Rose’s decision to pass on trading for Mitchell was one of the biggest pivot points of this Knicks era. 

Remember: New York had the draft picks and the personnel to obtain Mitchell from Utah. But Rose ultimately decided that he didn’t want to meet Danny Ainge’s asking price. 

At the time, it was a controversial decision. 

In hindsight, it’s one of several pivotal choices by Rose that helped the Knicks ascend to the NBA Finals. 

Instead of trading a package centered around RJ Barrett for Mitchell, Rose and his group moved Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a second round pick to Toronto for OG Anunoby.

Anunoby has been one of the best players in the postseason. He had 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals in the Knicks’ closeout win over Cleveland on Monday. 

Instead of using multiple first-round picks to acquire Mitchell, Rose sent most of his draft capital to Brooklyn in a trade for Mikal Bridges. 

Rose took a ton of criticism for the trade, particularly when the Knicks had a chance to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo the following summer. 

So, of course, Bridges made play after play on the defensive end throughout the postseason. He also found ways to attack within the flow of the Knick offense. He and Anunoby have peaked at the best possible time. 

If they’d traded for Mitchell, there’s virtually no way they would have signed Donte DiVincenzo the next summer. And without DiVincenzo, the Knicks would’ve needed to use more draft capital to acquire Karl-Anthony Towns from Minnesota. 

This was another trade that was criticized and questioned, but Towns on Monday hit 8-of-11 shots and grabbed 14 rebounds. 

The Cavs cut the Knick lead to 16 at one point in the third quarter. Towns then went to work, blocking a shot on one end and then knocking down a three-pointer on the other end. Anunoby found Bridges for a wide-open three on the Knicks’ next possession. 

That sequence took the life out of any Cleveland comeback. 

Shortly after the trophy presentation, Rose spent a quiet moment with his family. Like the rest of the Knicks, Rose seemed to see Monday’s win as a major accomplishment -- but not one worth a raucous celebration. 

Maybe that celebration will come in a couple weeks, but the fact that the Knicks are where they are today -- preparing for a trip to the NBA Finals -- is a testament to Rose’s determination and decision-making. 

A few weeks ago, the Knicks executive did not receive a vote from his peers for the Executive of the Year award. It’s a regular-season award, and the Knicks had an uneven regular season. 

But if you took another vote today, the results would look much different. Rose would probably be at or near the top, which is where his Knicks sit after this remarkable playoff run.  

Home or on the road, your opponent is desperate trying to keep their season alive. 

For the 2026 Knicks, though, they continue to be no sweat.

New York has dominated their opponents in general throughout the playoffs, but they’ve been especially stellar when given a chance to send their opponent packing. 

First it was the Hawks in Atlanta, then the 76ers in Philly. 

And on Tuesday night the Cavaliers became the latest team to fall victim, as the Knicks rolled through Game 4 in Cleveland to closeout the Eastern Conference Finals sweep. 

They did so yet again in dominant fashion, establishing an early lead which they never looked back from, en route to a 37-point laugher that saw the benches empties early in the fourth quarter. 

With that, the 2026 Knicks became the first team in NBA history to win three closeout games by 30+ points.

Their average margin of victory of 39.3 points is also an NBA record. 

“We don’t want to leave any doubt,” Miles McBride said. “We just want to come out and handle our business.”

“We’ve been playing hard and mixing in a little luck,” Jalen Brunson added. “But most importantly, we’ve been coming in focused and are just locked in on the moment.”

That next moment for them will be the opener of the NBA Finals -- a place the franchise hasn't been since 1999. 

The scalding hot Knicks will be looking to come home victorious for the first time in 53 years. 

After going down 2-1 to the Hawks in the first round, New York has rattled off 11 straight wins and has a +272 point-differential over that span. It’s been one of the most dominant stretches not just in Knicks history, but NBA history, and it all starts with head coach Mike Brown who saw his team start playing a this version of basketball towards the end of the regular season.

“Down the stretch, like 6 or 7 games to go, after Landry [Shamet] got back, I started to see us play some good basketball and do more things that were selfless or more sacrificing from the group,” Brown said. “Throughout the course of the season you have your ups and you have your downs, and you have your good and your bad and your adversity that you have to fight through. Sometimes we got through it quickly, sometimes it took us a minute to figure it out.”

The trials and tribulations that the Knicks have faced not just this season but in postseason’s past where they got close to their final destination but couldn’t get over the hump has prepared them for this moment. 

Even Brown, in his first season in New York, saw that the team had what it takes to get the job done.

“From afar, I just felt that this team was ready,” he said. “And I’m just thrilled to death that Mr. Dolan gave me an opportunity and Leon Rose gave me an opportunity to be a head coach again, especially here in New York.”

Brown had been a head coach for the Sacramento Kings for two full seasons and helped turn the franchise around before getting fired in the middle of last season. 

He’s also no stranger to reaching the finals as he was an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors for six seasons at the height of their dynasty. Therefore, he knows what it takes to finish the job and has been doing what he can to set his players up for success.

“Our group is playing good basketball and they’re doing it in different ways,” Brown said. “They’re doing it differently, depending on who our opponent is and when you show that type of versatility on both ends of the floor, it adds to your belief. 

“I’ve said it before, you use the regular season to get ready for the postseason and our guys did a hell of a job with that.”

“This team is hungry and that’s the most important thing,” added Karl-Anthony Towns. “Even with an amazing, historical win we had tonight, the celebrations were minimal. We really want to get back to work. [We] asked coach can we get back to work quick.”

While the Knicks will and certainly deserve to celebrate their incredible accomplishment of reaching their first NBA finals in more than two decades, they know their ultimate goal is still out there.

However, it’s now within their grasps and closer than it’s ever been for them.

“It feels good. We’re excited, we’re happy we won, but we’re also not satisfied,” said OG Anunoby. “We’re gonna celebrate tonight, but then once tomorrow comes, start resting and preparing for the next round.”

If New York is able to defeat either the San Antonio Spurs or the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals, it’ll be the franchise’s first championship since 1973. But the way they’re playing right now – the best they’ve played all season – the Knicks should be considered the favorites.

“We’ve gotten to this point because we worked together, we’ve been a team, we’ve been unified,” Towns said. “The collective group has shown up in spots when we need to.”

Now they'll be looking to secure the third-ever title in franchise history, and the first since 1973. 

New York awaits the winner of the Spurs/Thunder Western Conference Finals matchup, which now sits evened at two games apiece heading into Tuesday's Game 5 meeting. 

While the matchup isn't set, the schedule has already been released. 

Here are the full dates and times for the series...

FINALS

Wednesday, June 3

Game 1: at Spurs/Thunder at 8:30 p.m.

Friday, June 5

Game 2: at Spurs/Thunder at 8:30 p.m.

Monday, June 8

Game 3: vs. Spurs/Thunder at 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday, June 10

Game 4: vs. Spurs/Thunder at 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, June 13

Game 5: at Spurs/Thunder at 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday, June 16

Game 6: vs. Spurs/Thunder at 8:30 p.m.

Friday, June 19

Game 7: at Spurs/Thunder at 8:30 p.m.

CONFERENCE FINALS

Tuesday, May 19

Game 1: Knicks defeated Cavaliers, 115-104 in overtime

Thursday, May 21

Game 2: Knicks defeated Cavaliers, 109-93

Saturday, May 23

Game 3: Knicks defeated Cavaliers, 121-108

Monday, May 25

Game 4: Knicks defeated Cavaliers, 130-93

SEMIFINALS

Monday, May 4

Game 1: Knicks defeated 76ers, 137-98

Wednesday, May 6

Game 2: Knicks defeated 76ers, 108-102

Friday, May 8

Game 3: Knicks defeated 76ers, 108-94

Sunday, May 10

Game 4: Knicks defeated 76ers, 144-114

FIRST ROUND

Saturday, April 18

Game 1: Knicks defeated Hawks, 113-102

Monday, April 20

Game 2: Hawks defeated Knicks, 107-106

Thursday, April 23

Game 3: Hawks defeated Knicks, 109-108

Saturday, April 25

Game 4: Knicks defeated Hawks, 114-98

Tuesday, April 28

Game 5: Knicks defeated Hawks, 126-97

Thursday, April 30

Game 6: Knicks defeated Hawks, 140-89

The captain did his part to lead the Knicks to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999. 

Brunson was absolutely spectacular throughout the series as New York wrapped up a dominant four-game sweep of the Cavaliers on the road on Monday night. 

He opened things with a 38-point showing in the Knicks' Game 1 overtime win. 

The All-Star point guard then followed that by becoming more of a playmaker in Game 2, finishing with just 19 points while dishing out 14 assists for his first double-double of the postseason. 

Brunson led all scorers with 30 points in Game 3, then needed just 15 as he sat the entire fourth quarter during the Knicks' blowout victory to close things out Monday night. 

He averaged 25.5 points, 7.8 assists, and 3.3 rebounds during the four ECF games. 

With a Game 4 win over the Cavaliers on Monday night, the Knicks completed a Eastern Conference Finals sweep. 

