Knicks dominate Cavs, lead series 2-0
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Athletic
4.1 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 May 2026
⏱️ 34 minutes
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Summary
Josh Hart scored a playoff career high 26 points as the New York Knicks trounced the Cleveland Cavaliers to take a 2-0 series lead to Cleveland. Zena Keita and Es Baraheni are joined by Mike Vorkunov from the Garden to give their instant reactions to the Knicks win, Josh Hart’s huge night, and what comes next for the Cavs. Then, Zena wants to hear Es' thoughts on the Western Conference Finals.
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Host: Zena Keita
With: Es Baraheni and Mike Vorkunov
Executive Producer: Andrew Schlecht
Audio/Video Producer: Alex Oliver
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Athletic NBA Daily for Friday, May 22nd. |
| 0:04.8 | I'm your host, Zena Keda, joined by Esberahini and Mike Vorknov. |
| 0:08.8 | Coming up, New York protects the Guard and taking a 2-0 lead over the calves. |
| 0:13.1 | Behind a big night from Josh Hart, we'll break all that down. |
| 0:16.3 | And I'll finally get S's thoughts on the Western Conference final. |
| 0:25.5 | Thank you. finally get S's thoughts on the Western Conference final. Good morning, fellas. Good morning. How are you? Mike? How's it going? |
| 0:31.1 | Good morning, indeed. It's great here in New York City. Yeah. It's wonderful. |
| 0:35.9 | There you go. I'm sure the vibes are good. |
| 0:38.3 | S. |
| 0:38.5 | How are you feeling now? |
| 0:40.5 | 2.0. |
| 0:41.7 | In the Eastern Conference finals, New York goes up. |
| 0:44.7 | What did you think about the game last night? |
| 0:46.4 | Man, it was like a Josh Hart redemption tour. |
| 0:50.5 | You know, the way that he responded after a slow game one, and honestly, a slow start to this game, too, it felt like he just wouldn't stop shooting and it eventually paid out, you know, 26 points for him. |
| 1:05.4 | He knocked down five threes. |
| 1:06.8 | He was unconscious. |
| 1:08.4 | Vork, I mean, the energy in MSG, it feels like it relates directly to how well or how poorly Josh Hart plays. |
| 1:17.0 | You know, like, he's just like, he matches what they do. |
| 1:20.4 | I don't know if you notice it when you're in the arena, too. |
| 1:23.7 | Yeah, he's a little bit of their energy man, right? |
| 1:25.6 | Like, that's, he's the Knicks energy guy. He's the vibe check for MSG during Knicks games. Game one, he was doing very poorly. Actually, I mean, arguably got played off the floor. That's when the next start going good. And this time he starts hitting his shots, five threes. Let me scroll up real quick. I mean, Cleveland altogether... |
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