Jalen Brunson shook off foul trouble and scored 21 of his 27 in the second half, Julius Randle returned from an ankle injury to add 19 and the New York Knicks welcomed Cleveland back to the NBA playoffs by holding off the Cavaliers 101-97 on Saturday night in Game 1.

Brunson was limited to nine minutes in the first half, but hit several big shots down the stretch as the Knicks turned back Cleveland’s late rally led by Donovan Mitchell.

Randle was questionable up until pregame warmups, when he tested the left ankle he sprained two weeks ago. The All-Star forward looked like himself while pacing the Knicks, who fell behind 93-92 with 2:12 left.

With Mitchell making plays all over the floor, the Cavs were within 99-97 in the final seconds when Brunson missed a pull-up, but Randle grabbed his 10th rebound and passed to Quentin Grimes, who was fouled with four seconds left.

Grimes made both free throws as the Knicks finished off the Cavs and disappointed a raucous, towel-waving Cleveland crowd that came alive in the fourth quarter when Mitchell scored 14 to bring the Cavs back.

Mitchell finished with 38 for the Cavs, who returned to the playoff stage for the first time since the 2018 NBA Finals. It’s been a long road back for Cleveland, which wasn’t as hurt by its inexperience as lack of bench production from the bench.

Josh Hart added 17 points — and hit a big 3-pointer down the stretch — for New York, whose reserves outscored the Cavs 37-14.

CELTICS 112, HAWKS 99

Jaylen Brown had 29 points and 12 rebounds, and Boston capitalized on a woeful shooting performance by Atlanta to hold on in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round matchup.

Jayson Tatum scored 25 points, 21 in the first half. Derrick White finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds for Boston, which hosts Game 2 on Tuesday.

The No. 2-seeded Celtics led by as many as 32 points, pouncing on an Atlanta team that missed its first 10 3-point attempts and shot 5 of 29 from beyond the arc for the game.

Atlanta used a 32-12 run to cut the deficit to 96-84 on a three-point play by Bogdan Bogdanovic early in the fourth.

The Celtics got the lead back up to 107-87. It was 110-97 with less than two minutes to play when Atlanta’s De’Andre Hunter got free on fast break. But his layup attempt was blocked from behind by Marcus Smart.

Dejounte Murray led the Hawks with 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Trae Young added 16 points.

76ERS 121, NETS 101

James Harden hit seven 3-pointers and had 23 points and 13 assists, NBA MVP finalist Joel Embiid scored 26 points and Philadelphia pushed back Mikal Bridges and Brooklyn in Game 1.

Tobias Harris added 21 points and the 76ers hit a postseason team-record 21 3s in the opener of this Eastern Conference playoff series. The Sixers are trying to win their first NBA championship since 1983 and advance past the second round for the first time since 2001.

The No. 3-seeded 76ers host Game 2 on Monday.

Bridges scored 30 points and helped the Nets at least hang around in the first half.

But Brooklyn’s starless roster was no match for Embiid, Harden and a playoff-tested roster expected to make a deep run in the postseason.