. Houston also threw a no-hitter in the 2022 World Series when four pitchers combined against Philadelphia.
Ronel Blanco tossed the previous no-hitter for the Astros in a 10-0 victory over Toronto on April 1, 2024. In fact, Houston has authored three of the past seven major league no-hitters; Framber Valdez shut down Cleveland 2-0 on Aug. 1, 2023.
Okert worked the seventh after Imai got 16 outs over the last 16 batters he faced. He walked three of his first four batters but benefited from a double play in the first inning before settling into a groove.
Santa entered in the eighth and retired all six batters he faced. His 24th pitch was a called third strike against Brandon Nimmo that ended it after an ABS challenge by the batter was confirmed a strike.
BREWERS 5, CARDINALS 1
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jacob Misiorowski matched a career high with 12 strikeouts and carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning as Milwaukee defeated St. Louis.
Christian Yelich hit a two-run homer and Andrew Vaughn went 3 for 4 as the Brewers extended their NL Central lead over St. Louis to 2 1/2 games.
Misiorowski (5-2) threw 57 pitches of at least 100 mph, which represented the most in a single game since pitch tracking began in 2008. The previous record for 100-mph pitches in a single game was 47 by Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene against St. Louis on Sept. 17, 2022.
He reached a top velocity of 103.4 mph while allowing one run, two hits and one walk in seven innings. His ERA improved to 1.83.
Misiorowski started the game by walking JJ Wetherholt, but the Cardinals wouldn’t get another runner on base until Pedro Pagés hit a bloop single to lead off the sixth. The Cardinals got a run later in the sixth to end Misiorowski’s streak of consecutive scoreless innings at 29 1/3.
Teddy Higuera owns the Brewers record with 32 straight scoreless innings in 1987.
PIRATES 2, CUBS 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Henry Davis hit a go-ahead solo home run in the seventh inning, and Pittsburgh sent Chicago to its ninth straight loss with a victory.
Davis turned on a 91 mph cutter from Cubs reliever Trent Thornton (2-1) and sent it well over the right-field fence for his fourth home run of the season.
Pittsburgh’s bullpen made it stand up. Wilber Dotel (1-0) tossed three scoreless innings in relief to pick up the victory. Gregory Soto worked a perfect ninth for his sixth save as the Pirates beat the Cubs for the third time in four tries so far this season.
Brandon Lowe had two hits for Pittsburgh, including an RBI double. Spencer Horwitz also had a pair of hits and a handful of excellent plays at first base, all of them against Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong. Horwitz was perfectly positioned to snatch a couple of line drives and then made a brilliant diving grab on a sharp grounder before tossing to Dotel covering first to rob Crow-Armstrong of a hit.
ORIOLES 9, RAYS 7, 13 INNINGS
BALTIMORE (AP) — Colton Cowser hit a two-run game-winning homer in the 13th inning — his second walk-off shot in as many days — to give Baltimore a win over AL East-leading Tampa Bay.
Cowser’s 425-foot blast off Jesse Scholtens (5-3) was just his third homer of the season and punctuated a wild victory in which the Orioles rallied three times in extra innings.
Pete Alonso and Jeremiah Jackson each singled in a run to tie it at 4-all in the 11th. Cowser scored the game-tying run to make it 5-all in the 12th on Gunnar Henderson’s grounder to first, a sequence originally called an out by plate umpire Ryan Additon before a replay challenge showed the sliding Cowser snuck an arm under Nick Fortes’ tag.
Then, Leody Taveras doubled and Jackson Holliday hit a sacrifice fly to tie it a 7 in the 13th, setting up Cowser’s drive that landed in the seats in right-center, mirroring his game-winning homer in Sunday’s 5-3 victory over Detroit in the first game of a doubleheader.
WHITE SOX 3, TWINS 1
CHICAGO (AP) — Munetaka Murakami homered, Anthony Kay pitched six sparkling innings and Chicago stopped Minnesota’s four-game win streak with a victory.
Drew Romo also connected for Chicago in the opener of a seven-game homestand. Rikuu Nishida singled in the fourth for his first hit in a successful big league debut.
The White Sox have won seven in a row against the Twins for the first time since an eight-game streak in 1995. The opener of the four-game series was the first meeting of the AL Central teams this season.
Brooks Lee homered for Minnesota, which had won six of seven overall. Zebby Matthews (1-2) allowed three runs and five hits in six innings.
Murakami tied it at 1 when he connected for his 18th homer in the first, a 375-foot drive to right. It was the first homer for the Japanese rookie since he went deep twice during an 8-3 victory over the Cubs on May 16.
YANKEES 4, ROYALS 3
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Anthony Volpe answered Bobby Witt Jr.‘s go-ahead homer in the eighth with a two-run single in the ninth for New York, sending the Yankees to a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday and extending their winning streak to 12 in the series.
Jake Bird nearly squandered a strong start by Will Warren when he gave up Witt’s tiebreaking shot inside the left-field foul pole leading off the eighth inning.
But the Yankees promptly rallied off Lucas Erceg (3-2), starting with Paul Goldschmidt’s broken-bat hit and Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s one-out double before Volpe’s timely single to left field.
Tim Hill (2-2) earn the win while David Bednar worked around a two-out walk in the ninth to earn his 12th save of the season.