New York is now headed to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999. 

Mike Brown's squad has been able to do so with one of the most incredible runs in NBA history. 

The Knicks have not lost since going down 2-1 to the Hawks with a Game 3 first-round defeat, rattling off 11 consecutive victories against Atlanta, Philly, and now Cleveland. 

That is the third-longest postseason winning streak in NBA history. 

Brown's team has been clicking on all cylinders from top to bottom, completely dominating their opponents on both ends of the floor on a nightly basis.

They are an incredible +262 during the winning streak, which is the best point differential across 11 games in NBA history, regardless of regular or postseason play. 

"We've gotten to this point because we've worked together as a group," Karl-Anthony Towns said. "You can go down the line of guys who have had special moments in this run -- Jalen [Brunson] deserves the MVP, he had an amazing series and does what he always does, it's been a team that's won this game. 

"The defense we've played as a team, we've hit shots as a team, we've put each other in positions to success -- and as a result we're finding ourselves with this hat, shirt, trophy, and a chance to cement ourselves in history."

That chance will come against the winner Thunder and Spurs Western Conference Finals, which is knotted up at two games apiece heading into Tuesday’s Game 5. 

New York will face another long lay-off before the series gets underway on June 3. 

"This team is hungry, that's the most important thing," Towns said. "Even with this amazing, historical win tonight the celebrations were minimal, we want to get back to work -- we know what happened last time we had the layoff, so we talked right after the game about preparing. 

"That's what makes this special, and that's what'll give us a chance to win the next series."

The last time the Mets were home they capped off their best stretch of the season with a thrilling come-from-behind win to lock up the first-half of the Subway Series. 

A struggling offense showed some much-needed signs of life, signaling perhaps that they were finally ready to make a dent in the gaping hole they put themselves in. 

However, a much different club returned to Citi Field on Monday.

With Juan Soto sidelined again with an illness, those bats have quickly returned to their sluggish form, as they dropped their fourth consecutive game with a 7-2 loss to the Reds. 

Unlike their sweep at the hands of the Marlins to begin the week, they were able to generate some traffic this afternoon, but that still didn’t lead to runs, as they finished 0-for-6 as a team with RISP. 

Bumped up to the cleanup spot, Marcus Semien broke a Mets' three-game homerless drought with a solo shot in the sixth. It was just one of three extra-base hits on the afternoon. 

As a result, New York finished with two or less runs for the fifth straight game. 

"We can sit here and make excuses with some of the guys we’re missing, but we have big-league hitters here and they are struggling," manager Carlos Mendoza said. 

"We're having a hard time putting rallies together, and the biggest thing is our inability to drive the ball out of the park -- look at a night like tonight, we had nine hits but two runs -- it’s hard to score three or four by just singles, you gotta be able to drive the ball out of the ballpark.”

Just like that, any signs of May momentum have quickly been swept away. 

With losses in six of their last seven games, the Mets are now back to 10 games under .500 and remain in the basement of the NL East at the one-third mark of the season.

“It sucks,” Mendoza said. “I’ve been saying it, it’s not early anymore -- we’re not putting ourselves in a good position, obviously. We gotta go out and do it.”

The Mets' young right-hander appears to have officially hit his first rough patch at the highest level, though, as he’s been extremely ineffective each of his last two times out. 

The latest came on Monday afternoon, when McLean allowed runs in three straight innings and was pulled after failing to complete the top of the fourth in a series-opening loss to the Reds.

His once stellar ERA has quickly risen to 4.40 through 11 starts on the the season after allowing 16 runs (13 earned) on 13 hits and four walks over that two-outing span. 

McLean and Carlos Mendoza explained postgame Monday that the struggles have been a combination of things. 

“He’s having a hard time landing the secondary pitches,” the skipper said. “There’s a ton of movement side-to-side and not so much depth, and he’s getting into bad counts -- it comes down to execution.”

“It’s just bad pitching, honestly,” McLean added. “Getting behind in counts, not landing my off-speed pitches, and I’ve been hitting guys with two strikes -- I haven’t been pitching my best and I gotta be better.”

McLean felt that he did too much mound work this week trying to work through the issue, which led to him losing his legs after striking out the first three hitters he faced in order on Monday. 

The 24-year-old right-hander will now use this as a learning point moving forward, trying to find that balance as he works to get things right ahead of his next turn out against the Marlins. 

Mendoza and the Mets are confident that he'll be able to do just that. 

“He’s a competitor,” Mendoza emphasized. “He’s not happy, but he’s going to keep going -- this is a guy who isn’t going to back down, he’s going to show up tomorrow, put his head down and get back to work -- he’s going to get back on track.”

Here are the takeaways...

-- New York has been blowing teams out during this incredible playoff run its on right now and a lot of that has to do with getting out to early leads which happened again in Game 4. It took a minute as the Cavs, desperate to keep their season alive, came out aggressive, particularly Donovan Mitchell, but the Knicks eventually imposed their will and took advantage of Cleveland's lack of hustle while getting back on defense.

-- The two biggest scorers in the early part of the game were, no surprise, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, but the first quarter was truly an all-out team affair with bench players Landry Shamet and Miles McBride also hitting some big shots to kill any momentum the Cavs were trying to create. 

Both players kept up their hot shooting in the second quarter where New York continued to extend its lead. Shamet, in particular, was in his bag and had the hot hand from beyond the arc. He finished with 16 points on 5-for-6 from the floor and 4-for-4 from deep.

-- In the blink of an eye, thanks to a 12-0 run to kick off the second quarter, the Knicks had a 24-point lead on the Cavs and were simply the far superior team. They dominated Cleveland in nearly every aspect of the game, most notably rebounding and fast-break points.

-- Other than Mitchell, the Cavs had no answers to keep up with New York's fine-tuned offense and looked disjointed and at times uninterested on most of their possessions. For his part, Mitchell showed up and finished with 31 points, but his scoring mate James Harden had a terrible game and scored just 12 points on 2-for-8 from the floor (0-for-6 from deep). As a team, Cleveland shot a paltry 27.5 percent from three-point range.

-- As for the Knicks, they couldn't miss from downtown. Along with Shamet, Towns literally didn't miss a single three ball (3-for-3) with Brunson and McBride also chipping in from behind the line. As a team, New York shot 44 percent from deep and had 33 assists on the night. But it wasn't just the three-point shot that had New York rolling; everything was working.

The Knicks outrebounded the Cavs, 60-33, including 20-6 on the offensive glass. Towns finished with a game-high 14 rebounds and Mitchell Robinson had 10 in 18 minutes off the bench. They also had 15 steals on the night with contributions up and down the lineup in that department. 

-- New York's lead grew to as large as 45 points in the fourth quarter with Cleveland waiving the white flag. Both teams emptied their bench with still eight minutes to play, and even with their reserves on the court the Knicks didn't miss a step. 

Every single player who stepped onto the court for New York had a positive impact on the game with nobody finishing with a plus-minus rating below plus-2. 

Game MVP: Landry Shamet

Sham-wow's energy off the bench was the catalyst for the Knicks' annihilation of the Cavs, and he finished with a game-high plus-minus rating of plus-28.

Highlights

Mikal Bridges with the Knicks' first points pic.twitter.com/0Cej2nuuZV

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 26, 2026

OG DROPS THE HAMMER! pic.twitter.com/zyhrhszptM

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 26, 2026

KAT from long range pic.twitter.com/ycjC9isXAf

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 26, 2026

Mikal ➡️ Mitch! pic.twitter.com/lvv3FqAfeU

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 26, 2026

Volume up to hear "DEUUUUUUUUCE" in Cleveland pic.twitter.com/f7RjeyZbBh

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 26, 2026

SHAM-WOW.

LANDRY SHAMET PUTS THE KNICKS UP 20! pic.twitter.com/BEEFpgptb7

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 26, 2026

WHAT A SHOT BY MIKAL BRIDGES! pic.twitter.com/Rj5ZDIECW7

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 26, 2026

What's next

The Knicks await the winner of the Western Conference Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Nolan McLean came out firing and struck out the side in the first inning, but it was all downhill from there. The righty ended up allowing seven runs on five hits, including two home runs, with six strikeouts over 78 pitches into the fourth inning. His season ERA is now up to 4.40 after allowing 13 earned runs over his last two outings.

He hit Sal Stewart in the rib on an 88 mph changeup in the second inning and then loaded the bases on a single and walk. A run scored on a forceout as Bo Bichette's slow glove flip to second base caused a late throw to first. McLean then threw a wild pitch as the Reds took a 2-0 lead.

McLean nearly escape the third inning unscathed, but let up a solo home run to JJ Bleday with two outs that made it a 3-0 game. The right-hander allowed two more runs in the top of the fourth on Spencer Steer's single up the middle and then gave up a two-run homer to Tyler Stephenson as the Reds went up 7-0. McLean stayed in and plunked his second batter of the day before getting pulled from the game after 3.1 IP. 

-- New York's hitting woes continued, failing to take advantage of runners in scoring position. Carson Benge was left stranded on second base in the second inning and Mark Vientos grounded out to end the third inning with runners on the corners.

