Philadelphia Fryer: Brunson Showcase Puts Knicks Up 3-1 Over 76ers
The New York Knicks' magnificent seven had just enough to pick up a key three on Sunday afternoon.
Reduced to playing seven men in the wake of injuries to Bojan Bogdanovic and Mitchell Robinson, the Knicks enjoyed a Jalen Brunson takeover en route to a 97-92 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at Wells Fargo Center.
The Knicks lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 and two of their three opportunities to earn a second-round ticket will be staged at Madison Square Garden. Homecourt advantage, however, appears to be a moot point in what's left of the series, as the part-time home of Brunson's Villanova Wildcats frequently broke out in pro-Knicks chants throughout the afternoon.
Brunson scored 47 points, breaking a franchise record that Bernard King had held since 1984. His teammates were hardly spectators, as Josh Hart (16) and OG Anunoby (14) united for 30 rebounds, the former earning a double-double with 16 accompanying points.
Those latter developments were part of a brilliant rebounding night, in more ways than one, for the Knicks: New York notably pulled in 15 offensive rebounds, a good number of them coming as they created time-wasting possession that pushed the clock closer toward a fateful victory. Hart had five second chances while Precious Achiuwa, taking the spell center role with Robinson ailing, created four more. In other substitution duties, Miles McBride had 13 off the bench, getting most of that on a 3-of-5 mark from three-point range. New York was forced to play seven men for most of the ordeal because of Robinson's ankle ailment from Game 3 while Bogdanovic lasted mere seconds after Nicolas Batum landed on his ankle in a tie-up for a loose ball.
But the headliner, of course, was Brunson, who lived up to his metropolitan headliner status with one of the most prolific performances in franchise playoff history.
As the Sixers jumped out to another double-figure lead (up 10 after the first quarter) Brunson planned his comeback meticulously: before he finally got his first rest of the game, the point guard put up 18 points and five assists, playing a role on all but three of the Knicks' first 34 tallies of the game. Though Philadelphia escaped the first half with a narrow two-point lead, a formidable tone had been set: the Knicks embarked on a 12-2 run at the onset of the second period while Philadelphia franchise face Joel Embiid sat.
The second half was perfectly defined by what the Knicks' box score additions and what Philadelphia lacked in the same department: the 76ers re-eastablished a 10-point lead in the early stages of the third, but the Knicks embarked on a 26-15 run over the final seven minutes to take a minuscule lead heading into the finale. Manhattan hearts perhaps stopped when a slightly hobbled Brunson (who previously engaged in a close encounter under the basket with Embiid) went to the locker room with a slight limp, but the Knicks took what became a permanent lead before he came back in the game with just over nine minutes remaining.
From there, the Knicks never led by more than six but kept things at a stable pace by shifting the game back toward their defensive strengths. New York shot just 6-of-21 in the final frame (half of the successful field goals came from the arms of Brunson) but they held Philaelphia to 6-of-24. Anunoby and Achiuwa unied to keep Embiid fruitless from the field, as the controversial big man missed all five of his tries. Embiid finished the game with a team-best 27 tallies but almost half of that output was generated by free throw farming (12-of-14 from the line).
The Knicks' first chance at attaining the clincher lands on Tuesday when the series shifts back to MSG (7 p.m. ET, MSG/TNT).
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI
Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks