Knicks No Match For Cavaliers Thanks To James Harden’s Big Night

James Harden flipped the script on the Knicks.

It was trending in the direction this matchup has so often taken, with the Knicks looking like they would steal another win over the Cavs with a late-game comeback.

Trailing most of the night, the Knicks cut their deficit to seven points with a layup from Karl-Anthony Towns with 7:33 left in the game. Kenny Atkinson called a Cavs timeout.

The Knicks then went on a 9-2 run and tied the game with 5:35 left, as the Cavs took another timeout. It felt like another moment in which the Cavs were melting with the game on the line.

But Harden drilled a jumper to reestablish a two-point Cavs lead with 5:22 left. A minute later, he hit a 3-pointer to put the Cavs up by three with 4:22 left.

This time, it was the Knicks who wilted in crunch time, as they fell 115-107 Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden to snap their four-game winning streak.

“We were in it,” Jalen Brunson said. “But just timely stops and timely buckets were needed.”

Harden took over late and finished with 32 points, while Donovan Mitchell hurt the Knicks with 23 points.

“MVP, scoring champ,” Miles McBride said of Harden. “He’s a tough matchup for anybody in this league. You gotta tip your hat to him.”

Brunson and Towns’ own two-man effort couldn’t overcome a three-way disappearing act around them. They combined for 48 points, while the three other starters — OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart — combined for just 22 points on 7-for-20 shooting.

And that’s with Anunoby padding those numbers with a big fourth quarter. Through three quarters, Bridges, Anunoby and Hart had just nine points on 4-for-16 shooting.

It’s hard to win when Anunoby and Hart offer so little, and Bridges offers almost nothing.

Bridges’ waning playing time continued as a result, as he finished with just 17 minutes of action — fewer than both Landry Shamet (28) and McBride (27), who were far more effective. Bridges did not play at all during the fourth quarter. It was McBride — who finished with 19 points — on the court instead down the stretch.

Hart looked rusty in his return from a three-game absence and also took a backseat in the fourth quarter, with Shamet largely taking his place.

“It’s gonna be hard to find minutes at times for Mikal,” Brown said. “And maybe even at times for Josh. Because those two guys [McBride and Shamet] are playing at a pretty high level.”

Interestingly, Brown kept Brunson on the bench in favor of Tyler Kolek until 4:20 left in the fourth quarter, with the Knicks trailing by three.

And when Brunson reentered the game, Towns went to the bench for Andre Drummond for the next two minutes.

It continued Brown’s early-season experimenting, but was perhaps a factor in the Knicks’ late-game struggles.

Mitchell provided the final dagger with an assist, setting up a wide-open Jarrett Allen with a layup that put the Cavs up seven with 1:41 left in the game. The Knicks, as they had all night, double-teamed Mitchell on the play — something Brown later regretted.

“I kept us in the blitz a little too long,” Brown said. “I should have taken us out of the blitz. So that part is on me and I gotta be better helping our group in that area.”

Brown also rued the free-throw discrepancy — the Cavs took 25 compared to the Knicks’ 11.

Starting with last year’s Eastern Conference finals, the Knicks had won five straight against the Cavs before Wednesday. But on the second leg of a back-to-back, the Knicks took a momentary step back after winning six of their past seven games.

“We’ll learn from this game,” Brown said, “and keep it moving.”