The Mets found themselves in the same situation in the fifth inning and came up empty again, as Vientos struck out swinging on a ball that hit his leg. Overall, NY left eight on base and went 0-for-6 with RISP.

-- RHP Austin Warren cleaned up the mess in the fourth inning, getting the final two outs of the frame. He stayed in the game and tossed a scoreless fifth inning. Jonathan Pintaro entered in the sixth and made quick work of the Reds, retiring six straight through the seventh inning.

-- Marcus Semien got the Mets on the board with a solo home run in the sixth inning, cutting the deficit to 7-1. Brett Baty led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a double and scored on Benge's groundout, making it a 7-2 game.

-- Tyrone Taylor appeared to injure his right leg running out of the batter's box on a groundout in the sixth inning. He was replaced on defense in the seventh by MJ Melendez, who took over in LF with Nick Morabito moving to RF. The team later said Taylor left with right hip pain.

-- Bichette had three of the Mets' nine hits, going 3-for-4.

Game MVP: Nick Lodolo

The Reds' left-hander kept New York's bats quiet, tossing six strong innings. He allowed one run on six hits and struck out seven with no walks.

Highlights

Nolan McLean strikes out the side in the first pic.twitter.com/xdR45FV3zU

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 25, 2026

Mark Vientos strikes out swinging to end the 5th inning on a ball that hits him. pic.twitter.com/ZRlxsiCAG7

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 25, 2026

Marcus Semien blasts his fourth home run of the season pic.twitter.com/PEApOOHc10

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 25, 2026

Tyrone Taylor comes up limping after grounding out in the 6th pic.twitter.com/jVMtUnqYWU

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 25, 2026

What's next

The Mets continue their three-game series against the Reds on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. on SNY.

New York is yet to announce a starting pitcher, while developing star Chase Burns (6-1, 1.83 ERA) will start for Cincinnati. 

Tyrone Taylor is expected to land on the IL after leaving Monday's loss to the Reds with right hip pain. 

Taylor pulled up coming out of the box on a groundout to third during his at-bat to end the bottom of the sixth. 

He slowly made his way back to the home dugout, then immediately went down to the clubhouse alongside trainers before being pulled in the top-half of the inning. 

MJ Melendez entered in his place playing left, and Nick Morabito slid over to right. 

Taylor will undergo an MRI on Tuesday morning to see what exactly he is dealing with, but the Mets expect that he is going to be forced to miss some time. 

This is just the latest loss for a club that is already without the majority of their Opening Day starting lineup. 

His absence could lead to MJ Melendez or Nick Morabito sticking around on the roster when Jared Young returns from his own stint on the IL within the next few days. 

Jake Bird nearly squandered a strong start by Will Warren when he gave up Witt’s tiebreaking shot inside the left-field foul pole leading off the eighth inning.

But the Yankees promptly rallied off Lucas Erceg (3-2), starting with Paul Goldschmidt’s broken-bat hit and Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s one-out double before Volpe’s timely single to left field.

Tim Hill (2-2) earned the win while David Bednar worked around a two-out walk in the ninth to earn his 12th save of the season.

It was Erceg who wound up wasting a strong start by the Royals’ Michael Wacha, and an even more effective inning from Daniel Lynch IV, who had set down the top of the New York lineup in the eighth to turn a 3-2 lead over to the Kansas City closer.

Cody Bellinger homered earlier in the game for the Yankees, who have not lost to the Royals since Sept. 10, 2024. That streak includes the past 11 regular-season meetings and the clinching game of the 2024 AL Divisional Series.

After the Yankees jumped to a 2-0 lead on Bellinger’s homer and an RBI single by Jose Caballero, the Royals clawed back in the bottom of the second. Salvador Perez, Jac Caglianone and Isaac Collins walked and Michael Massey hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1.

That score remained until Perez’s tying homer in the sixth. It was his 136th home run at Kauffman Stadium, tying George Brett’s stadium record, and it moved the Royals captain to within five of the Hall of Famer’s overall club record of 317 homers.

Up next

RHP Cam Schlittler (6-2, 1.50 ERA) starts Tuesday night for the Yankees. The Royals are likely to use their bullpen to start the game.

Soto dealing with a fever

Juan Soto missed Sunday's series finale against the Miami Marlins due to an illness and will remain out on Monday.

"He developed a fever again last night, still weak," Mendoza said. "We just got to wait the next few hours, how he develops, and hopefully there's some type of availability there. Who knows, we got to wait."

With Soto out of the lineup, MJ Melendez served as the DH on Sunday and Carson Benge will slide into that role Monday afternoon.

Mendoza had said Sunday that there was "kind of like a flu going around" the clubhouse, as it appears to still be affecting Soto.

Lindor starting baseball activities

On the bright side, Mendoza noted that Francisco Lindor has started doing baseball activities as he works his way back from a calf injury that has sidelined him since April 22.

"He started running and doing baseball activities. Now hitting in the cages. He's going to take ground balls," Mendoza said. "So now, we got to that phase where there's baseball involved."

The manager made it clear there is still not a timetable for Lindor's anticipated return, but he is progressing.

"I think we just go day-by-day, week-by-week. The good thing is he's already in that phase where he's doing baseball. But again, it's hard to put a timetable. He's still got to check a lot of boxes."

Additionally, Mendoza gave a positive update on catcher Francisco Alvarez, who underwent surgery for a torn meniscus in his right knee on May 14.

"Alvarez, I mean this guy is unbelievable. He's already hitting, he's already doing catching," Mendoza said. "We were talking about eight weeks, I'm not sure about that now, this guy is built different... There's a lot of positive from him too."

Knocking on the door

Mendoza was optimistic on Saturday about Jared Young being ready to return during the team's six-game homestand and it sounds like Tuesday may be the day. 

Veteran reliever A.J. Minter also appears to be in a similar situation and could be activated Tuesday or Wednesday.

"Jared Young, there's a good chance that he'll be active tomorrow. He's going to go through a workout today," Mendoza said. "Same thing with A.J. Minter. He's going to go through his throwing progression today. Hopefully either tomorrow or the next day."

Mendoza added that he sees Minter has a "big part of our bullpen" once he returns.

Young has been on the IL since April 13 due to a torn meniscus in his left knee, while Minter last pitched in the majors on April 26, 2025 as he missed the remainder of the season following surgery for a torn left lat muscle.

Upcoming rehab assignments

Kodai Senga, who threw 58 pitches into the fourth inning on Friday in his first rehab appearance for St. Lucie, is expected to pitch again on Thursday. Mendoza said they are unsure if that rehab appearance will be in Double-A or Triple-A, but the right-hander will get another start before they determine the next steps.

"Senga's throwing a bullpen today and the goal is for him to make another rehab outing on Thursday. Whether that's Double-A or Triple-A, that's TBD, we're monitoring weather and all that. That's the plan for him."

Meanwhile, Jorge Polanco could also play in a rehab game later this week as he recovers from Achilles bursitis.

"Polanco, another good day yesterday, he got some at-bats in Port St. Lucie," Mendoza said. "He's gonna go through a full workout today. Hopefully, he starts a rehab assignment at some point this week."

When Polanco returns, Mendoza said they will likely use him as the DH instead of inserting him back at first base.

"The way we see it is gonna be a lot of DH, to be honest with you," Mendoza said. "Hopefully we can get him a game or two at first base, but try to keep him off his feet as much as possible. He'll play some first base once he starts going through his rehab assignment, but probably looking more like DH and try to keep his bat in the lineup as much as possible."

Mets Notes

• Nolan McLean (2-3, 3.57 ERA) looks to rebound from his uncharacteristic outing vs. the Nationals on May 19 when he allowed nine runs (six earned)
• A.J. Ewing had his third career two-hit game and picked up his third stolen base of the season in Sunday's loss
• New York has scored just four runs in their last four games (1-3) and find themselves tied with the Giants for the second-worst record in the NL (22-31) 

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THINGS TO WATCH

Pivotal start? 

Nolan McLean starts Monday’s game looking to rebound after a dreadful outing in Washington his last time out. Gifted a five-run lead in that game, McLean could not hold it, leading to another disappointing Met loss. McLean allowed nine runs (six earned) and eight hits in 5.2 innings. Both were career-worsts. He also gave up two home runs, only the second time in his brief career he’s been hit for more than one in any start.

The Mets, coming off a 2-5 road trip that ended with getting swept in Miami, could really use an ace-level bounce-back from McLean. The 27-25 Reds, as a lineup, generally do not chase, so it’ll be fascinating to see how they react when McLean uses his otherworldly ability to spin the baseball.

Which will give? 

Two things that are true at once: The Mets often have trouble scoring runs. And the Reds have trouble stopping opponents from scoring runs. So the Mets should score against Cincy’s pitching staff, which is 25th in overall ERA (4.78), 29th in bullpen ERA (5.04) and has allowed the third-most home runs and the third-most walks. 

Shouldn’t they? 