REDS 7, METS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Nick Lodolo won for the first time in four starts since returning from a blister, JJ Bleday and Tyler Stephenson homered off an ineffective Nolan McLean, and Cincinnati extended New York’ losing streak to four with a 7-2 victory Monday.
Mets star Juan Soto missed his second straight game because of illness and fellow outfielder Tyrone Taylor left with right hip pain after grounding out in the sixth inning. Taylor will undergo an MRI and is probably headed to the injured list, manager Carlos Mendoza said.
New York has scored four runs and struck out 41 times during its latest skid, dropping to 22-32 at the one-third mark — one shy of its season low of 11 games under .500 at 10-21. A big league-best 45-24 at the start of play on June 13 last year, the Mets are 60-87 since.
Lodolo (1-1) allowed one run and six hits with seven strikeouts and no walks, lowering his ERA from 7.20 to 5.57. He was sidelined from spring training until May 8 by a blister on his left index finger.
McLean (2-4) was charged with seven runs, five hits, two walks, two hit batters and one wild pitch in 3 1/3 innings, the shortest of his 19 big league starts. He has given up 13 earned runs in his last two outings, raising his ERA from 2.92 to 4.40.
DIAMONDBACKS 6, GIANTS 2
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Ketel Marte had four hits, including a tying double in the fifth inning and a two-run single in the sixth, and Merrill Kelly pitched seven strong innings to win his fourth straight start as surging Arizona beat San Francisco.
Kelly (5-3) allowed two runs on four hits, struck out four and walked two. He became the fourth pitcher in Arizona history to reach 1,000 innings.
It’s the second-longest winning streak of his eight-year career behind a stretch of five consecutive victories from May 15 to June 9, 2023. The veteran right-hander beat the Giants for the second time in six days and is 4-0 over his last six starts against San Francisco.
After Marte’s double in the fifth, Geraldo Perdomo singled one out later to put the Diamondbacks ahead 3-2. Adrian Del Castillo added an RBI single for Arizona, which won its third straight, ninth in 11 games and improved to 12-4 since May 9.
Corbin Carroll extended his majors-best and season-high hitting streak to 13 games. Marte, who has a nine-game hitting streak, produced three or more hits for a third consecutive game.
NATIONALS 10, GUARDIANS 2
CLEVELAND (AP) — Curtis Mead went deep twice for his first multi-homer game, Luis García Jr. finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle and Washington hit six homers in a win over Cleveland.
James Wood, Jacob Young, and CJ Abrams joined García and Mead with long balls as the Nationals matched their highest homer output of the season, first set in a 10-4 victory over Cincinnati on May 12.
Wood hit a leadoff 412-foot homer on the sixth pitch of the game, and Mead added his first of the game two batters later, giving Washington a 3-0 lead before the first out was recorded.
Young started off the second inning with a solo shot and García added a two-run line-drive homer to right that extended Washington’s lead to 6-0.
PJ Poulin threw two innings as the Nationals’ opener, allowing two hits and one run. Zack Littell (4-4) worked seven innings of relief and allowed five hits and one run with seven strikeouts.
Tanner Bibee (0-7) gave up eight hits, seven runs, and five homers while striking out three in three innings.
PHILLIES 3, PADRES 0
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Kyle Schwarber struck again at Petco Park, hitting his major league-leading 21st home run to send Jesús Luzardo and Philadelphia to a win against San Diego.
Brandon Marsh added a two-run homer for the Phillies, who had just three hits as they opened a six-game trip through San Diego and Los Angeles. They scored only 14 runs in going 2-4 at home against Cincinnati and Cleveland.
Schwarber lined a full-count changeup from Griffin Canning (0-3) onto the party deck atop the right-field wall with one out in the first inning. Former teammate Nick Castellanos took a few steps back and watched it leave the yard at just a 20-degree launch angle.
Including the postseason, Schwarber has 11 homers in 26 career games at Petco Park, seven of them in his last 13 games here.
Schwarber was aboard on a leadoff single when Marsh homered to right with two outs in the seventh, his fifth.
Luzardo (4-4) allowed four hits, struck out six and walked two in six innings. Jhoan Duran pitched the ninth for his 10th save, completing a five-hitter.
MARLINS 8, BLUE JAYS 2
TORONTO (AP) — Janson Junk pitched five innings and won for the first time since April 28, Kyle Stowers and Javier Sanoja each had two doubles and two RBIs, and Miami extended their winning streak to four games by beating Toronto.
Canadian outfielder Owen Caissie went 2 for 4 and drove in a pair as Miami improved to 14-5 all-time at Rogers Centre.
Junk (3-5) allowed one run and eight hits, all singles. He walked none and struck out three.
Ernie Clement hit a solo home run for Toronto, but the Blue Jays lost their second straight after winning the previous four.
Toronto’s Trey Yesavage allowed five hits and a career-high five runs in a season-high 6 2/3 innings. The rookie right-hander had allowed just three total earned runs in five previous starts this season.
Yesavage (2-2) walked two and struck out six. All five hits off Yesavage were doubles.
Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio (11) low-fives catcher William Contreras (24) after their team defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in a baseball game Monday, May 25, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
