Jalen Brunson scored 29 points, RJ Barrett had 26 and the New York Knicks took a 3-1 lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in their first-round series with a 102-93 victory on Sunday.

New York forced Cleveland all-star Donovan Mitchell into one of the worst games of his post-season career, finishing with just 11 points on five-for-18 shooting. Darius Garland had 23 points and 10 assists for the visiting Cavs, bouncing back nicely after going four for 21 in the Knicks’ Game 3 romp. Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert each scored 14 points.

Barrett, a 22-year-old from from Mississauga, Ont., was only six for 25 in the two games in Cleveland but has been outstanding back at home, where fans chanted his name in the second half. He had five straight points to break the Knicks free from a 75-all tie, then added another basket before Hart scored to push it to 90-81 midway during a stretch when Cleveland could only manage two baskets in more than four minutes.

After limiting the Cavs to the lowest point total in an NBA game this season on Friday, the Knicks led most of the way in this one to reach the verge of the Eastern Conference semifinals for the first time since beating Boston in 2013.

They’ve only made it back to the playoffs once since then, falling in five games to Atlanta in 2021. But this team is more complete, thanks largely signing Brunson last summer and acquiring Hart from Portland during this season.

New York pushed it into double digits in the second and Brunson’s three-pointer midway through the period made it 46-31. The Knicks were ahead 54-45.

But Garland got the first two baskets of the third quarter, set up Cleveland’s next three scores, then had the Cavs’ next two field goals to tie it at 59. His three-point play gave Cleveland a 66-63 lead and he had 11 points and five assists in the period, before Brunson made a 3-pointer with 6.2 seconds left that sent the Knicks to the fourth with a 73-71 edge.