We’ll see, of course. The Mets after all, are coming off a series in which they scored all of two runs against the Marlins, had just 11 hits in three games and mustered just nine total at-bats with runners in scoring position. The Mets are averaging 3.89 runs this season, fifth-lowest in baseball.

I’m (not) walkin’ here!

The Mets drew five walks in their loss Sunday, which is somewhat relevant because they had walked just seven times in their previous five games combined. This is a team with the keen-eyed Juan Soto as a lineup linchpin, mind you, even if he missed Sunday’s loss with illness. 

MLB pitchers are averaging 3.6 walks per nine innings, so the Mets have been missing on their fair share lately, whether it’s because of an approach flaw or running into a spate of precise pitching. Whatever the case, a few more free passes obviously would add something to a mostly punchless offense. The Mets enter this series with the worst on-base percentage (.293) in baseball. The MLB average is .318.

Rookie comp

McLean figures to be a candidate for NL Rookie of the Year and the Reds have one of their own, too, in first baseman Sal Stewart, who is a big part of a Cincy offense that is scoring 4.40 runs per game, slightly above the MLB average. It’ll be fun to watch McLean versus Stewart with their elite rookie status in mind.

Stewart leads NL rookies in homers, RBI, slugging and OPS and has also stolen 10 bases in 11 tries. Overall, Stewart is 10th in the NL in RBI with 34, one fewer than his teammate, Elly De La Cruz.

Chase rates

Chase Burns, who is scheduled to start Tuesday’s game, has been one of the best pitchers in baseball at only 23 years old. The Reds’ righty is having a huge season, ranking fourth in the majors in ERA (1.83) and fifth in WHIP (0.95). He is 6-1 and has won five straight decisions. 

His road ERA (1.46) is second only to Cam Schlittler of the Yankees, who has a 1.04 mark. Burns relies mostly on a 98 mile-per-hour fastball and a slider. He’s finished off 97 plate appearances with his slider and struck out 44 batters with it. Opponents are batting .137 against the slider and .183 overall. 

Burns, the second overall pick in the 2024 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Wake Forest, has never faced the Mets, so their hitters will have to rely on video for prep and not their personal experience. It’ll be a difficult solve for the Mets – Burns is allowing only 5.8 hits per nine innings this season.

PREDICTONS

Who will be the series MVP?

AJ Ewing: Yes, he’s been striking out some – he’s got seven straight games with at least one whiff and fanned five times in 11 plate appearances against the Marlins. But he’s still getting on base and his speed game could impact the Mets offense – the Reds have only thrown out nine would-be thieves in 48 stolen-base attempts (19 percent, five percent worse than league average).

What Mets pitcher will have the best start? 

Nolan McLean: He’s hyper-competitive, so his yearning to wash away the memory of his poor start against the Nationals, plus his elite talent, should mean a big outing.

Which Reds player will be a thorn in the Mets side? 

Elly De La Cruz: One of the most exciting players in baseball, De La Cruz hits the ball extremely hard (he’s seventh in average exit velocity, a few ticks better than Aaron Judge). The Mets have held him to a .196 average across 14 previous games, so maybe he’s due. De La Cruz has 25 extra-base hits (ninth in MLB) and he’s seventh in runs scored and 12th in RBI. 

Towns was asked about his role in Mike Brown’s offense.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Towns said a couple days before the regular season. “I just don’t know. But we figuring it out. It’s just different. It’s different. So we’re still figuring it out.”

It wasn’t just the words Towns used. It was the way he delivered them. You didn’t need to be a body language expert to see that Towns wasn’t in love with his role in the new offense.

Fast-forward to Saturday night in Cleveland. About 90 minutes after the Knicks beat the Cavs to take a 3-0 series lead, Towns was asked to assess the job Brown has done this season.

Towns’ answer told you a lot about the connection between these Knicks players and their head coach and how it’s grown over the past seven months.

“With Mike, he had to learn us and adjust to us,” Towns said after the Knicks’ Game 3 win over Cleveland. “On the flip side, we had to do the same as well. Now, we are at a point where we are both working seamlessly. We understand each other’s language. He is getting the best from us and we are getting the best from him.

“I think that speaks to a season, especially a first season with a new coach and a new system and a new philosophy. It’s a testament to the players to do an amazing job coming together and showing that unity that made us special last year. But the coaching staff being receptive to the players and adjusting with us and finding the way to get the most out of us.”

It's always difficult to assess how well a coach is doing. We don’t get to see 90 percent of the work that they do behind the scenes. But what we have seen over the past month has been remarkable.

From the offensive adjustments to the big nights from role players, Brown has pushed nearly all of the right buttons during the Knicks’ 10-game win streak.

“He was put in a tough situation with a lot of expectations but he’s handled that unbelievably,” Josh Hart said. “He’s coaching us in his way, his style. He’s taking input from everybody. His ability to lead us to adapt to things has been great. That’s just the kind of person he is. He’s a high-character, and a great person first and foremost.”

Throughout the current streak, Brown has reminded his group to maintain their edge.

“It’s human nature to kind of get comfortable sometimes,” Landry Shamet said late Saturday night. “So he’s always checking us on that. Reminding us of fighting that off. It’s a lot of intangible stuff like that that I think he’s spectacular at. Keeping us in the right headspace. Obviously Xs and Os, the gameplan. He communicates with everyone. Just a great coach.”

Brown, as you know, was saddled with incredibly high expectations this season.

The Knicks reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 seasons last year under former coach Tom Thibodeau. Leon Rose, James Dolan and the Knicks concluded that the Knicks couldn’t take the next step under Thibodeau.

After a lengthy coaching search, they landed on Brown. Every game this season, in some way, was a referendum on that decision.

Now, with Brown and the Knicks one win away from their first NBA Finals trip in 27 years, the decision is validated. Not fully validated. But it certainly seems to be working out the way Rose and company had hoped when they made the change.

Would the Knicks have reached this point in the season -- up 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals -- under Thibodeau? Who knows? They’re here under Brown. They’ll have a chance to clinch a trip to the NBA Finals on Monday night.

LEANING ON THE BENCH

One of Brown’s edicts coming into the season? Establish a reliable bench. He’s checked that box this postseason, getting contributions from Shamet, Jordan Clarkson and Jose Alvarado alongside maintstays Miles McBride and Mitchell Robinson.

Here's Brown on his philosophy with bench players:

“I’ve been fortunate, blessed, lucky to be a part of some good coaching staffs and be with some great coaches. Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich, they were guys that went deep into their bench. And they both always used to say, it’s not about now; it’s about the postseason. It’s not about now; it’s about the postseason. And you keep guys engaged by doing that, and you do develop not just a bench but the team, as well, because guys get used to playing with other guys, just in case something goes down.

“And so, again, it’s something I stole from them. Very few things I came up with on my own. I’ve seen it work in the past, and that’s kind of what I thought I wanted to do here. Tried to do it in Sacramento, too. So again, you’ve kind of been through it. You learn.

“You develop a philosophy from what you learn from and you believe in it, you try to stick with it as best you can, and that’s what we try to do here. Our guys, they’re doing a nice job getting rest, taking care of their bodies and their minds and trying to play as hard as they can. Every second they’re out on the floor, we have to keep doing that.”

Shamet, who is 6-for-7 from beyond the arc against Cleveland, has been in and out of Brown’s rotation at different points in the season. Shamet offered interesting insight into the makeup of the Knick locker room on Saturday night.

“Everybody wants to see each other do well genuinely,” Shamet said. “I mean that. If you guys write that in your report, it's not some locker room banter or BS. It’s like spiritual with this group. You know, we’ve got a lot of guys who are more than capable of being in certain situations, and we cheer each other on. Next man up. It's a beautiful thing, and it's what we have, and this locker room. So it's special.”

INTENSE FOCUS

Brown was asked about the Knicks’ identity on Saturday night.

“They’re so resilient,” Brown said. “We hit adversity during the regular season, which was fantastic. I embraced it. I wanted it to happen. We hit it numerous times. And our guys were tested then, and they stayed connected. And to see the ups and down, especially early in these playoffs against Atlanta and to see them stay connected while trying to sacrifice and believe, it’s fantastic. You don’t know if there’s gonna be carryover with those things in the postseason until you go through it, and going through it with these guys, these coaches and seeing it gives you hope for a lot of things, because the group has been fantastic.”

Both Brown and the players have cited a higher level of focus since their Game 3 loss in Atlanta.

“They’ve been fantastic trying to pay attention to all the details that we’ve been throwing at them. And we’ve thrown a lot of adjustments offensively and defensively at them throughout the course of these playoffs,” Brown said on Saturday. “And to still see them locked in and try to be focused on the details at hand, again, that just speaks volumes of my coaching staff and the way that they’re presenting and changing and all that stuff. But more so about these players and their want to go try to get a ring.”

Brunson got the 2025-26 honor alongside Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard and Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant.

Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, San Antonio Spurs forward-center Victor Wembanyama and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić made the First Team.

The Third Team was Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey, Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson, Thunder center-forward Chet Holmgren and Pistons center Jalen Duren.

