James Harden Said the Most Ridiculous Thing About the Knicks After Cavs Got Swept With a 37-Point Loss

James Harden and the Cavs were swept by the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals. | @SNY_Knicks

James Harden and the Cavaliers had their season come to an end in ugly fashion Monday night as they lost to the Knicks at home in Game 4, 130-93. That completed the sweep for New York and sent the franchise to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.

While the Knicks are now four wins away from a championship, which they haven’t won since 1973, Harden and the Cavs are left wondering what might have been if they were able to put up even the slightest of fights in the Eastern Conference finals. And despite not winning a game in the series, Harden said after Game 4 that he thought Cleveland was the better team.

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“I can’t even answer that question, honestly,” Harden said when asked how much better the Knicks were than the Cavs. “Yeah it was 4-0 but I don’t think we had a chance as far as our best shot from the standpoint of circumstances. Obviously they dominated us 4-0 but I don't know if I can necessarily answer that question just because genuinely I do feel like we are the better team but series-wise we didn’t show it so it’s a tough question to answer.”

James Harden was asked if the Knicks were better than the Cavaliers

"It was 4-0, but I don't think we had a chance as far as our best shot. They dominated us 4-0. but I don't know if I can necessarily answer that question. Because genuinely I do feel like we're the better team" pic.twitter.com/8CAMItRK2H

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 26, 2026

While that question was somehow hard for Harden to answer, it’s pretty easy for anyone else to to come to the conclusion that the Knicks were far and away the better squad and proved that without a shadow of a doubt by not losing a game.

Donovan Mitchell seemed to blame tired legs for the loss to the Knicks

Donovan Mitchell didn’t go as strongly as Harden did with his views on the Knicks but he did say after the loss that playing in two Game 7s in their first two playoff series wasn’t the best way for them to be ready for the Eastern Conference finals.

"We did this to ourselves," Mitchell said. "That's not an excuse. [The Knicks] are a hungry team. They beat us, swept us. So, I don't want to diminish that, but we didn't give ourselves a chance because we didn't handle business ... you can't play with your food. We had an opportunity to close both series and give ourselves some rest, and we didn't."

A look at how much the Knicks dominated the Cavs

The Cavs let their only real chance of winning a game slide away in historic fashion in Game 1 when they blew a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter and then lost in overtime, 115-104.

In Game 2 the Knicks trailed by three points after the first quarter and then went on to roll to a 109-93 win.

In Game 3, the Cavs needed to come out and make a statement in front of their home fans and try to make a series out of this thing. Instead, they trailed by 10 points after the first quarter and ended up losing the game, 121-108.

In Game 4 the Cavs were, quite frankly, never in it as they trailed by 12 points after the first quarter and then were down by 19 at halftime.

If you do some math with all of those numbers you can see that the Cavs lost all four games by 11 points or more. So yeah, they weren’t the better team, as Harden claimed. The Knicks were and now they are off to the NBA Finals while riding an 11-game winning streak.

2026 NBA Finals Schedule

The Knicks will now get even more rest after sweeping the Cavs as the NBA Finals don’t start until June 3. They will face the winner of the Thunder-Spurs series, which is currently tied at 2-2 with Game 5 coming Tuesday night in Oklahoma City. The winner of the Western Conference finals will have homecourt advantage in the NBA Finals.

Here’s a look at the schedule for the Finals:

Home Team	Away Team	Date, Time, TV
OKC/SA	NY	June 3, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
OKC/SA	NY	June 5, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
NY	OKC/SA	June 8, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
NY	OKC/SA	June 10, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
OKC/SA	NY	June 13, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
NY	OKC/SA	June 16, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
OKC/SA	NY	June 19, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC

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