Historic Adjustment Failures Doomed Cavs
In February, it was written in this space about James Harden being the NBA's unofficial leader in trade requests given his Hall of Fame career features trades from five of the league's 30 teams.
It was written in the aftermath of the Cleveland Cavaliers acquiring Harden from the Clippers for Darius Garland to create a "superbackcourt" with Donovan Mitchell.
The duo helped the Cavs win a pair of Game 7s over the Raptors and Pistons to set up the events of last night, though the case can be made it was more Mitchell's doing.
By the time the Cavaliers completed one of the biggest playoff collapses in sports history with their 115-104 loss to the New York Knicks, a search for James Harden yielded one headline declaring the guard the MVP of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
What was Harden's role in the collapse?
If you peruse Harden's accolades on his basketball-reference page or read any kind of bio on the 36-year-old, it's easy to notice none of those include any placements on the NBA's all-defensive teams.
With 8:19 remaining, the Cavs held a 22-point lead with a nearly perfect chance of winning. If they could complete the final eight-plus minutes without incident, they would enter Game 2 with the house money effect of already securing a road split with two home games upcoming.
Then the Knicks sent Jalen Brunson at Harden after teammates set screens to get the mismatch. Once or twice should have been enough to give coach Kenny Atkinson pause and make an adjustment. It certainly was for anyone watching on TV and thinking it aloud before the ESPN announcers could mention it.
If anything, a pause or two might have made for some better offensive possessions. The other impact of the Knicks' attacking the defense in that manner seemed to create fatigue in the Cavs, who were moving all over the place, and that led to ill-advised shots that were rarely close to the hoop.
And it happened again and again with Brunson's 16 of 38 points occurring in the fourth and him going 7-of-11 when guarded by Harden and 15-of-29 overall.
Once the matchup was exploited the collapse was on, culminating in the Knicks scoring 30 of the final 38 points in regulation and the Cavs using one of their three remaining timeouts.
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Where does collapse rank in NBA playoff history?
The simple answer is that Cleveland's massive fold is up there in NBA history and not far from the largest.
It was the second-biggest comeback in the past 30 years in the fourth quarter, two away from matching the 2012 Clippers against Grizzlies. The Clippers won that game 99-98 by outscoring the Grizzlies 35-10 in the final 11:37 and 26-3 in the final 8:54.
That game was decided on two free throws by Chris Paul in the final minute but even with the big comeback, the Clippers needed seven games to win the first-round series and were forced to win a Game 7 on the road after holding a three games to one lead.
Of course, the Knicks were on the reverse end of this comeback stuff last season in Game 1 of the conference finals when Tyrese Haliburton turned into a heel and hit the tying 3-pointer to force overtime. Haliburton's Reggie Miller impression capped a comeback from 14 points down in the final 2:51 and the Pacers won the series in six games.
To put things into further context, consider these numbers:
--teams were 521-1 when leading by at least 20 points in the fourth quarter
--In the play-by-play era (1996-97), teams were 748-3 in the postseason when leading by 20 in the fourth quarter.
--Cleveland saw a 22-game winning streak stopped where they led by at least 10 in any game.
Other notable playoff collapses
If you're looking for what this is equivalent to in terms of postseason collapses in other sports, there are a few comparisons.
The NFL equal to what unfolded Tuesday night at MSG occurred on Jan. 3, 1993 in Buffalo. The Bills were seeking a third straight AFC title and facing the Houston Oilers.
They also were without stars Jim Kelly, Cornelius Bennett, and Thurman Thomas to injuries and faced a 32-point deficit 1:41 into the third quarter. Nearly six minutes later, the Bills sliced the lead to 35-17 and went ahead with 3:08 left for the first time, resulting in a 38-35 win and the first time any NFL team blew a lead of at least 30 points.
In baseball, the equal of Tuesday occurred at Wrigley Field in Game 6 of the NLCS on Oct. 14, 2003. The Cubs needed one win to reach their first World Series since 1945 and were five outs away with a three-run lead.
Then Luis Castillo hit a foul ball down the left field line and the ball bounced off Steve Bartman's hands. One pitch later, Castillo was on base and the Marlins needed three more hitters to tie the game.
When the inning ended, the Marlins held an 8-3 lead. A night later, the Cubs held a 5-3 lead in the fifth but could not get it done and the Marlins advanced with a 9-6 victory, delaying the Cubs title to 2016 when they pulled off a comeback from three games to one, lost a three-run lead in Game 7 before needing extra innings to secure the long-awaited title.
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This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 3:57 PM.