Brunson, 29, averaged 26 points and 6.8 assists in 35 minutes per game in 74 games of New York's 53-29 regular season.

"I don't really want to consider us peaking at this moment," Brunson said Sunday on Zoom. "I still think we have a lot of work to do.

"Us as a team -- I've said this all year -- we just want to get better every single day, and that includes the times that we're in the playoffs because there's still time to learn, there's still time to get better.

"That's how I've always thought about it. I haven't really had the time to, like, kind of wonder where we are as a team. All I focus on is, 'How can we get better from the day before?'"

"I got one more thing before I'm taking off -- you guys can all print this," Brown, who made the case in early April, said at the end of his media availability. "Great players out there -- I'm not discounting anybody -- but freakin' OG got robbed. He should've been First Team All-Defense -- First Team All-Defense. The versatility that he brings to this team, we're a top five defensive team -- top five defensive team. OK?

"The versatility that he brings -- and everybody always says, 'Oh, you got KAT (Karl-Anthony Towns), you got Jalen (Brunson), blah, blah, blah.' The versatility that that guy brings to this team is off the charts, and I hope the voters get it next time around. I'm happy he's Second Team -- he deserves something -- but it was wrong."

"Freakin' OG got robbed. He should've been First Team All-Defense. I hope the voters get it right next time around. It was wrong."

Mike Brown ends his availability today by making the case for OG Anunoby to be First Team All-Defense 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/Z0HSYCirhf

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 24, 2026

Before Brown's statement, Anunoby said earlier in the video call that he was honored to be mentioned but "hoping" to make the First Team.

"It was cool to get the recognition, you know," Anunoby said. "... Second Team is cool. I was hoping I got First Team -- I thought I should've gotten First Team -- but Second Team is just as good."

Boston Celtics guard Derrick White, Detroit Pistons guard Ausar Thompson, Oklahoma City Thunder center-forward Chet Holmgren, San Antonio Spurs forward-center Victor Wembanyama and Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert got the nod for the First Team.

"He's been tremendous, obviously, defensively," Brunson said of Anunoby. "And I think him being able to guard 1 through 5 on any given night has really been a big part of who we are and what we're allowed to do on defense because of him. ... Any publicity is good publicity, but I think he was well deserving of the First Team."

Anunoby made the cut for the Second Team with Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels, Thunder guard Cason Wallace, Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes and Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo.

"There's a lot of great defenders in the league, so to be recognized as one of the 10 premier ones is really cool ... now just focus on the rest of the playoffs," Anunoby said.

Despite at least one baserunner in every inning on Sunday, New York, without Juan Soto because of an illness, couldn’t get the big hit and finished 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position while leaving 10 men on base.

The Mets’ lack of offense looked eerily similar to how it looked when Soto was out with a calf injury and when they were losing 12 in a row.

“We’re scuffling,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We got a lot of guys that are going through it right now, we’re not grinding [out] at-bats. … We gotta figure it out because you gotta be able to score runs.”

While nobody in the lineup is safe from criticism, one player, in particular, who had a tough series and a rough road trip was Marcus Semien.

Semien finished the weekend series 0-for-10 after an 0-for-4 performance on Sunday and has struggled all season long in his first year in Queens after coming over in an offseason trade with the Texas Rangers.

Now in his age-35 season, Semien is hitting .214 with a .560 OPS, tied for the eighth-worst mark in MLB among qualified hitters. Right behind Semien is his teammate Bo Bichette (.581 OPS).

“What I’m feeling is I’m putting the ball in play but not driving the ball,” Semien said. “Like I said, that's a good pitching staff over there so just trying to do everything I can to be on time, be ready for high velocity and be able to handle the offspeed they throw.

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get anything really in the air or in the gaps this series and ended up with a tough series.”

Asked if he was concerned that age is starting to catch up with the veteran, who had even struggled in the past few seasons with the Rangers, Mendoza pointed to Semien’s track record and work ethic “behind the scenes” as reasons why he still believes in his second baseman.

“This is a guy that continues to show up and continues to put the work in, day in and day out,” the skipper said. “You hope that at some point he’s gonna come out of it. He’s been in this league for a long time and there’s a reason why and we’re gonna continue to run him out there.”

Where exactly the Mets go from here remains to be seen.

Even with some injured players possibly on their way back soon, New York’s offense has been a problem all season, even at full strength.

“We gotta find a way,” Mendoza said. “We gotta keep going here, we gotta continue to make adjustments because what we’re doing right now is not good enough. It’s as simple as that.

“We got a few guys that are having a hard time, we’re having a hard time creating traffic, we’re having a hard time squaring the ball up and we gotta figure it out.”

Mendoza added: “We can’t be making excuses because of the players that aren’t here. We have 26 MLB players who are capable of executing, but right now we’re going through a tough situation offensively. Obviously we can’t score runs and we’ve got to get back to the basics which is compete, have good at-bats and trust in the guy behind you. We have to create opportunities and right now we’re not doing that.”

Here are the takeaways…

-- With the game scoreless into the ninth inning, Trent Grisham got things started by fighting back from an 0-2 count to work a leadoff walk. That set the stage for Aaron Judge, who delivered in dramatic fashion, as he so often does. On a first-pitch sinker from Kevin Kelly, Judge drove a two-run walk-off homer over the wall in right field, giving the Yankees a needed win on a dreary May day in the Bronx.

-- Judge snapped an 0-for-15 skid with a single in the first inning, but he was then uncharacteristically doubled off first base on a line drive out to right field. But the captain certainly redeemed himself with his walk-off blast.

-- Ryan Weathers had one of his best outings in a Yankees uniform. The lefty walked nine-hole hitter Carson Williams to lead off third, but then immediately picked him off. Weathers worked around four hits in first three scoreless innings, and ended up going 7.0 scoreless innings, allowing just those early four hits. He walked three and struck out four, lowering his ERA on the season to 3.14.

-- With neither offense doing much of anything through the first five innings, a key moment came in the bottom of the sixth. After Grisham singled to lead things off, he stayed put at first base on a ball in the dirt that got away from Nick Fortes, even though it appeared that Grisham likely could have taken second base with the right read. 

A few pitches later, Judge grounded into a double play that wouldn’t have happened if Grisham was on second base.

-- The Yankees flashed some excellent defense in the eighth inning to keep things scoreless. First, with a runner on second and one out, Judge made a terrific diving catch to prevent the runner from advancing.

Later in the inning, with runners at first and second and two outs, Ryan Vilade singled to left, which looked to score the go-ahead run. But an alert Cody Bellinger came up throwing to third, nabbing Junior Caminero at third base to end the inning before the run could score.

-- The Yankees surely needed the win, entering the game with just four wins in their past 14 games.

Game MVP

Judge, who made a potential game-saving catch in the eighth before slamming the walk-off home run in the ninth.

Highlights 

Weathers shows off his pickoff move 👀 pic.twitter.com/2fX5jzreHl

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 24, 2026

Cody Bellinger cuts down the runner at third before the go-ahead run reaches home plate! pic.twitter.com/OxW3cXA9v0

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 24, 2026

AARON JUDGE WALKS IT OFF FOR THE YANKEES! pic.twitter.com/lZ1zONROMi

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) May 24, 2026

Upcoming schedule

The Yankees start a three-game series at the Royals this week.

New York's Will Warren and Kansas City's Michael Wacha are set to start Monday's 3:40 p.m. opener.

Here are the takeaways...

-- We pick this one up in the bottom of the ninth inning of a 0-0 tie where closer Devin Williams gave up a leadoff double to Christopher Morel. After a perfect sacrifice bunt moved the runner over to third base, Williams walked Liam Hicks and then Xavier Edwards intentionally to load the bases and set up a possible double play. 

Instead, Heriberto Hernandez hit a grand slam to give the Marlins a 4-0 win.

-- Christian Scott started the game and had his best (and longest) outing of the season after keeping the Marlins scoreless for 5.2 innings.

The right-hander had some trouble to work out of in the early part of the game, like leaving a runner stranded at second base in the first inning following a one-out double by Edwards and escaping a bases-loaded jam in the third after allowing a single and back-to-back walks with one out.

Both times, Scott got the second out of the frame with a strikeout to give himself some wiggle room, ultimately getting out of harm's way unscathed and keeping Miami off the board.

-- In the fourth, the right-hander once again had to deal with runners on the basepaths following a leadoff single by Otto Lopez and a one-out HBP. Once again, Scott struck out the next batter before ending the inning with a flyout.

-- After a 1-2-3 fifth inning and at 83 pitches thrown, Scott went back out for the sixth for the first time this season and retired the first two hitters of the inning. A single by Jakob Marsee ended his afternoon, though, as manager Carlos Mendoza pulled his youngster for Huascar Brazoban.

It was easily Scott’s best start of the year as he lowered his season ERA to 3.20, but with the game tied 0-0 once he left, Scott would not factor into the decision and will have to wait for his next start for an opportunity to get his first career win.

-- New York’s offense wasn’t able to help out its starting pitcher as it matched the Marlins’ scoring drought over nine innings. 

