Basketball

Jalen Brunson’s return, 54 years after Willis Reed’s, helps Knicks to 2-0 lead. But series is far from over.

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6 months ago

May 9, 2024

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Jalen Brunson’s return, 54 years after Willis Reed’s, helps Knicks to 2-0 lead. But series is far from over.

Fifty-four years ago, on May 8, 1970, New York Knicks star Willis Reed hobbled onto the Madison Square Garden court against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

It was the inspiration the Knicks needed to defeat the Lakers and win the franchise’s first championship. It is a moment embedded in NBA history.

On May 8, 2024, Knicks All-Star guard Jalen Brunson returned from an injury in the second half against the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series. Certainly not as dramatic as Reed’s return and the stakes were not even close to the same, but Brunson gave the Knicks a necessary lift and helped them to a 130-121 victory and a 2-0 series lead.

The Pacers blew an opportunity to even the series. The Knicks are battered, depleted, and with a short rotation, the minutes are piling up. Julius Randle, Bojan Bogdanovic and Mitchell Robinson are out for the Knicks, and OG Anunoby, who had 28 points in Game 2, didn’t play the final 15 minutes due to a sore left hamstring. The Knicks’ rotation is down to seven players who are logging heavy minutes, including the Villanova 3 – Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo.

The series isn’t over. Let’s see what happens when the series moves to Indianapolis for Game 3 and Game 4 and who is available for the Knicks.

But it’s difficult for a team to win four of the next five games, and that’s the prospect the Pacers face.

Even with everything the Knicks have going on, they have been impressive, and Brunson is the playoff MVP in the East.

New York’s fourth-quarter offensive execution has propelled it to this point – just two victories from reaching its first conference finals since 2000. Entering Game 2 against Indiana, the Knicks had the second-best fourth-quarter offensive rating in the playoffs, scoring 127 points per 100 possessions, just behind Dallas’ 127.1.

On Wednesday, the Knicks used a 36-18 third quarter to erase a 73-63 halftime deficit and take a 99-91 lead into the fourth quarter.

According to NBA.com, the Knicks improved to 4-1 in the playoffs in “clutch” games – contests where the score was within five points in the final five minutes of regulation and overtime. In the fourth quarter of Game 2, the Knicks made timely shots when the Pacers got within six points or fewer. DiVincenzo made a 3-pointer that extended the Knicks’ lead to 124-115, and Brunson made it 126-118 on a short jumper late in the fourth.

Hart had 19 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, one steal and one block in 48 minutes, DiVincenzo had 28 points, six rebounds and four assists in nearly 44 minutes and Isaiah Hartenstein added 14 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in 39 minutes. Had Brunson not left the game for a large portion of the first half, he would’ve logged 40-plus minutes. As it was, he played the entire second half and finished with 29 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter.

It’s way too early to call the Knicks a team of destiny. If they advance, they likely will face the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the conference finals. They will be underdogs in that series. But there’s no denying what a treat Brunson and the Knicks have been so far in the playoffs.