After scoring just two runs in the first two games, the Mets' bats, without Juan Soto, who was scratched from the lineup due to an illness, continued to stall and were held scoreless against Tyler Phillips (3.2 IP, 2 H, 2 BB), Calvin Faucher (1.1 IP, 2 H), John King (0.2 IP, 1 BB), Anthony Bender (1.0 IP, 1 BB), Michael Peterson (1.1 IP, 2 K) and Pete Fairbanks (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K).

-- Neither team could get the big hit when it mattered the most for most of the game, combining to go 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position until Edwards hit one up the middle with runners on first and second in the bottom of the seventh. 

However, the hit did not yield a run as A.J. Ewing came up firing in center field and delivered a perfect two-hopper to Luis Torrens at home plate who tagged out Javier Sanoja to keep the game scoreless. Heriberto Hernandez followed with another hit with RISP, an infield single that loaded the bases against Brooks Raley, but the veteran lefty did not flinch and got the next batter to ground out to second to end the inning.

-- The Marlins made a great defensive play of their own in the top of the ninth inning when the catcher Hicks threw out pinch-runner Nick Morabito trying to steal second base after MJ Melendez led off the inning with a single.

Game MVP: Heriberto Hernandez

In a game that was scoreless until one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Hernandez had the big blow with his grand slam.

Highlights

A.J. Ewing gets the runner trying to score! pic.twitter.com/LdpkxF5UVN

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 24, 2026

What's next

The Mets head home for a quick Memorial Day turnaround as they get ready to host the Cincinnati Reds for a three-game series starting on Monday. First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. on SNY.

RHP Nolan McLean (2-3, 3.57 ERA) hopes to bounce back from his worst start and will face off against LHP Nick Lodolo (0-1, 7.20 ERA).

Starting with Jared Young, who has been on the IL since April 13 with a torn meniscus in his left knee, the 30-year-old has already begun a rehab assignment and is currently with Triple-A Syracuse working on his timing at the plate.

Nearing a return in either late May or early June, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters before Sunday’s series finale against the Miami Marlins how he expects to utilize Young once he rejoins the team.

“Most likely going to play against righties. First base, DH, coming off the bench – we’ll use him for sure,” the skipper said.

Before landing on the IL, Young had been hitting well for New York, slashing .350/.391/.450 with two doubles in 11 games – all against right-handed pitching. 

After Young went down, Mark Vientos took over at first base and took on a more prominent role in the lineup, mostly hitting cleanup. MJ Melendez was also called up in Young’s absence but after he hit the ground running, Melendez has struggled at the plate with just one hit in his last 29 at-bats. 

Both Vientos and Melendez are in Sunday’s lineup with Melendez a late addition following Juan Soto’s late removal due to an illness. Mendoza said that the whole team has been “battling for the past week” with the “kind of like a flu going around,” although he wasn’t making excuses for the offense scoring just two runs in the first two games of the series.

Not in the lineup is Nick Morabito who has started just twice since his promotion to the big leagues on May 19. Morabito, who bats from the right side, is still searching for his first major league hit (0-for-7).

So, when Young and other injured Mets return, how will Mendoza be sure to give everybody enough at-bats to stay consistent?

“That’s the balance. That’s the balance here, trying to get all of them playing time, including Morabito,” Mendoza said. “We know how important playing time is going to be for him and we’ll continue to just treat it day-by-day.”

As for another injured player, Jorge Polanco had a positive development in his recovery from Achilles bursitis.

“Polanco is in Port St. Lucie today getting live at-bats,” Mendoza said. “So that’s a positive there. [We’ll] see how he comes out of that one and hopefully he can go on a rehab assignment here pretty soon.”

"Soto’s ill, so he’s out of the lineup," said manager Carlos Mendoza. "I think this is something that we are all battling for the past week. He’s been battling it for the past three days. Showed up today with fever, body aches, and didn’t have much sleep. So, hopefully he recovers and we have a player [off the bench] for today.

"Kind of like a flu going around."

Soto was originally batting third and serving as the designated hitter. Now, A.J. Ewing has been moved up to the three-hole, with MJ Melendez sliding in lower in the order as the DH.

Losing Soto's bat in the lineup comes at a rough time for the Mets, who have scored exactly one run on three hits in each of the first two games against Miami, both losses. 

And Soto has been on a heater as well, hitting .333 with a .778 slugging percentage, four home runs, and seven RBI over his last seven games.

UPDATED LINEUP:

Benge RF
Bichette SS
Ewing CF
Vientos 1B
Baty 3B
Semien 2B
Melendez DH
Taylor LF
Senger C

Scott P https://t.co/nvm0tvMjfx

— New York Mets (@Mets) May 24, 2026

New York got out to run early and often. Six Knicks scored in double figures, led by Jalen Brunson’s 30 points. The Knicks have continued to be impressive. New York has won 10 consecutive playoff games, including five straight road wins, all by double figures. 

New York hasn’t advanced to the NBA Finals since 1999. So a win in Game 4 would be a momentous occasion for the franchise. These are the keys to closing out the series on Monday. 

Pushing the pace

Game 3 saw the Knicks make a concerted effort to get easy looks by pushing off turnovers and misses. They also ran off of Cleveland’s makes. In the first quarter, New York scored several easy baskets in transition that set the tone for the rest of the game. 

The Knicks had the advantage, outscoring Cleveland 17-4 in fastbreak points. The Cavaliers play two big men in their starting lineup, and it’s safe to say James Harden isn’t the most agile guard in the NBA. The Knicks took advantage of that on Saturday.

Transition has been a large piece of New York’s success in the postseason: 13.8 percent of New York’s points come from the fastbreak per NBA Stats. That’s the fourth-highest mark among all 16 playoff teams. The Knicks lead all teams in fastbreak points per 100 possessions (17.0). They also prevent the opposition from leak-outs, giving up just 9.8 fastbreak points per 100 possessions, the third-lowest figure in the playoffs.

If New York keeps pushing the ball on Monday, there’s a good chance they will be representing the East in the NBA Finals.

Elite shot-making 

One of the Knicks’ best transition weapons is Mikal Bridges. The starting wing was everywhere on Saturday, making cuts off the ball, pulling up as a shooter and hounding Harden all night. Those were just a few of the tasks Bridges was occupied with during the night. 

Bridges finished the game with a full stat sheet, recording  22 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks. During the conference finals, Bridges is averaging 19.7 points and 4.7 rebounds. His scoring efficiency is off the charts. Bridges shot 11-for-15 from the field (73.3 percent) in Game 3. He’s a scorching 27-for-38 from the field (71 percent) in the conference finals.

Bridges, who was my X-Factor for this series, has been a marvel to watch. He covers so much ground sprinting from end-to-end. Bridges has also taken on the task of defending Harden, after checking Tyrese Maxey in the second round.

Sham-wow

Landry Shamet’s season has been a year of ups and downs. He began the year winning the last roster spot in preseason after veteran Malcolm Brogdon suddenly retired. Shamet became a crucial part of the Knicks roster during the regular season.

He fell out of the rotation early in New York’s first round series against the Atlanta Hawks. Shamet later worked his way back to consistent minutes in the second round. 

Now, Shamet is stepping up at the most important time of the year. First, the 6-foot-5 guard knocked down a clutch three to send the game into overtime in New York’s series opening win on Tuesday. He followed that up with 14 points on Saturday, knocking down four three-pointers. Three of the long distance field goals came in the fourth quarter as Shamet helped New York keep a potential Cleveland rally at bay.

The Knicks have needed Shamet's two-way skills off the bench in the conference finals. He spaces the floor with a quick release. His scoring numbers in the series are modest (7.7 points), but his outside shooting earns respect from opposing defenses. Shamet’s also been up to the task of defending Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell.

Shamet has earned his minutes going forward, and his solid two-way play should continue to impact the series in Game 4. 

Mets Notes

• Christian Scott allowed three earned runs over 4.0 innings against the Nationals in his last start, and has posted a 4.12 ERA this season
• Juan Soto, scratched from the lineup due to illness, is a key loss as he's hitting .333 with a .778 slugging percentage, four home runs, and seven RBI over his last seven games
• The Marlins are using right-handed reliever Tyler Phillips as an opener on Sunday

Today's Lineups

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• The Mets have had identical lines of one run on three hits in each of their losses to the Marlins this weekend
• Carlos Mendoza gave credit to Marlins pitching over the first two games, but also said his ball club is better than what they've been showing
• Starter Freddy Peralta went seven innings for the first time this season, but his performance on the mound was a mixed bag
• Mendoza outlined the pitching plan for the next few days, with Christian Scott starting Sunday, followed by Nolan McLean on Monday against the Reds
• The Mets called up righty reliever Jonathan Pintaro and optioned Zach Thornton to Triple-A

BALANCING ACT

All five starters in double figures. The top two scorers on the other team turning it over 11 times. Twenty-seven assists on 43 made field goals. Starters combining for 11 steals. 

The Knicks’ 10th straight win was a true team effort, and it featured strong contributions from the players Leon Rose and the front office acquired during the Jalen Brunson era. 

Brunson, obviously the biggest move, had 30 points on 19 shots. Josh Hart – traded for a first-round pick and Cam Reddish – had 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals. Karl-Anthony Towns – traded for Julius Randle, Donte Divincenzo and a first-round pick – had a game-high seven assists and 0 turnovers in 36 minutes. OG Anunoby – acquired for a package that included RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a second-round pick – had 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists. 

But arguably the biggest contribution came from the player acquired in the most controversial trade of the Rose era. 

Mikal Bridges had 22 points, six rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks in Game 3. 

Bridges’ play is one of the driving forces behind the Knicks’ 10-game playoff win streak, and it's one of the biggest reasons they are one win away from their first NBA Finals appearance in 26 years. 

“He’s all about winning. Everything else doesn’t matter for him. I think that’s why he’s playing well right now,” Hart said late Saturday night. “Because he’s not focused on shots, touches, those kinds of things. He’s focused on how can I help this team win? I’m not surprised. Because that’s the player he is. I’ve seen him since he was 17. That’s the kind of person that he is.”

Bridges has been uneven in his first two regular seasons with the Knicks, but he had great moments in the postseason last year (big defensive plays against Boston and timely scoring in New York’s two comeback road wins to open the series). And he’s followed up with another stellar postseason this spring. 

After struggling on offense in the first three games against Atlanta, Bridges has been on a tear. In the nine wins prior to Game 3, Bridges was averaging 16 points on 67 percent shooting (49 percent from beyond the arc). 

In the Cleveland series, he’s played excellent team defense and has done a remarkable job defending James Harden. 

“It's a lot of reps. A lot of time,” Bridges said of his experience guarding Harden. “And I'm grateful he was in the West when I was in the West so I got to line up against him a lot of times.”

At least for the next few days, you won’t hear many Knick fans complain about the five first-round picks the club sent to Brooklyn to acquire Bridges. The veteran wing has solidified his status as a playoff riser, and he’s not concerned about the outside expectations that surround his play. 

“There’s nothing he can do about it. He didn’t call Leon and say, ‘Yo this is the trade package’, you know what I mean? He got put into this situation and he hit the ground running,” Hart said. “We wouldn’t be here without him. Last year, you can look – how many games has he won for us in terms of getting stops, down the stretch, steals, blocks, big shots, he’s won games in every single way for us and that’s why we want him, that’s why he’s here.”

RUNNING PLAY

The Knicks put pressure on a tired Cavs team by pushing the ball in transition. They also were the more physical team again in the series. Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson knows the Knicks are executing a gameplan by doing so. 

“Listen, there’s no big mystery,” Atkinson said after Game 3. “Our guys have played 50 percent more minutes than them. If I’m the opposing coach, I’m like, “Man, get these guys, run these guys, wear them out, be super physical.” It’s a good strategy. But we were not sharp in transition. We weren’t sprinting back like we should tonight.”

BEEN HERE BEFORE

Many of the 2024-25 Knicks are still with the team. That continuity has proved valuable in the postseason.

“Just knowing what it takes, especially losing it, too.  Learning from that,” Bridges said. “That always sticks with you. It helps you know you got to be real grateful to be in these moments, don't take it for granted, and take every possession by possession. And don't skip a possession, don't skip a play. Go out there and give all you got. Because it's not easy to get here, and you're not going to get here all the time.”

The right-hander did well to save the Mets' bullpen by completing seven-full innings for the first time this season, but he was knocked around a bit by the Marlins. 

Peralta allowed four runs on two walks and a season-high eight hits in a 4-1 loss. 

Half of those runs came via the long ball, as Miami's breakout slugger Liam Hicks jumped him for a pair of solo shots to right-center in the bottom of the third and the fifth. 

Peralta’s now allowed eight homers to start the season, four of which have come over his last three times out. 

“I never want to give up homers, but it happens,” he said. “The second one I made a big mistake on the curveball, I shook on the pitch and should've executed better, but it happens and I just learn from it.”

The veteran righty did rebound nicely following that second blast, as he retired nine of the final 10 batters he faced to close his longest outing of the season on a high note.

He also set season-highs in pitches (108) and strikeouts (nine).

Despite the shaky showing in the book, Carlos Mendoza liked what he saw from the top of the the rotation arm.

“I thought he was better than the line score, to be honest,” the skipper said. “That second inning a couple of grounders found holes, the breaking ball for the homer, but overall he goes seven innings and he competed.”

Peralta kept the Mets within striking distance, but the offense didn't do him any favors, as they managed just one run in the ninth on three hits and three walks against Max Meyer and Miami’s bullpen. 

As has been the case for the majority of the season to this point, the continued struggles putting runs on the board left the Mets’ starter with a razor thin margin for error. 

They've been held to one run or less a league-worst 14 times this season. 

"You just gotta keep going,” Carlos Mendoza said. “You can’t sit here and feel sorry for yourself, yeah we get frustrated at times, but you just gotta continue to go.”

New York jumped out to a 9-1 advantage less than two minutes into Game 3 and never looked back from there, completely dominating the Cavaliers for their 10th consecutive playoff win. 

They received contributions from up-and-down the lineup in the wire-to-wire dominant effort. 

“We just came out with energy,” Josh Hart said. “We knew we had to with it being their first home game with their backs against the wall, their fans were going to be making noise and cheering and supporting them from the start.

“So we came out aggressive and set the tone, and we just continued to play with that pace throughout the night.”

Hart and the other four Knicks starters all topped double-digits in points, while Landry Shamet chipped in 14 of his own in 28 massive minutes off the bench. 

New York now just sits one win away from their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999. 

While no team has ever overcome that commanding 3-0 series deficit in league history, the attitude in the locker room is staying the same heading into Monday night’s Game 4.

"You don’t look ahead," Jalen Brunson said. "You deal with what’s in front of you."

"You have to keep your mind on the task at hand," Karl-Anthony Towns added. "The game is over and we found a way to win, but you have to have the same desperation like it’s a 0-0 series, just Game 1."

"We know they’re going to give us their best punch," Shamet said. "Sending a team home is the hardest thing to do, especially at this point -- there’s no time to sit and celebrate, it’s onto the next one and how do we go get a win."

Bridges has become one of the Knicks' most reliable players on both ends of the floor and came up big again in New York's 121-108 win over the Cavaliers to take a commanding 3-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Knicks guard filled up the statsheet, scoring 22 points on 11-of-15 shooting, coming down with six rebounds, while dishing two assists, coming away with three steals and two blocks in 39 minutes.

"Mikal got to his spots all night," head coach Mike Brown told reporters after the win. "He hit big shot after big shot and on top of that, he had six rebounds and then trying to defend James [Harden], a Hall of Famer, without fouling him. Just a really good ballgame from Mikal."

Down 0-2 at home, the Cavaliers were playing aggressive and didn't let the Knicks run away with this one. Although the Knicks ultimately had a wire-to-wire victory, Cleveland stuck around and had multiple second-half runs where they cut the deficit to single digits.

But whenever they'd make their run, Bridges seemingly was in the midst of the Knicks' punch-back. Whether it was his defense leading to transition buckets or as Brown said, making a key bucket, especially on leak outs for easy layups. New York dominated on the fastbreak, 17-4, thanks to those leakouts and defense-to-offense buckets.

Brown was asked about Bridges' ability to be in the right place for a leakout while not sacrificing his defense, and the first-year Knicks coach chalked it up to the guard's "feel."

"His feel is unbelievable. He’s got a good feel," Brown explained. "He’s doing that on his own, picking and choosing when to go, just like he’s picking and choosing when to look for his shot when we call his number. I told him and OG [Anunoby], because I don’t call a ton of play-calls, you guys got to find ways to impose your will on the game. And they are doing a great job imposing their will on the game."

"I just try to play hard every possession," Bridges said of his process. "See one of my guys in transition, have an advantage, split the floor, try to get a layup or cause confusion and try to get someone else an open shot. Just trying to play hard the whole game."

That effort has paid off for Bridges.

Just looking at the three games in this series, Bridges has shot tremendously. After shooting 64 percent in Game 1, he's shot 75 and 73 percent, respectively, in Games 2 and 3. Only six of his 38 shot attempts have come from three, so Bridges has moved well without the ball and getting to his spots. He's also been the second-highest scorer for the Knicks in all three games, giving New York that consistent second option alongside Jalen Brunson.

Oh, and he's also been a combined plus-51 in the Eastern Conference Finals, which is more than even Anunoby (+48).

Bridges will look to have his do-it-all game on Monday, when the Knicks look to close out the series in Game 4. 

It takes everyone to get the job done in the NBA Playoffs. 

We’ve been seeing that firsthand with the 2026 Knicks, and it was again the case Saturday night as they took complete control of the Eastern Conference Finals with a wire-to-wire Game 3 win in Cleveland. 

Landry Shamet was huge for New York, playing 28 minutes off the bench, including big ones down the stretch. 

Those closing minutes were where Shamet shined the most, as he knocked down three of his four threes on the night to put any hope of a late Cavs comeback to rest. 

He also stepped up big time on the other end of the floor, guarding All-Star Donovan Mitchell. 

“It’s just that next play mentality,” Shamet said. “The ball goes in, I’m already thinking about guarding an All-Star on the other end and my assignment or what we’re doing there defensively -- that’s the beauty of our team.

“We have five guys on the court who are constantly bought into that mentality -- the ball found me a few times and it went in, and we just moved on and made plays defensively and were able to close the game out.”

Shamet finished with all but nine of the team’s 22 bench points on the night. 

He did so on 4 of 5 shooting from three, bringing him to an efficient 7-for-8 during the Eastern Conference Finals, with six of those makes coming during the fourth quarter or overtime. 

“He’s been big-time,” Jalen Brunson said. “A true professional.”

“Just a heckuva player and we're going to need him down the stretch here, so we want to make sure that he has all of the opportunities that he can,” Josh Hart added. 

New York has won 10 playoff games in a row, holding a commanding 3-0 series advantage. 

Here are some takeaways...

- Taking the series on the road for the first time the Knicks got off to about as good a start they could've hoped for, opening up a quick 9-1 advantage and forcing the Cavs to call a timeout less than two minutes in. The home team was able to find their footing from there, but New York continued thriving, as well. 

- The Knicks' depth scoring stepped up early with Jalen Brunson struggling once again. Led by Karl-Anthony Towns (11) and Mikal Bridges (six) they had seven different players record a bucket as they shot a combined 72 percent from the field as a team to carry a double-digit advantage through the opening quarter. 

- New York finally cooled off as the Cavs tightened things up early in the second, and they quickly used a 7-0 run to cut the deficit down to two points. With Donovan Mitchell briefly forced to the locker room, an aggressive James Harden was able to find his rhythm offensively, putting energy right back into the building.

- The Knicks weathered the second quarter storm, never letting Cleveland jump in front, and they were able to reopen a six-point advantage heading into the break. Even with the brief tough stretch New York shot 57 percent from the field as a team in the opening half, while the Cavaliers made just 3-of-19 threes. 

- A sloppy Cleveland stretch midway through the third allowed the Knicks to open their largest lead of the game at the time (13), but they were once again unable to put the home team away for good, as the deficit was cut back down to nine points heading into the fourth quarter, 91-82. 

- A Hart three and Bridges lay-in sandwiched between a Cavs miss quickly pushed the lead up to 14 minutes into the fourth. Cleveland continued to fight but clutch buckets from the Knicks down the stretch helped them keep the commanding advantage and put this one to rest for good. 

- Landry Shamet was big closing down the stretch, hitting three of his four threes. Brunson led all scorers with 30 points, Bridges stayed hot with 22 on 11-of-15 shooting, Anunoby had 21 on 6-of-10 shooting, Towns finished with a line of 13-8-7, and Hart had 12-9-5. 

- New York shot a strong 56 percent from the field as a team and 39 percent from three.  

Game MVP: Mikal Bridges

Bridges continued his terrific stretch, playing outstanding ball on both ends of the floor. 

Highlights

KAT is cooking ♨️ pic.twitter.com/Cud5nkINTL

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 24, 2026

Landry Shamet from the corner 3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/BBLRNOLZJs

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 24, 2026

DEUUUUUUUUCE pic.twitter.com/CsmIo8KmTX

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 24, 2026

Mikal with the tough fadeaway 🔥 pic.twitter.com/AB8LtlpA1q

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 24, 2026

Jalen Brunson goes coast to coast pic.twitter.com/NJlFeB1ZJh

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 24, 2026

OG opens the second half with a three! pic.twitter.com/shJmEx9Gw9

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 24, 2026

Jalen Brunson banks it home! pic.twitter.com/xdgsYX54du

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) May 24, 2026

What's next

The Knicks will look to close this one out and advance to their first NBA Finals since 1999 on Monday night. 

Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. in Cleveland. 

The Mets’ offense appeared to have found their footing in recent games, but they’ve quickly returned to their feeble ways down in Miami. 

New York struck against Marlins righty Eury Perez on a Juan Soto homer in the first inning of Friday’s series opener, but managed just three baserunners the rest of the way. 

They followed that with an even worse showing on Saturday. 

Max Meyer had just about everything working as he held the Mets to three walks and a 64 mph opposite-field single across his seven shutout innings of work. 

New York was held to only that hit until a Tyrone Taylor pinch-hit double in the ninth, followed by a Mark Vientos RBI single that finally got them on the board. 

That was the Mets’ first at-bat with a runner in scoring position over the first 18 innings of this weekend set, and it was quickly wasted as A.J. Ewing grounded out to end the game. 

They now have just two runs on six hits and four walks in the pair of losses. 

“We’re better, we’ve seen that,” Carlos Mendoza said. “We’ve ran into two pretty good arms the past couple of days.”

“Obviously we haven’t done what we’ve wanted at the plate, but you gotta give credit where credit is due,” Vientos added. “The pitchers we’ve faced have been doing their thing.”

Both Perez and Meyer were certainly at their best, but this continues a season-long skid in which the Mets have managed to score one run or less in a league-worst 14 games.

With these last two, they’ve now dropped four of their last five. 

Now 1.5 games back in the basement of the NL East, though, they know they have to turn the page quickly. 

“You can’t sit here and feel sorry for yourself,” Mendoza said. “You gotta keep going.”

“Once 12 o’clock hits tomorrow, it’s a new day,” Vientos added. “Today is in the past and we have to focus on tomorrow and come back and win the game tomorrow.”

Mark Vientos picked up a squib hit (64.2 mph off the bat) in the second inning, but wouldn't get another until the ninth. New York worked three walks as a team, and Vientos was hit by a pitch and was the only Mets batter to get on base twice. 

Even the red-hot Juan Soto (0-3, BB) was held hitless as the Mets (22-30) lost back-to-back games and are 2-4 on the current seven-game road trip.

Here are the takeaways...

- Unlike in the series opener, the Marlins would get on the board first against Freddy Peralta. Back-to-back one-out singles in the second inning put runners on second and third -- thanks to an ill-advised throw by Soto -- before Owen Cassie lined a double past a diving Vientos to drive in the first two runs of the game. 

Liam Hicks launched a 389-foot blast, just past the outstretched glove of Carson Benge, to give Miami a 3-0 lead. It wouldn't get much better for Peralta in the fourth as the Marlins got two men on base with two outs. Xavier Edwards hit a slow grounder to Vientos at first, but the young infielder couldn't make the shovel pass to Peralta covering, allowing Edwards to reach, but fortunately for the Mets, Vientos threw out Graham Pauley at the plate trying to score from second. 

In the fifth, Hicks would get to Peralta again, leading off with his 11th homer of the season to put Miami up 4-0. It's Hicks' first career multi-homer game.

- To Peralta's credit, he grinded into the seventh inning. After allowing a leadoff single, he struck out Edwards, got Hicks to fly out and Otto Lopez to strike out to get through seven innings for the first time as a Met. 

The veteran right-hander gave the Mets what he had on extra rest, throwing a season-high 108 pitches (67 strikes). He finished allowing four runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out a season-high nine batters. 

- Max Meyer, on the other hand, had no issue with the Mets, who are in the midst of a major offensive slump. After scoring just one run on three hits in Friday's loss, Meyer pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. 

- Even with Meyer out, the Mets bats stayed dormant. Anthony Bender struck out three batters in his 1.1 innings of work. Tyrone Taylor hit a two-out, pinch-hit double in the ninth against Andrew Nardi to give the Mets their second hit of the game. Vientos followed with a hit to drive home Taylor and break up the shutout, but then A.J. Ewing grounded out to end the game.

- Jonathan Pintaro, called up on Saturday, pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning on just 12 pitches. 

Game MVP: Max Meyer

Meyer matched his longest outing of the season and kept the Mets off balance with his vast arsenal of pitches.

Highlights

Mark Vientos can't make the play at first but recovers to throw out Graham Pauley trying to score pic.twitter.com/YUAbGgcQ4m

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 23, 2026

Mark Vientos gets the Mets on the board pic.twitter.com/iCL7Y18aKw

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 23, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Marlins complete their three-game series on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:40 p.m.

Christian Scott (0-0, 4.12 ERA) will take the mound for New York. Miami has yet to announce its starter.

Strzelecki, 31, has pitched in 77 big league games over his career with the Brewers, Diamondbacks and Guardians, but has not thrown a pitch in the majors since 2024. 

In 11 appearances with the Guardians that season, Strzelecki pitched to a 2.31 ERA while striking out nine batters across 11.2 innings. For his career, Strzelecki pitched to a 3.44 ERA with a 1.22 WHIP and 86 strikeouts across 83.2 innings with one career save. 

This year, Strzelecki was pitching in the Brewers' system before he was designated for assignment on May 17, and once he cleared waivers, he elected free agency. 

With Triple-A Nashville, Strzelecki appeared in 16 games, pitching to a 4.12 ERA after allowing 10 runs (nine earned) across 19.2 innings.